Forbidden With Me - Leigh Lennon Page 0,75
was here for an hour, then I went out to get her stuff from the car. The best friend told me I missed something in her trunk, and she ended up speeding away.”
“What? You’re telling me you let both girls get away from you?”
There’s a pause on the line. “Yeah, but right before, she got a text, Malia that is, and she looked upset. Do you think this has anything to do with Detective Higgins’ disappearance?”
I hang up the phone, my badge, piece, and keys in my hand. Hitting Vanessa’s number on the phone, I’m about to tell her to meet me at the house as a foreign voice answers the call.
“I’m glad you returned your captain’s phone call finally. Her life, and that of everyone I have, lies in your hands.”
A picture is sent my way, and in a circle sits Stewart, Vanessa, and Greenlyn. I look further at the other two. One is Smith Turner, and the other has fire engine red hair. This explains what happened to Georgia, Mal’s best friend. In the center of the circle is a body I’ve memorized in the short amount of time since being back in her life. It’s appropriate that my girl is in the middle because she’s become the center of my world.
He’d hung up on me, sending me a slew of texts with instructions.
Vanessa: You have three minutes to get in the car.
They hadn’t given me any instructions while I was in the precinct, but I knew well enough to use a landline to call the one person I trust with my life, leaving a quick note. I had all of three minutes to get to my car, so the note I left on the desk was quick.
Vanessa: I’m tracking you, and I’ve installed something where I can monitor your phone calls and transmissions. We can tell if anyone is following you and can hear if you leak this information to someone. Don’t tell one officer about this. Your ex will be the first to bite the bullet.
Vanessa: I need you to drive North on I-5 until you reach the exit for Everette. Then you’ll get more instructions.
Sons of bitches. I have no idea what to expect and hoped my GPS on my car could be traceable.
I turn toward the freeway, heading north on I-5. I don’t know the town of Everette that well, but it’s a place with a lot of docks, so I assume it’s where they are holding everyone.
This couldn’t have been a job one person is able to pull off. And that little detail which has niggled away at me continues to. I pull up to a red light, taking out my phone to open up my email. I’d made myself a witness list a couple of years ago. Something about the names is too familiar, and when I download the list, I’m staring at the reason for that little cop instinct that won’t go away.
I go further, as the light is still red, searching the names of everyone in the dorm, where Malia and Greenlyn had resided, and like a jigsaw puzzle, it all makes sense now.
I text back on Vanessa’s phone.
Me: I’m curious, who is texting me? Is this Tim, Curtis, or Victor Wayne?
With the dots appearing underneath my text, I know I’ve gotten their attention.
Vanessa: Good job, detective. Too bad someone has to die now for you being an excellent dick. Let’s see. I think I’ll play eeny meeny miny moe.
My heart falls. I have no idea how truly unstable the three brothers are, but I’ve heard stories of the demons they were in the neighborhood from Matt, Jules, and all the other Montgomerys over the years. No one even looked at them for the murders because the entire family had been on vacation three states away for two weeks. But a family that murders together, stays together, I guess.
My car continues to the pier when another text comes in. It’s a video.
I open it up, and my heart races.
Chapter 28
Malia
“No, you son of a bitch, don’t you fucking dare!” Stewart yells, a gun pointed at Vanessa’s head. It’s the first time I focus on the men, one with a gun, one with a phone, and the other walking around with a laptop in his hand.
They look familiar. One is recognizable as the man who propositioned Greenlyn and me for a threesome on my first night in the dorm—the one she had a bad feeling about. I guess her gut was