Annabelle gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. She was white as a ghost, and I’m sure I looked very much the same.
“Do you know who that is?” Keegan asked.
Annabelle was already nodding her head.
“Boar.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Carbon
I had been at the garage busting my ass all day. We’d fallen behind schedule when we were searching for Harper, and we were close to being caught up. It was almost closing time when Phoenix called and told me I needed to come over to his house. Immediately, my mind went to Harper. Before I could ask, he assured me she was fine.
When I arrived at Phoenix’s house, I was surprised to find Harper there, as well as Keegan. Both of them were seated on the couch with Annabelle, perched in front of a large laptop, looking nervous as hell. I eyed them warily and glanced at Phoenix. “What’s going on?”
Phoenix ran his thumb and forefinger over his chin. “I don’t know whether to be pissed or proud right now. Seems these three decided to play detective and managed to dig up something that Byte, Spazz, and the cops missed.”
“Is somebody going to tell me what they found?” I asked, not bothering to hide my irritation.
Harper turned her body to face me. “Annabelle offered to help me get through reading the journal. That’s what we were talking about this morning. Anyway, as we were reading it, a lot of things didn’t make sense. Hilarie would refer to something she had previously written, but it was nowhere to be found in the journal we have. That led us to believe she had other journals. I wanted to find those as well as any of her other personal belongings because I want answers. I want to know why she did this to me. I want to know who helped her. I want to know how in the hell she got me and Shaker to that house!”
Annabelle placed a comforting hand on Harper’s shoulder. “I knew Keegan’s computer skills could rival Byte’s, so I asked her to come over and help us. We thought maybe she had a storage unit in her name somewhere. Anyway, Keegan worked her magic and discovered that Hilarie’s house, the one she took Harper and Shaker to, wasn’t actually her house and was built on top of an old coal mine with a shaft that connects to another house several miles away,” Annabelle said, stopping abruptly, her eyes darting to Phoenix.
He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “The other house and the property are owned by Boar.”
I heaved in breath after breath, trying to keep my rage contained, at least until I knew more. “You talked to him?” I gritted out.
Phoenix shook his head. “I called you first. Do you want to do this on the phone or in person?”
“Phone,” I said through my clenched jaw. In person, I might kill him if he didn’t have the right answers. Who was I kidding? I would rip him apart with my bare hands before anyone could stop me if he said the wrong thing.
Phoenix shot Keegan a stern look. “What you hear in this room cannot be repeated. Do you understand?”
She nodded and met his eyes. “Yes, sir. I understand.”
Phoenix dialed and placed the phone on speaker. When Boar answered, Phoenix got right to the point. “You got a property out on Cold Creek Rd?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“Who lives there?” Phoenix asked, though it wasn’t a question.
“Phoenix, man, there’s no need for an interrogation. Tell me what the problem is, and I’ll tell you what I know,” Boar replied, sounding a little put off by Phoenix’s approach.
“Your Old Lady picked up my Road Captain and my Enforcer’s Old Lady last week on the side of the road and brought them back to Croftridge. I don’t know how much she told you, but they’d been kidnapped and held in a house hidden in the woods out there. That house is on your property and connects to your house by an underground mine shaft,” Phoenix explained.
“What? How’d you find that out? I own the damn thing, and I had no idea,” he said, blatantly sounding confused.
“A resident computer whiz found a map of the coal mine,” Phoenix answered, smirking at Keegan.
“What do you need from me?” Boar asked.
“Do you live there or know who does?”
“I don’t live there. I inherited the place when my father died. Since then, it’s always been a rental property,” he explained. “The current tenant is a man in his 30’s. Can’t remember what his name is. Oh, hell, I just remembered something, hang on a second.” We heard him move away from the phone and call for Shannon. They exchanged a few words before he came back to the phone. “Sorry about that. Shannon was on her way out to the rental house to see why he hadn’t paid his rent when she found Shaker on the side of the road. I’d forgotten about that and just asked her if she’d been out there to get the rent. She hasn’t, so I’m going to have to ride out there. You fellas want to tag along?”
I didn’t hesitate to give a sharp nod to Phoenix. “Indeed, we do. It’ll just be three of us. We’ll head that way now.”
“Grab Shaker and let’s roll. You three ladies stay put and stay out of trouble. We’ll be back in a few hours,” Phoenix ordered. He kissed the hell out of Annabelle and strolled out the front door. I gave Harper a quick peck and followed him.
We met Boar outside the gates of his clubhouse. Even though we were friendly with his club, it wasn’t kosher for us to roll onto his turf sporting our colors. Boar pulled out of the gates and led the way to his rental property.
He turned onto what I thought was a gravel road but turned out to be a long driveway. The house was tucked back behind a copse of trees, not visible from the street. Pulling up in front of the house, I could immediately sense something was off.
Boar rang the doorbell and knocked on the door several times. After a few minutes with no answer, he walked around to the back of the house and pressed his face to a window. “I haven’t heard from my tenant in several weeks, and I’m going to exercise my right as the landlord to do a welfare check,” Boar announced, producing a key from his pocket.
Once inside, it didn’t take long to figure out Boar’s tenant was long gone. “What was this guy’s name?” I asked.
Boar snorted. “Ivan Ceven.”
“Shall we check out the mine shaft?” Shaker asked.
“Sure, if we can find it,” Boar offered.
“I don’t even know what we’re looking for,” I added.
After thoroughly searching the house, Phoenix relented and called Keegan. Comparing the map of the mine to the blueprints of the house, she suggested we look outside near the southwest corner of the property. I pulled up the compass app on my phone and used it to guide us southwest. We found a large shed hidden behind a wall of trees.
We pulled the doors open to find a set of steep stairs. Using flashlights, we carefully descended to the bottom. I slowly rotated, shining my light along the walls. I froze when I saw it. “Holy shit,” I uttered. The other three turned and remarked with similar statements of disbelief. In front of us was a bona fide mine shaft, complete with a waiting mine cart.
“You think this thing works?” I asked.
“I have no idea, brother,” Phoenix mumbled.
“Ah-ha,” Boar exclaimed, seconds before we were illuminated with fluorescent lights. He smiled proudly. “I found a breaker.”
Shaker mumbled, “That’s how she did it.”
We turned to see what he was talking about. He had pulled the mine cart out of the way to reveal a utility vehicle with a flatbed on the back. Shaker climbed into the driver’s seat and cranked it. “Let’s see if Ms. Keegan’s theory is correct.”
Reluctantly, I climbed into the flatbed portion of the UTV with Phoenix while Boar got into the passenger seat. As we moved through the tunnel, it was clear it had been recently upgraded. Lights had been installed, and the walls and ceiling had been reinforced and covered with sheetrock. What was supposedly once a mine shaft now looked more like a subway tunnel.
At the end of the tunnel, we found two doors, both locked. “Stand back,” Boar ordered
and proceeded to shoot the locks off of both doors. “Problem solved,” he said proudly. At least, I thought that’s what he said seeing as how none of us could hear shit since he fired two shots back to back in an enclosed space.
The first door we opened appeared to be a storage space with a few cardboard boxes inside. Behind the second door was a set of stairs. The stairs led to a hinged door overhead. Phoenix and I had to use a bit of force, but we were able to push it open. We climbed out to find a house in the middle of the woods.
“How the fuck did we miss this?” Shaker asked.
Closing the door to the stairs, Phoenix pointed at the ground. “It was well hidden, brother. Hell, the cops didn’t even find it.” Looking down, I realized why it was so difficult for us to push it open. The crazy bitch had built flower beds around it and must have been covering the door with the small fountain that was knocked over.
“Shall we take a look inside the house?” I asked.
“No need. Harper and I went through it before we left and the cops have been through it. She really didn’t have much in there,” Shaker answered.
We went back to the mine shaft, loaded up the cardboard boxes, and drove the UTV back to Boar’s property. “Now we know how she got us there and how she was getting supplies, but I still don’t think she did it by herself. There’s no way she could have carried my big ass up those stairs and up the stairs inside the house. My money is on the guy that was renting this place,” Shaker said.
“You got any other information about this guy?” Phoenix asked Boar.
“No, sorry. He paid the first couple of months upfront in cash and then he paid in cash every month after. He was never late on the rent until this month. He seemed like he was going through a tough time, and he had the money, so I didn’t press him for more info. I can give you a description of what he looks like, but that’s about it,” Boar explained.
“I’ll get some of the boys to come out and change the locks on this place tonight and make sure everything, including the entrance to that mine shaft, is locked up tight. We’ll put up a few cameras around the property, too. If he shows up around here, we’ll grab him for you,” Boar promised.
“Thanks, man,” Phoenix said, extending his hand to Boar.
“Do you want me to have those boxes sent to you?” Boar asked.
It didn’t even occur to me that we were on our bikes and couldn’t carry them back with us.
“Yeah, that’d be great,” Phoenix said. “Carbon, you want to look through them before we head out?”
After digging through the contents of each box, I found one journal that appeared to be from Valarie’s childhood. I held it up for Phoenix and Shaker to see. “I think this is what we were looking for.”
Phoenix nodded and turned his attention to Boar. “Appreciate your help, man.”
“Hell, I ought to be thanking you for letting me know about a house I didn’t even know I owned,” Boar said with a chuckle.
“When we get back to Croftridge, I’ll have Byte start digging into Ivan Ceven,” Phoenix said.
I snorted. “Sounds like you might want to have Keegan do the digging.”
Phoenix laughed. “Nah, as soon as I tell Byte that she found something he missed, that boy won’t miss shit ever again.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Harper
I knew they found something. I could tell by the look on Chase’s face when he got back. Without a word, he held up what looked like a child’s diary.
“Is that Hilarie’s? I mean Valarie’s?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, baby, it is. I haven’t looked at it, other than to see if it was what we were looking for,” he said and handed it to me.
He cleared his throat and seemed to be nervous. “Just tell me what will make this easier for you. Do you want me to stay with you while you read it? Do you want to be with Annabelle? Your brother? Alone?”
I put the journal on the coffee table and walked to my troubled man. Reaching up, I cupped his cheeks in my hands. “Let’s get something to eat first and then we can read it together.”
Over dinner, we talked about their trip to Boar’s property. He told me Hilarie used a UTV to get Shaker and me to the hidden house. “We think the guy renting Boar’s house helped her. We went to the house, but he’s long gone. We’re trying to find him, but I need you to be extra careful until we do.”
We cleaned up the kitchen and went upstairs to get comfortable. Once we were situated, I opened the journal and started reading aloud.
Dear Diary,
I am so mad. Mommy and Daddy made Ants leave today. And it’s all Vanessa’s fault. She told them something that made them mad at Ants. Ants didn’t do anything. She’s just jealous because Ants always liked me more than her.
Valarie
I handed the notepad we used at Annabelle’s house to Chase. “Might as well take notes as we go. Who is Ants?”
Dear Diary,
I hate Vanessa. I thought Mommy and Daddy would let Ants come back when they weren’t mad anymore, but they didn’t. I miss Ants so much.
Valarie
Dear Diary,
I have a new friend. Her name is Ann, and she’s all mine. No one else knows about her. I don’t have to share her with stupid Vanessa. I like her a lot, but she’s not Ants. I miss Ants so much.
Valarie
Dear Diary,
Vanessa told Mommy and Daddy she heard me talking to someone. She told them I wouldn’t play with her or talk to her because I spend all of my time with my new friend. Daddy got mad, and Mommy cried. They sent me to my room and told me not to come out. Stupid Vanessa. We hate her. She took Ants away from me and now she wants to take Ann away, too.
Valarie
Dear Diary,
Mommy took me to the doctor today. I told her I wasn’t sick, but she said I had to go. She wasn’t like the other doctor. She didn’t take my temperature, and I didn’t have to get any shots. She told me to sit on a couch, and she asked me so many questions. She asked me about my new friend, but I lied and told her I didn’t have one. Just like I was supposed to. Mommy says I have to go see this doctor every week. Stupid Vanessa.
Valarie
Dear Diary,
I’m in trouble again. I was supposed to help stupid Vanessa clean up the playroom, but I fell asleep. I couldn’t help it. Ann won’t stop talking so I can go to sleep at night. She only talks to me when I’m alone and then she won’t stop talking. She hates Vanessa as much as I do.
Valarie
Dear Diary,
I don’t like Ann anymore, but she won’t go away. I asked her to leave me alone, and she said she would, but she wants me to make Vanessa go away first. She said if I did that, she would leave me alone and promised to never talk to me again. Stupid Vanessa. She ruins everything.
Valarie
Dear Diary,
Ann helped me come up with a plan to get rid of Vanessa. I’m going to do it tomorrow. I’ll be so happy when both of them are gone.
Valarie
Dear Diary,
Today I acted like I liked Vanessa again. She was so excited to play with me. She said we could do whatever I wanted. I told her I wanted to show her a new secret hiding spot. Stupid Vanessa followed me up to the attic. We opened a window and crawled out onto the roof. I made her go first. She was scared, but she did it because it was what I wanted. I climbed out behind her and then I kicked her in the back as hard as I could. Stupid Vanessa screamed and then she stopped. Ann told me I did a good job and then she said goodbye. I’m back in my room, and I’m going to go to sleep.
Valarie
“Holy shit. She killed her sister. Did you know that?” Chase asked.
I was already shaking my head. “No, I had no idea. I don’t think anyone did. I looked up a few articles about it, and everything said the girls were playing in the attic and Vanessa fell out of an open window.”
“I just can’t believe she would kill her own twin because her friend told her t
o do it. She should’ve known better at that age.”
“Chase, I can’t say for sure, but I think her friend was actually an auditory hallucination.”
“A what?”
“An auditory hallucination. In other words, she was hearing a voice that wasn't real. It’s actually not uncommon in children.”
“You mean like an imaginary friend?”
“Yes, like an imaginary friend. Most of the time, imaginary friends are nothing to be concerned about, but I think this instance is different,” I explained.
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Let’s see what else she wrote,” Chase said and nodded toward the journal.
Dear Diary,
I don’t have anybody to play with. Stupid Vanessa is gone. Ants is gone. Ann is gone. Mommy cries all the time and says she can’t look at me. Daddy is always at work. I’m glad he’s not here. He’s always mad when he’s at home.
Valarie
Dear Diary,
Daddy brought Vanessa home today. I thought she was gone forever. I know Mommy and Daddy told me she went to Heaven, but Daddy said they didn’t say that. He said they said she went to the hospital. He said that she looks a little different because of her accident, but it was the best the doctors could do. I don’t care if she looks different. She’s back home. We’re in the same room. Sharing everything. Just like we were before.
Valarie
Dear Diary,
Vanessa doesn’t remember anything, like our secret handshake, or our favorite hiding places. Daddy said it’s because of her accident. That her brain is still healing. I don’t believe him. I think she’s acting like she doesn’t remember stuff because she’s still mad at me. I don’t care if she’s mad at me because I’m mad at her.
Valarie
Carbon (Blackwings MC Book 4) Page 21