main business anyway. They serve the entire Tri State Area.”
Sweat broke out on his brow. He didn’t use that particular company, but if someone knew security systems really well, wouldn’t they be able to disarm one relatively easily?
“I gotta go. We’re almost at the office though. See you in three.”
He hung up, dialing Liza’s cell. “Come on, come on,” he murmured as it rang and rang. Her voicemail came on and he left her a clipped message to call him the second she got it.
“Hey, it’s unlikely, okay?” Ransom said, obviously having followed the train of his thoughts. “She’s probably in the shower.”
“Yeah,” Reed breathed, but a bad feeling was zinging over his nerves.
He pulled in to the parking lot of their office building. “So,” Ransom said, obviously to distract him. “We could be dealing with two killers here. Axel, who went mental after his brother died, and is now playing out the plot of Tribulation for reasons only a total psycho could explain, and Hartsman, who left his life on the lam, showed up for reasons possibly having to do with his mother’s murder, and is now trying to subvert Axel from his master plan.”
Reed hadn’t thought about it in quite those terms, but there was something to that theory, as unbelievable as it sounded and as many questions as it still raised . . . What’s his endgame do you think, son?
His father’s endgame had been Professor Vaughn Merrick, the man Charles considered responsible for the horrific torture he’d endured as a child.
“His grandfather involved his grandson,” Ransom was saying. “Think of what that would do to a kid, having to participate in the torture and murder of countless women.”
And then tend the garden where their bones were buried. A shiver moved through him. Yeah, that could fuck someone up. And bad.
If Axel Draper was playing out the plot of Tribulation, didn’t it stand to reason that his ultimate demon, the one waiting for him when he’d been “mistakenly sent to hell,” would be his own grandfather? The endgame? The final battle?
Bellum Finivit.
Had Charles Hartsman killed Draper himself to usurp Axel’s endgame? Or was it purely a personal vendetta? Mimi . . .
“We need to see how Tribulation ends,” Reed stated.
They headed straight for Reed’s mailbox and he swore viciously when there was only a few pieces of interoffice mail and nothing else. “That kid promised me he’d overnight those copies,” Reed said. Ransom followed as he took the stairs two at a time, making his way to his desk to see if someone had left it there. Zilch.
He ran his hands through his hair, making a grunt of frustration. His phone rang and he snatched it up, his heart sinking when he saw it was not Liza. “Hello.”
“Detective Davies, this is Sorrento over in District One. I just did the welfare check on Sabrina McPhee.”
“Anything unusual?”
“No. The building super let us into her apartment. We had a look around. Nothing strange except it appears she hasn’t been there for a couple of days. The daily calendar page on her desk hasn’t been flipped since Sunday and her mailbox is full of uncollected mail. There are some suitcases in her closet, but I have no idea if she had more travel bags. Coulda taken off on a vacation?”
That sinking feeling went lower. She wasn’t on vacation. Reed would swear on it. “Okay, thank you, Officer Sorrento. I appreciate it.”
“Not a problem.”
He filled Ransom in, and then dialed Liza, hanging up when her voicemail came on once again.
Something is very wrong.
“I have to go check on her, Ran—" His phone rang yet again and he grabbed for it, swearing when he saw it was Zach. “Zach. Listen, I’ll call you back, I—”
“No,” he practically yelled. “Arryn’s missing.”
Every molecule in Reed’s body came to a screeching halt.
“Missing?”
“Yes, hold on.” Zach’s voice grew distant for a second as he spoke with someone in the background. “Sorry, officers just arrived.”
“What’s going on, Zach?” Ransom was still, watching him with wide eyes.
Zach let out a harsh exhale. “After I talked to you, I headed straight home. Reed, Charles Hartsman had been here just moments before.”
The world around Reed darkened for a moment and then lit up, overly bright. He sagged against the edge of his desk. “Oh, God. Josie?”
“He didn’t touch her. Reed, another guy showed up too. He had a gun, threatened Josie. Charles took a bullet, Reed. The unknown suspect took off with him.”