Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 73043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
I kept my eyes above and marched down to my dogs, and the moment that I was within reach of them, I dropped down to their level and hugged them.
Then, immediately burst out crying.
“Oh, God.”
***
Two hours later
“I already told you. They came out of a black panel van. One of those new ones that look kind of cool. They surrounded us, then one of them went inside to get my computer.”
“Why your computer?” Detective Cree asked.
I shook my head. “He didn’t actually want my computer. He wanted Rafe’s, but the guy found mine instead. I saw him pick it up from where he’d dropped it on the ground. It was mine. See? Rafe’s computer is right there.”
I pointed to his simple black laptop that’d been sitting on the end table.
Detective Cree nodded. “We’ll have to take that into evidence with us. See if we can pull anything useful off of it.”
A thought occurred to me, and I jumped up.
“Janie?” my father called.
I rushed to the laptop, flipped it open, and rushed back to the table. Setting it down where I’d been originally sitting, I started tapping away.
“Now, the other night, I was looking at my computer and I was annoyed with how slow it was running. Thinking it might’ve been something else, I picked up Rafe’s computer and found this program. The program tapped into my computer and allowed it to see everything that I was doing. It even has a…”
“Camera,” my father said, sounding pissed.
“Don’t get all pissy, Daddy,” I ordered. “And aren’t you kind of glad he had it right about now?”
“Should let him fucking rot,” he said stubbornly. “That’s an invasion of privacy, Janie. No joke. You shouldn’t be so nonchalant about this.”
My brows rose, and I said, “You remember that time when I was sixteen, and I found out that you installed that tracker on my car, as well as on my phone and purse?”
My father tightened his lips with displeasure.
“Got you there, bad boy,” Elliott replied. “Now, what do you need from us, Cree?”
Detective Cree narrowed his eyes at Elliott. “Who are you?”
Elliott’s lips twitched. “Someone you’ll want on your side. Trust me.”
Detective Cree didn’t look like he agreed, but then I stopped paying attention to whatever they were talking about and started pulling up the program on Rafe’s laptop.
Moments later, I saw a man’s face.
“That’s him,” I said, backing away slightly, startled to see him so close.
“Who’s that?” Detective Cree asked.
“That’s the man that took Rafe.”
“And that one?” He pointed to the man standing behind the guy’s right shoulder.
“That, I’m assuming, is Layton,” my father replied.
I pulled my phone out to access my files that I’d gathered on Layton Trammel and then turned it to compare the two men.
“This one is his latest military photo,” I said. “That one is him, correct?”
“This photo does match his hair—though it’s gotten longer. The eyes are the same, too,” Dad said.
“Then,” I nodded in confirmation. “I think I’m fairly positive that the man standing at his shoulder is Layton Trammel.”
I turned my eyes to Detective Cree, waiting for his response.
“We’ll get some units to his house.”
With that, he stood up and walked to the door, then exited it without another word.
I turned to my dad, as well as the rest of the men that came with him. Uncle Sam. Max. Jack. Elliott and Gabe.
All of them were there, and I couldn’t help but be relieved that they were.
I knew that this wouldn’t go badly if they were here.
This group of men standing there, looking down at me with angry looks in their eyes, never gave up.
Not until they got what they were searching for.
“He’s not at his house,” I said to them.
My dad tugged on my ponytail. “No, he’s not. Go take a shower. Wash that blood and vomit off of you. When you’re done, we’ll start tracking where he’s at. You can do that, right?”
I nodded and typed a few things into the computer, then referenced those data points onto my phone. “It says he’s about an hour north of here in the middle of about a thousand-acre nature preserve.”
I showed the phone to them, and my father took it.
“You didn’t want Detective Cree to know this?”
I laughed. “When have we ever done things the way they were supposed to be done?”
With that, I allowed my father and my uncles the privacy they wanted and walked to the shower.
On the outside, I was cool as a cucumber. On the inside, I was about to vomit again.
Did vomit again.
Score another one for the bad guys.
Chapter 23
If I have to put on pants for you to come to my house, then you’re clearly not that good of a friend.
-T-shirt
Rafe
“Goddamn ticking time bomb,” Trace muttered over and over again. “Jesus Christ. Whatever you do, don’t freak out, okay?”
I had absolutely no idea what he was babbling on about.