"Damn!" he cursed out loud, causing a few of the store patrons to look in his direction. Rushing outside, he looked both ways around the store's parking lot. He doesn't see her at all. Marching toward his truck, his phone rang. Brennan frowned when he saw who it was. The most infamous snitch.
"Yeah C-Note, what do you want?" he barked.
"Hey man, easy, easy. I just wanted to tell you I was on the side of the store. Come around back," C-Note said.
Brennan didn't move. He kept searching throughout the area, looking for Hillary. He didn't see her. She wore a skirt, was on her period, no way she could get but so far.
"How do I know you're by yourself?" Brennan asked, squinting his eyes.
C-Note stepped out at the end of the store. "Hey B, over here!" C-Note yelled out.
Brennan walked fast to where C-Note was standing. He was out of breath just that fast.
C-Note was a tall lanky white male with hair gelled so fresh he looked like he was going to audition for a B-boy band.
Brennan skipped the formalities asking him about Hillary. "Have you seen a young lady, long hair, long skirt, jacket on? She was wearing combat boots?
C-Note wrinkled his brow then snapped his fingers. "Yeah man, as a matter of fact, I did see someone like that. She ran out of the store. I don't know where she went because by that time, I was in the back texting you," he said shrugging.
Brennan turned away from C-Note and let out a loud growl. "Damn man, I'm screwed!"
Brennan knew Numbers would not be too happy about this. "Thanks, man, good looking out," he said to C-Note, shoving some money in his hand. He left him standing there, walking to his car. When he approached his car, he yelled and cursed again. He can't drive his car because someone has flattened his tires. He saw brown glass surrounding the front tire. He gritted his teeth, screaming out. Walking back to where C-Note was, he noticed that he was already gone. Looking around at everyone pumping their gas, he solemnly pulled out his phone and dialed Numbers' number.
Chapter Fifty
I trudged in the leftover snowstorm to visit the volunteer crew who was back outside resuming their search. Nothing had turned up. On the ride there, I received another call from the doctor. I decided to answer it, instead of ignoring it. I needed to have my head clear for what I was about to get into and the hospital blowing my phone up would not help. The doctor asked where I was. I explained that I checked myself out and to not worry because I was fine.
He suggested that I return to get another cat scan of my head done. I told him not today because I had to find my nephew alive since his father was on the brink of death. The doctor told me that James was not, but he was still unconscious. Relieved that he is alive, I asked about Ms. Lily. Ms. Lily was discharged to her husband just hours prior. I made a mental note to check on her soon. Just then my other line beeped, it was Lance.
I clicked over. "Yes," I answered.
"Yeah Nina, how fast can you get to the skatepark?" he asked in a rushed tone. I could tell it was something urgent.
I looked at my clock on the dashboard. "I can be there in ten, why? Is everything okay?" I asked, my heart already lowering itself into my stomach. I couldn't take any more heartache if it is what I think it is.
There was a slight pause before Lance replied. "Nina, I need you to know that there has been a body found at the park, but I don't have a confirmation of who it is."
"I'm on my way," I said, accelerating harder than usual. I hung up, flying through the road. I prayed a silent prayer for the victim but knew it couldn't be Rodney.
Or was it?
I hurried to the park and pulled up to the side of the road. Police cars, fire trucks, and an ambulance truck were all lined up. Yellow crime scene tape surrounded a portion of the park. The entry to it was actually a section of a wooded area of the park. This was seemingly strange. After speaking with some of the cops, they let me through. I hurried through there, stumbling upon the forensics team taking pictures of a body with a sheet covering it. I was trying so hard to hold it together. I prayed it wasn't Rodney.
I scanned the team of personnel for a familiar face and my eyes landed on Officer Stevens. He walked over to me solemnly.
"Mrs. Westbrook, I'm sorry you have to be here for this," he started, leading me away by my elbow. The tears were already starting to form but hadn't fallen yet. He moved me over by a tree, the lighting from the cops' drum flashlights providing us with light. "The other day, a young man by the name of Paul Hirsch went missing. Does the name ring a bell?" he asked me.
I wrinkled my brow. "Actually no, should it?"
He nodded in the direction of the body. "That is him. He went to the same school as your nephew, would've been graduating this year. The last person he was with was his girlfriend. She hasn't been seen or heard from since. Paul was brutally stabbed in the chest. I can tell it was personal," Stevens said directly.
I knew why he was telling me this. He wanted me to be prepared in case Rodney turned up like this. I wouldn't allow that to happen though. Not on my watch. I was too close. I decided to hold off on showing Stevens or his superiors Rodney's files.
"I feel bad for Paul, but I still have hope that Rodney is out there alive and safe. I just do," I said convincing myself more than Stevens.
I walked off to leave the area, running right into Lance. He wore the same hat and coat he had on when he reported the news about Rodney and Paul.
"It's so good to see you, Lance," I said to him out of nowhere.
He pulled me in an embrace and hugged me. "I know, I feel the same way. We're going to find Rodney. And definitely not like this," he whispered reassuringly. I looked back once more at the body and spotted Stevens watching us. I was about to say something, but Lance took me by the hand, leading the way out to the road where his car was parked.
Once we got inside his car, we sat quietly for a few minutes. He turned the heat on to warm our seats. I surely needed it for the scars I had were starting to hurt.
I pulled out my phone and showed Rodney's files to him. I had already downloaded them on my phone. Well, Joya did actually. She walked me through with encrypting them so they couldn't be traced.
Lance watched intently at the details of the video clip. It was very brutal, to say the least. He fast-forwarded it and grunted all the way to the end. He handed me back my phone and gave me a concerned look.
"So what do we do with this?" he asked.
"Nothing. I am going to try my hardest to trace these fools. I have a friend who owns her own private security firm. They do everything from private investigations to cybersecurity. Remember that story about the sex trafficking ring being taken down? About one-hundred-fifty people involved?" I asked him.
"Yes, I heard about that."
"Well, that was my friend's firm. She's solid and I trust her judgment. In the meantime, we haven't heard anything about a ransom. Perhaps they forgot. But in this line of business, I would know better than that. Criminal don't forget anything especially when it comes to money," I explained.
"That's true. Say hey, how'd you figure all this out? I mean, to find the files and all?" he asked out of curiosity.
"The part in the ransom video where Rodney said, 'I'll never be able to play my guitar again'. I figured I should look in there. He loves that guitar. I bought it for him actually. However, it was a code word from him letting me know the files were in there," I explained.
"Smart kid," Lance said proudly.
Lance's phone chimed with a notification. "Wow, that was fast," he said.
"What's that?"
"The Hirsches want to hold a vigil for the loss of their son. I guess they were already notified about Paul's death," Lance said sadly.
"Good, let's go there. Paul Hirsch was popular in the community because of him being an athlete. For some reason, I want to see if anyone looks suspicious. Most times, the killer could be right under our noses."
"You're right. I'll put the "breaking news" story on the online newsp
aper's social media sites with more details to follow. This will definitely get more people to show up."
Chapter Fifty-One
I left out of Lance's car to get to my own. Just then, the sergeant and Officer Stevens came over to me.
"When we cleaned out Bly's house for clues, we came across some information found in one of his files on his computers. It had your nephew's name on it. It was a file containing some hacker details he was into. Do you know why one of my fellow officers would have some information on his computer regarding your nephew and hacking?" he asked incredulously.
"Um, no, actually I don't know. When Bly first came to my home, he displayed unusual behavior," I explained.
"Really? How so?" the sergeant asked.
"He made it seem like my nephew was not the victim and was trying to brush the entire situation as a runaway case." I looked directly at Stevens. "You remember because you were there."
Stevens looked a bit nervous that I put him on the spot, but he spoke up in my defense. "That's true sir. Bly was very inconspicuous that day. I didn't say anything because you know how Bly could get at times," Stevens said hurriedly.
The sergeant shrugged. "Okay, well we have to take a look at this evidence and get back to you. Something tells me it could have everything to do with your nephew's disappearance." He turned to walk off. Stevens followed behind him.
"Hey, sergeant?" I called out to him.
He stopped and turned around. "Yes?" he asked, coming back over.
"Were there other files with other people's names on them? You know like Paul Hirsch?" I asked.
He gave me a smug look. "I'm sorry Mrs. Westbrook, I can't answer that. Truth be told, I shouldn't have told you about this, but I wanted you to have some sort of clue to help you and your family." He gave me a longing stare.
"Understood. Thank you. I appreciate it." He turned to walk off, this time much faster as if he couldn't wait to get away from me. I knew Rodney's name wasn't the only one in those files. I'd bet my money on it that Miguel Ortega's name was in there, too.
Making my way back to the car, I noticed Lance had walked back toward the crime scene taking notes to report. He was talking with a pretty brunette wearing a dark pantsuit underneath her long parka. I turned away and kept walking, hoping he would make it catch up with me at the vigil.
Just when I was turning to leave again, I saw a car pull up with a taxi sign on its side, in the parking area and a young lady ran out. She was crying at the scene of everyone around, the yellow tape and the morgue van. Frantically, she looked around and broke down crying. I went over to console her.
"Hey, where's my pay?" The taxi driver rudely yelled out for his pay. I went over and paid the disrespectful man glaring at him.
"Hey, why don't you just leave now? Can't you see this is a crime scene? How did you even get through here?" I asked him, squinting my eyes. He jutted a finger at the female bawling her eyes out.
"She told them she was a family member of the victim," he said gruffly and took off.
I muttered a swear underneath my breath, making my way back to the young lady.
She wouldn't stop crying. I figured right away that she had to be Paul's girlfriend. I took her to my car so she could stay warm. When we got inside, I handed her a tissue.
"My name is Detective Nina Westbrook. What's your name?"
"Hillary Ahmad," she said in between loud cries.
"Were you missing Hillary? Running from something? Tell me so I can get you some help," I said, placing my hand on top of hers. "You're safe now, go on."
She stared straight ahead, blowing out a deep breath. "Paul and I were dating for two years almost. He wanted out of this hacking thing he was into, you know? He thought he could buy his way out, but he did it all wrong. We were out back there," she pointed back towards the skatepark, "When two guys had come after him for some files and money. When Paul hit one of them with his skateboard, one of them shot at us. We ran for our lives. Paul shoved me forward to get away but I hit my head and ran into one of the guys. The other one stabbed Paul. I will never forget his cries for help, but I couldn't save him. These guys are vicious. They kidnapped me and took me to their house with another kidnapped boy." She wiped more tears from her eyes, looking at me.
My eyes went wide. "Describe this boy for me please," I asked in a rush. "What's his name?" I felt my heart thumping all over the place.
"You're Rodney's aunt Nina. The cop. He told me about you. He also said something about one of the kidnappers knowing your brother. His father. Oh yeah, I remember now. I was so saddened by Pauls's death, I almost forgot Rodney's story. He's scared to death, but I told him I would get help. Are you going to save him?"
"You bet I am," I said confidently, pulling out my phone. "Describe the men for me, the ones who took you to their house," I asked.
She described the two men and sure enough, it matches the description of the men in Rodney's copied video.
"Thank you, Hillary, you've been a huge help. And yes I am his aunt and my entire family has been looking for him like crazy. We still have time to save him thanks to you. You should be proud."
She nodded, probably feeling guilty that she couldn't save Paul.
We circled back and drove directly to where Officer Stevens and the sergeant were at. The coroner was loading Paul's remains onto the van when Hillary lost it again. She fainted at the sight of it all. Paramedics took her on a stretcher and whizzed her away to go to a hospital.
I filled in the sergeant, Officer Stevens and the rest of his team on what Hillary relayed to me.
"This is a good lead sergeant. We should look into this to save my nephew," I said directly.
He nodded his head. "Yes, I agree. We need to get some more statements from Miss Ahmad before we do this. I, of course, need to get SWAT, some more troopers and several others on board. It's high time we get these sadistic animals out of Oswego and in a box for good."
Personally, I didn't care what box they went in, but I didn't say that. "Thank you, sergeant. Is it alright for Officer Stevens to let me know when you have all this together?" I asked hopefully.
"Yes, he will do that." He walked off to leave the area.
Lance came jogging over after finishing up his notes. "What was that all about?"
I gave him a smirk. "Oh, you're about to find out real soon Lance. Come on, follow me behind in your car, I'll fill you in." I sent a quick text to Mom letting her know I had a lead. She wrote back, "FINALLY".
I smiled but still had to face the action of retrieving Rodney first.
And fast.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Numbers broke a rule that he swore by. Never bring a broad to his house of heinous crime. He didn't want to risk going to a hotel ever since Paul's murder was plastered all over the news by that hotshot Lance Steele. He figured at least he would save a few bucks in the interim.
After their third round of sex in the lavishly outfitted bedroom, Polly wanted something to drink. She leaned on one elbow looking at his handsome face.
"So tell me more about yourself. You're too private to me. I've told you everything you wanted to know about me," she said, making herself more comfortable. She ran her slender fingers alongside his fiery bird tattoo on his back.
Numbers, who was on his side, rolled his eyes, at her. This bitch was delusional if she thought we were going to be a thing. She was just a piece that I wanted and now she has to go.
As if on cue, Numbers' cell rang out. He reached for it from his oak nightstand and saw that it was Brennan.
"Yeah," he answered gruffly.
"Man, I've screwed up, innit?"
"What you mean you screwed up?" Numbers asked alarmed. He looked over his shoulder at Polly who was still beaming. Holding the phone to his ear with one hand, Numbers grabbed his shorts, put them on and went into his bathroom to talk in private.
"Brennan, what did you do?" Numbers asked impatiently. He listened with rage, shutting his eyes closed as Bren
nan told him about the store run and Hillary escaping.
"I'm sorry man, I didn't know she'd play me like this. I screwed up. I screwed up bad," Brennan said to Warren sadly.
"You stupid ass bitch! Why didn't you let that hoe use tissue? Something else would've sufficed. Damn man, we're so fucked! You stupid bitch!" Numbers bellowed over the phone. He was sure Polly heard him, but he didn't care.
"What are we gonna do?" Brennan asked, almost whining.
Numbers cackled. "Fuck you mean? This is where we split up you dumb piece of shit!" He hung up on Brennan.
Brennan looked at his phone with wide eyes. He couldn't believe Numbers went off like that. He'd never done that to him in all the years he'd known him. It was at that moment, Brennan was fed up and decided to leave town. He pulled into the parking lot of the hotel.
Numbers looked at himself in the mirror. He wanted to punch it so bad, but a bruised bloody hand was not what he needed right now. Thinking quickly, he stormed out of the bathroom, putting on the rest of his clothes that were on the floor. He had thrown them down there at the beginning of his tryst. He pulled out a wad of money from his dresser drawer and tossed it to Polly.
He paced back and forth, not even realizing that Polly was already dressed and on the phone talking in Spanish.
"I need to leave, I need to leave, damn man!" Numbers shouted.
Polly stood up and tried to calm Numbers down by reaching her hand out to him, but he knocked her hand out of the way and glared at her.
"I gave you money, now you need to leave," he seethed. He went into his closet, grabbed his bag and tossed his prized guns in there. A 9mm and a Desert Eagle. Brennan had the other one that came in a set.
Polly remained on the phone, still talking in Spanish. She squinted at Numbers' back as he knelt down to open up a safe. He had wads of cash in there. He couldn't' take it all, but he would take what he needed. He tossed some bands of stacks in his bag, not realizing Polly was watching him.
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