DEAN
The car skids to a stop outside the main cabin where Dad is waiting for me. His face is pinched with worry, and a furious look fills his expression.
When he called me, he only said something bad had happened, that I needed to get home quick and not mention anything to Lola. That said everything. If I couldn’t tell her, then it was most likely something to do with her.
I don’t wait to turn the car off before I’m jumping out, looking at my dad for answers.
“What’s going on, Dad?”
“Your cabin’s been ransacked, son. It’s a complete mess. I’ve called the police, but it’s whenever they get time to get out here with everything going on in town.”
“C’mon, let’s see what’s missing. It could be kids, Dad. Shit. Lorelei just moved in there,” I hiss. That girl has already been through a lot, she doesn’t need to feel unsafe, not now.
“Son, it wasn’t your old place. It was yours and Lola’s.”
“C’mon. You drive. I’m gonna call in a favour.” Getting in the car, I grab my phone and text Cage.
DEAN: Mate, I need you at Cabin Lake, cabin 24A. Urgent.
CAGE: On my way.
Arriving at the cabin, I only have to step out the car to see what my dad was talking about.
“Did you go in?” I ask.
“No, I called you straight away.”
“Good.” I stand in the doorway, my eyes doing a quick sweep of the mess. The place has been turned upside down, my laptop and Lola’s Kindle on the floor completely smashed to pieces. Whoever did this did it in anger, in rage. Dread fills my stomach, and I take a seat outside, waiting for Cage and the other officers to come.
“Where’s Mom?”
“Back at the cabin worried sick. I told her to stay there with the doors locked until I get back. I didn’t want to risk the person still being around.”
I nod, running a frustrated hand through my hair. “C’mon, hurry up,” I curse, anxiety building inside me.
“Keep it together, son.”
“I don’t know, Dad. I have a bad feeling about this. Something is telling me to go get Lola.”
“Son, she’s surrounded by hundreds of people. Nothing is going to happen to her.”
I nod, knowing he’s right. “Yes.”
*** *** ***
Nearly two hours later and the police still haven’t come out and given me anything. We aren’t allowed in there while they take fingerprints and whatnot. I’m just glad Cage and his partner are here because I’m about to lose my shit.
“Cage!” I shout inside the doorway, earning a few glares from some officers. I narrow my eyes, not caring.
Lola has called and texted a few times. I hate that I’ve ignored her, but I didn’t want to have to lie to her again. It’s one of the things I promised never to do.
“Hey, Dean. We’re almost done, but you can come in.”
“About time.” He raises his eyebrow at me. “Sorry, I’m just stressed. Did you find anything?”
“Yes but first, has anything gone missing?” he asks.
“No. Not that I could tell from looking in the doorway, anyway. You can see my laptop and Lola’s Kindle from here. Whoever broke in wasn’t after anything valuable,” I say, frustrated.
“We know. I just needed to make sure. I need you to keep it together, but we found something, and it’s not going to be easy to hear,” he starts and my gut clenches.
“Tell me,” I growl.
He gestures for me to follow him and when he walks into mine and Lola’s bedroom, a sick I find it hard to keep it together as promised.
He turns to me before I make it fully into the room, trying to block me from seeing something. However, I catch a glimpse of Lola’s clothes everywhere, and I look to my dad in horror.
“Calm down,” he whispers. My fists clench and I breathe through my nose.
“We’ve had to bag some lingerie and take it to the lab. Whoever this person was is sick and twisted, and left you a present as such.” He winces, and I know what he’s trying to say.
I turn around, punching a hole through the door. I don’t feel the pain or care I’m getting blood everywhere.
Why didn’t I see this fucking coming?
“Is there anyone who would want to hurt you or the other occupant of the house, Dean?”
“Yeah,” I croak out, pulling the ends of my hair. “Fuck.” My roar echoes around the room and my dad steps forward, ready to restrain me if need be.
I grab my phone and dial Lola’s number but it rings out, and I start pacing, cursing.
“What am I missing?” Dad asks.
I curse again, turning to both of them. “It’s Rick. Lola’s ex is crazy. He beat her, raped her and has punished her for leaving before. It’s him. We’ve been keeping tabs on him, but eight weeks ago we lost all contact, and no one has been able to find him since,” I explain.
“Fuck!” Cage curses then takes out his phone before turning to me. “I need a name and description.”
I do one better, taking my work phone from my pocket and opening the folder I have on him. The picture of Rick loads first, along with his name, height, address and date of birth. Cage calls it in, walking away a little.
As soon as he does I lose my shit, a primal roar rumbling from my chest when I see the bed, Rick’s present is soaking into it.
“Oh fuck,” Dad says, face pale.
“Call Dwayne,” I tell him, trying Lola one more time. “Why isn’t she fucking answering?”
“Pagan isn’t answering either, son, but it could be because they can’t hear their phones.”
“No. Something’s happened. I can feel it. Cage, see if there are any uniforms close to Diamond Street and get them to check on a Lola Lawson. She’s not answering, and neither is my sister or Brooke, her best friend.”
“Sid isn’t either,” Dad informs me.
Tears of panic surface and I try to lock them down.
“We need to go. Cage, do you have your patrol car?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I need you to get me over there as quick as you can,” I tell him, knowing he can break every law to get us there quicker.
He nods and gives orders to the remaining officers. Dad calls Mom, letting her know what’s happening and that he’ll call if there are any changes.
*** *** ***
Half way to Lola’s the police radio cackles and my face pales.
“This is dispatch. We need immediate backup over Carnal Street on the car park.”
Cage looks over at me, seeing my pale complexion. “Isn’t that…?”
“Yeah, it’s the car park at the back of Lola’s,” I whisper as my heart plummets to the ground.
Cage puts his foot down, and I’m thrown back in my seat. Dad’s phone rings and he answers, sounding relieved but then I hear, my sister and all hope I had disappears.
“Calm down. We’re pulling up now. Everything is going to be okay,” he says, but my sister keeps crying on the other end, loud enough for Cage and me to hear.
“C’mon,” Cage says as he pulls to a stop.
I’m out first, leaving Dad and Cage behind. Rushing over to the car park that’s taped off, I see Pagan with a young lad crying in her arms, looking pale and scared.
What the fuck!
I duck under the tape, and a police officer steps forward, trying to stop me. “Sir, you can’t go back there. It’s a crime scene.”
“Like fuck I can’t. Where is she? Is she okay? Lola?” I shout, looking around for her. But if she was here then she would be with my sister, consoling her.
My eyes water at the image of Lola alone and hurt. God, if anything happened to her… I don’t know what I’d do.
“Stop!” the officer growls but then steps to the side, seeing someone behind me.
“Dean?” my sister calls out, her voice hollow and filled with pain. I rush over to where she’s standing and place my hands on her shoulders. I feel sorry for not asking if she’s okay but I only have one person on my mind right now.
“Where is she?” I croak, still scanning the forming crowd.
“Oh God,” she says, looking ready to vomit. “There was so much blood, Dean… so much.”
“Pagan!” I shout, shaking her, but she keeps crying, falling into Dad’s arms when he shows up. Looking down at the young lad, I give him a look, and he sniffles.
“It’s my fault. I should have gone with her. Pagan told me to ask Lola to get some leaflets out of her car. I should have gone with her, but she told me to stay where I was, and she’d be back in a minute.” He sniffles. “When Pagan came to see where the leaflets were and found out Lola still hadn’t come back, we come round to look for her.” He takes a deep swallow, choking back a sob. Pagan hears the struggle in his voice and takes him back in her arms, looking at me with red, puffy eyes.
“We walked into the staff room, and the back door was open. We thought she went to get them by herself, but when we stepped outside, there was blood everywhere. She was nowhere to be seen, Dean. I looked everywhere after I called the police,” she cries.
“Shush, my darling girl. This isn’t your fault,” Dad consoles her.
“If I hadn’t asked her to get the leaflets, none of this would have happened,” she cries, and the boy starts crying harder. My chest aches for them both.
“Hey, kid,” I call, trying to soften my voice.
“Yeah?”
“It wasn’t your fault, okay. It’s not yours either, Pagan. Let me go see what they’ve found out,” I say, needing to do something.
I step over to Cage, giving him a chin lift. “Hey, any news?”
“We have a witness. He’s in the back of the ambulance at the moment being treated for some bruises and scrapes.”
“What did he see?”
“He was walking his dog when he saw an older man in his mid-thirties carrying a young woman in his arms. He watched as he placed her in the back seat of his car and didn’t think anything of it. He just presumed she was asleep or not feeling well, but then he heard the woman screaming. By the time he got there the offender was already in the car. The witness barely made it out of the way in time. He only managed to get the car make and half a number plate. We’re running it now and have police out searching for the vehicle’s description.”
I nod and start pacing. How the fuck has this happened? And why the fuck didn’t anyone know he was here? Not only do I have men working on the case but so does Dwayne. Surely one of us should have picked up on him being here.
Everything seems to be fucked up at the moment.
The signs were there he was here. Hell, Lola said she could feel someone watching her. Although I double-checked the area of Cabin Lake twice, I didn’t see anything, but I looked into it even further myself.
Then a thought occurs to me. The only thing I didn’t check up on was the mystery man Lola said Pagan met.
“Pagan, come here. I need to ask you something.”
Fuck!
It all makes sense.
It was Rick watching her at the club, and he followed them home. And if he didn’t follow them he could have easily asked Pagan where they lived. I know deep down it’s him.
“What’s wrong? What did they say?” she asks, walking over with Brooke, who looks just as much of a mess as the rest of us. I glance over her shoulder, watching Dad say something to Sid who is comforting the boy.
“Do you remember the night you, Brooke and Lola went out to celebrate? It was about eight weeks ago now.”
She nods, looking confused. “Yeah, why?”
“Lola mentioned you met a man. What she didn’t tell you, because she wasn’t sure, was that you described her ex-boyfriend to her, the one who was violent. So I need you to remember everything you can about that night and this bloke, because I think she was right about him. Can you remember anything you said or he told you that could help us find out where Lola is?” I ask, crossing my fingers that she has something, anything. Even the smallest thing would be better than nothing right now.
Pagan pales and nods, her body shaking. “Um… I don’t really remember much of that night if I’m honest. It was all a blur. I remember giving him my mobile number and mentioning where I lived. He asked who I was out with and I told him. It was general stuff. Normal stuff you’d ask people you just met.” She shrugs, but then pales further, gasping. “Oh no! I invited him here today, but I’ve not seen him. What if it was him and I basically led him right to her? Oh God.”
“Fuck!” I roar, knowing my gut was right. Why the fuck didn’t I look into it? I should have. It’s my job to look into everything, even the smallest things, no matter how pointless they may seem, but it simply didn’t cross my mind. I’m going to be kicking myself for a very long time over it.
“I’m so sorry, Dean. I didn’t know. If I did, I would have said something to you. I’m so sorry,” she chants, and Brooke pulls her into her arms.
“Did he say anything else, Pagan? Think! Did he say where he was staying? What was his name?” Cage asks, stepping in.
I pause, staring at my sister as I wait for her to answer. “Think!” I snap, and my dad sends me a warning look.
“Yes! Yes, he did. He said he was staying locally for business and mentioned having something he needed to collect before heading back home. And his name is Carl Holmes,” she tells Cage, not looking at me. She looks to my dad, breaking down. “It was her, wasn’t it? It was Lola he needed to collect.”
“Yeah, baby,” he murmurs, rubbing her back.
“No, that’s good. Hopefully, he’s dumb enough to use that name. I’m going to call it in,” Cage says before stepping away.
I walk in the other direction, taking my own phone out and dialling Darius, one of the men who work for me.
“Hey, man, I need you to do a check on every bed and breakfast, housing, car rental, anything you can find out on a Carl Holmes.”
“Is this about that Patrick bloke?”
“Yep.”
“Done,” he says and hangs up. I turn to my family, watching them all comforting one another and it has me wanting to snap at them. No one deserves to be consoled until Lola is found. I know I’m coming across as an asshole, but she’s my life, my everything. Without her, there will be no me.
Lola, I’m coming for you.