“I got everything ready,” Joey said, handing me a leash and a bag of dog supplies. I had tons of shelter donations in the van, but they’d have to wait for another time. “I finished all the adoption forms for you. I just need you to fill in the blanks and pay the fee.”
I was opposed to talking on the phone while driving, but due to the situation, I’d let Joey give me a pre-adoption speech all the way to the shelter. I’d barely spoken a word.
I took a pen from the front desk and checked off various boxes while Joey went to the kennel.
“You have to be gentle with him,” Joey reminded me when he returned with Buck, who was bigger than I recalled. “He’s not aggressive, but he’s a little fearful. Just take it easy and don’t do anything sudden or loud.”
“Got it.” I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying to lighten my entire demeanor. I actually felt my shoulders relax, and I prayed Buck would follow suit.
“You can bring him back later, and I’ll rip up the paperwork like this never happened.”
“I can’t thank you enough, Joey,” I said. “I better go.”
“If you see Kat, tell her, um, tell her I love her. She’s like a sister to me, and I really want her back.”
His sincerity was beyond sweet, and I wished I could tell him she was okay—that nothing was life or death for Kat, but in all honesty, I wasn’t sure anymore.
“I will,” I said. “Talk to you soon.”
I took Buck out to my car, where he hopped in and chewed on a toy I’d set out, thank goodness.
I got in and closed the van door from the inside, saying soothing words, just in case the door’s clunk was surprising.
Then I crawled to the front seat as delicately as possible, trying to maintain a calm environment while my interior chaos swirled.
Andy and Dean both texted me that Kenna’s car had been found behind XXXTC, but there was no sign of her there. Everyone’s level of concern, which was already high, had now skyrocketed.
I updated them and Brunelli about my Oak Vale lead and how I planned to follow up. I wanted to go there and see where Buck led me, and if he sniffed out anywhere specific, I’d call in reinforcements. Trying to manage things alone would only put Kenna and me at greater risk.
On the way to Oak Vale, I talked to Buck as if he could understand me, explaining what we were doing and how he could help. I also talked to God, my late father, and anyone else who might be listening.
“I’m on the way, Kenna. I hope,” I said as I finally pulled onto Oak Vale and took the first space I saw. Tears were ready to fall, but I squeezed them back. The expression “Godspeed” had never resonated with me, but in the moment, nothing felt more appropriate.
I attached Buck’s leash as gently as possible, and he hopped right out of the van, jogging my memory about seeing him and Daddy B get into the passenger seat of a red sports car. I strained to recall its partial Virginia license plate, finally remembering that it contained a B and an H. Could that have anything to do with Ben Franklin Real Estate Holdings? Could Benjamin/Benny have been driving? As Buck and I walked, I’d be on the lookout for the plate. I asked Dean to do the same thing online, keeping in mind our new insights about AJ and Benny.
An expensive car would certainly fit in on Oak Vale, where large single-family homes on small lots led to a luxury townhouse complex. Each home had several levels and at least a two-car garage. Buck started off slowly, sniffing various distractions and relieving himself once. Then he turned around, headed toward the only destination I could see several treed blocks away: a tri-level complex of apartments or condos, I wasn’t sure which.
Buck walked quickly, and I kept up, glad he was hurrying almost as much as I could. It took restraint to let him lead instead of running ahead or next to him. “Good boy,” I said, adjusting to talking to an animal—and meaning every word.
We passed a sign for Riverwalk Luxury Condominiums, and I was a bit surprised and concerned when Buck didn’t turn in. There wasn’t a whole lot else around. Just a small strip mall with a convenience store, a pizza place, a barbershop with a neon “OPEN” sign, and an auto repair center that had closed for the night.
I didn’t smell any pizza or pepperoni, but I thought maybe Buck did when he trotted into the parking lot, sniffing the ground as if following a trail.
The pizza place was almost empty except for a teen at the counter and a cook in the back. Buck showed no interest and instead went around the side of the building, where the auto shop’s car wash blinked green, announcing its readiness for the next customer.
As I surveyed the parked cars nearby, Buck pulled his leash toward the back of the strip mall and a door labeled “Pickup and Deliveries Only,” and I got a nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was the only place that interested Buck, and I wasn’t sure where the door led. I leaned left and right, hoping to see signs on other doors, but there were numbers instead. This door was numberless.
Belatedly, I realized it also had a peephole.
“Come on, Buck,” I said softly. I needed to let Dean and the police know exactly where we were, and I wasn’t even sure what to tell them.
Buck whimpered and pulled at his leash, resisting me for the first time. Then he let out a yelp and jumped at the door, scratching it lightly.
I wanted to run, but Buck was pulling hard, and I was afraid of hurting him. Letting go wasn’t an option either, so I turned and walked confidently, urging him to cooperate.
Then I heard it.
“Buck?”
The voice sounded friendly, but that didn’t change my gut feeling. I kept moving, and so did Buck—but in the other direction. Now he was pulling harder, anxious to get to whoever had called him. I was afraid to look, knowing Benny and Wayne would both recognize me. That was assuming Benny had looked at more than my T&A at XXXTC. I’d done my best to distract him, and my makeup had been heavy. Today, I was in my typical ponytail, leggings, and sneakers. I’d also thrown on a baseball cap.
With my head tilted down, I peered back at Buck, just long enough to know how hard I could pull his leash to run for help, even if it was just to the pizza shop or convenience store.
That’s when I locked eyes with someone I wasn’t expecting, although he sure seemed to be expecting me.
Twenty-Six
“Hello, Raven,” Bobby said. “It wouldn’t be a party without you.”
“The police are on the way,” I said.
I’d already tapped Dean’s number and slipped my phone into my jacket pocket. I longed for the good old days, when you could press raised buttons like “911” without looking. Then again, I hoped Dean would see my location and send help, if I could just say the right thing.
“Don’t you want to stay for some Champagne?” Bobby sneered.
Oh, no. My heart was painfully split between a desperate need to see Kenna, who was probably trapped inside, or running and screaming for attention. But who would hear me? Teenagers at the pizza place? A convenience store clerk? Barbershop employees? At least they’d have sharp objects to work with.
“Bobby,” I said, stalling. “Please let Kenna…Champagne…go. She’s so confused after what happened to her yesterday. No one will take her word for anything. Let her go, and we’ll get out of here forever.”
Then Benny appeared behind Bobby, grabbed his shoulder, and whispered in his ear. He wasn’t wearing his wig, and his black suit, wide-collared shirt, and hoop earring gave him a tacky yet commanding “Big Tim” vibe.
Buck, likely anticipating a treat, leapt forward in excitement. The leash fell, and Bobby lifted his arm, gun in hand. I heard a series of clicks, and tiny bits of confetti exploded into the air.
What the heck kind of party was this?
I crashed to the ground, immobilized while my brain screamed but my mouth didn’t move. When the shock finally stopped, I uttered, “Help,” or at l
east I tried. My thoughts were jumbled, and while I was pretty sure I’d been tasered, the confetti confused me. Was Bobby’s weapon some sort of strip-club special order? The Party Taser! When your guests need that extra jolt. Electrifying energy that feels like it will NEVER stop.
I felt for my phone and immediately knew it had cracked. I hoped my head hadn’t suffered the same fate. The force of my fall seemed more dangerous than the horrifying shock, but I was too disoriented to sort it out. One or both of them had given me an instant headache, and my muscles, which had gone from seizing to limp, weren’t working properly. Bobby and Big Tim yanked the taser probes from my jacket and underlying skin—followed by my keys and phone from my pocket—and dragged me inside, pulling Buck along too. I tried to absorb my surroundings, hoping to remember everything about my location in case it would help.
To my surprise, they set me in a room designed to look peaceful, complete with a fake flickering candle, a sturdy massage table, body oils, and a cheap beach-scene poster. Maybe the barbershop offered massages? The answer hit me quickly. It does. And a whole lot more. The barbershop next to XXXTC probably did too. How convenient.
Bobby pinned me in a chair while Big Tim duct taped my wrists, ankles, and mouth and ordered me not to move, which I was hardly capable of doing anyway. My muscles were sore, as if I’d just done Disco Fit twice—without cheating on the leg lifts.
Buck whined as they pushed me to the floor.
“Shut up,” Big Tim told him. “You’ll get a treat soon enough.”
They picked me up and clumsily lugged me down a narrow stairwell. I wasn’t sure whether to hope they’d make it or fall. Buck followed, and his company was comforting.
The scene downstairs was not.
A mini pub was set up, complete with a bar, tables, endless bottles of alcohol, and the lingering odor of smoke. I looked around frantically for Kenna and finally saw her on the floor by a wall, similarly duct taped and alert, but terrified. They rolled me next to her, both of us on our stomachs, faces turned toward each other. I tried to express confidence and comfort with my eyes, forcing a reassuring smile beneath the duct tape, but I only felt the outer edges of my eyes turn up. Kenna “smiled” back, but a tear crept over her nose, dripping onto the jade green carpet.
I heard a door open, and someone entered from a back room.
“You two confirm it for me. Is this the same bitch from yesterday?”
I guessed Big Tim was talking about me.
Footsteps approached, and Wayne and Kat leaned over us, nodding.
“That’s her,” Wayne said, nudging my side. “Stupid bitches. Should mind your own fucking business.”
Not the first time I’d heard that, but probably the most convincing.
“Speaking of stupid bitches,” Big Tim said. I turned my head to see him, and he was looking straight at Kat. “It’s a bad day when I have to kill three of my best new girls.”
Kat’s eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open.
“You saw what happened with Daddy B and Jared,” Big Tim told her with a shrug, surely referring to the corrections officer’s murder. “And you saw Wayne dump these two in a hell hole. You think I’m going to let that kind of witness stick around?” He waited for an answer, but Kat stayed quiet. “All three of you know too much. Only AJ, Bobby, Wayne, and Daddy B knew who I really was. And Buck here.” He scratched behind Buck’s ears, walked behind the bar, and pulled something out. I cringed, praying it wasn’t a gun. Instead, it was a treat for Buck. “He’s the only one I can really trust,” Big Tim said with a laugh, tossing something red Buck’s way. Whatever it was, Buck ate it up.
“Benny,” Kat pleaded. “Jared threatened to turn me in for everything—the fake ID, working with Daddy B, everything. He said if I dumped him for good, my life was over.”
So she’d been dating Jared—or coerced into a relationship with him to avoid getting in trouble. He’d probably noticed her fake ID and seized the opportunity to prey on someone young, pretty, and vulnerable.
“Daddy B just wanted to scare Jared,” she continued. “To get him to shut up about me. He never planned to kill him, but Jared freaked out and got violent. Daddy B was protecting all of us. Why would I turn on him? Plus, you’re right. I am one of your best girls. I make a shitload for you every night. You want to lose that?”
“I can’t risk losing everything, honey. And I’m not gonna let an eighteen-year-old punk and two cougars take me down.”
Bobby laughed. “Plus, Shawna will make up for whatever we lose.”
“Shawna?” Kat said. “Make up for it? Please. She’s skimming. When she and Wayne take calls and book everyone’s dates…” Kat looked at Wayne, whose glare was intense and familiar, but she went for it anyway. “They take some of them for themselves. I guess you missed seeing them on the news, especially Shawna’s fat ass.”
“What?” Big Tim said.
I was just as surprised. Shawna had been on the news? Things were starting to come together, but Kat was talking too quickly for me to make sense of everything.
“Yeah,” Kat said. “They’ve been booking new clients and robbing them here and there. I bet Shawna took some of mine, since she’s jealous of everyone I bring in. So who can you trust now?” She looked at Bobby, who seemed distracted by the about-to-burst veins on Big Tim’s neck. Then Kat threw up her hands. “Bobby, you know me. I’ve been perfect since you and Benny spotted me. I’ve done everything you and Daddy B said.”
I thought about Big Tim, Bobby, Daddy B, and XXXTC. What a perfect setup for a sex trafficking racket. Big Tim and Bobby could scout out victims like Kat. And Daddy B, who was much younger, could lure them in with gifts and practiced deceit. Except Daddy B’s arrest was a game changer, so they had to depend on an underling, Wayne.
And based on what Kat had said, Wayne had done more than lock Kenna and me up in a drugged-out state. His brown-eyed glare was familiar for another reason. He’d answered Dean’s call about a date with Kat, and then he’d shown up with Shawna to rob me. The blond robber’s ultra-bodacious figure, which Dean had noticed on video, certainly matched Shawna’s. And I was willing to bet they were responsible for the other robbery Brunelli had mentioned, and who knew how many more. We’d all been disguised at that “meeting,” so we hadn’t recognized each other later.
Sensing we were all going down except Bobby, I kicked my legs and made “mmm” noises to get attention, looking like the center in a horizontal three-legged race.
“What the hell?” Big Tim said. “You got something to say?”
He peeled the duct tape off one side of my mouth, giving me just enough air to talk, but not scream.
“Kat’s telling the truth,” I eked out. “Shawna and Wayne robbed johns using Kat’s photo to lure them in. That way if someone reported it, you’d think it was Kat.”
Big Tim clenched and unclenched his fists, and I hoped he’d aim his emotions at Wayne before anyone else. The longer we kept him occupied and talking though, the more time we bought for Dean—or someone, anyone—to arrive. I looked down and started making crazy faces I hoped no one could see, desperately trying to release the duct tape further. Bit by sticky bit, it loosened, bringing the phrase Loose lips sink ships to mind. Usually, I believed the less said, the better. But today, I had some ships to sink.
“We gotta get everyone out of here,” Bobby said. “Someone might know where Raven is.” When they’d taken my phone, maybe they’d seen my most recent call. I hoped my screen had locked, despite being shattered.
Wayne nodded in agreement, clearly hoping Big Tim would spare him. “With the three of us, we can do it.”
The problem for the bad guys, as I saw it, was that Kat and Wayne were now on the defensive. Kat’s life was in jeopardy, and Wayne’s was at risk too. How could I lure them to the good side, which I believed Kat was already on, way down deep?
A noise up
stairs distracted all of us, and everyone looked up. It sounded like a door chime.
“Customer,” Big Tim told Bobby. “Go check it.”
Bobby ran up the steps, and I heard him talking with someone. Big Tim and Wayne seemed focused on it also. I doubted anyone could make out the conversation.
I looked at Kat and smiled, trying to exude kindness and composure. Her chest was rising and falling quickly, and her eyes were darting around the room. Although I doubted we’d be shot here, I was petrified we’d be disabled or drugged and then moved.
Fear flushed my face as I realized I hadn’t actually requested help from Dean before my phone broke, and I wasn’t sure the call had gone through. Help might not be on the way or even close. But there was someone upstairs, someone who might hear us.
“Help!” I screamed in a louder voice than I’d ever used with the kids. I felt like it came from the deepest part of my being, and it ripped off what remained of the duct tape’s glue.
“Help!” Kat yelled, apparently joining our team.
Kenna used her feet to bang the wall, and Big Tim moved his gun, which was heftier than the taser, aiming at each person who made a noise. But he didn’t shoot. Wayne seemed noncommittal, in a quiet yet defensive stance. His uncertainty gave me hope, and so did Big Tim’s reactions. He probably didn’t want to ruin his precious club with bloodshed, and Wayne, Kat, Kenna, and I were spread out around the room. No matter what, he couldn’t take all of us at once.
I turned my face toward Kenna, hating to look away from Big Tim, but determined to take action. Duct tape hung off my cheek toward the floor.
“Lights,” I mouthed to her, eyeing a row of switches less than halfway up the wall. With her flexibility and strength, I thought she could roll over, bend at the waist, lift her legs, and hit them with her feet.
I turned back and gave Kat a wink and a nod, and then I took a chance.
“Wayne’s got a gun!” I shrieked.
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