12. Chapter eleven
Chapter eleven:
Knox
TW: Gore the chase, the breaking through the greenhouse, him catching her on the lawn. He replayed it over in his mind like a personal film.
He was robbed of his entertainment when Denver knocked on his office door, followed swiftly by Zavros. Denver didn’t look happy as he carried a black box that was clearly soggy on the bottom into the office. Zavros jumped inside the room and blurted out, “Boss, we got a problem.”
“What?” Knox took the box from Denver and immediately gagged a little.
“My sentiments exactly,” Denver muttered, pulling out a handkerchief and wiping his fingers clean. Knox froze, box in hand as he saw the red stain on the fabric.
“Boss…the waitress, Sandy?”
Knox jerked his head to Zavros. The ogre was panting for air, having clearly booked it from the casino to the house. And suddenly, Knox was very anxious about opening the box still dripping in his hands. It was cold and slimy like old cardboard that’d been soaked through.
Sandy—oh no. Knox knew immediately who Zavros was speaking about. “The waitress that Rick punched out and stole the identity of, that Sandy?”
“Yeah, uh, she’s not been at work the last three shifts, and when I went to her house to check it out, the whole place was sacked. Ripped apart like a wild bear got inside and ate everything in sight.”
Knox glanced to the box in his hands, his stomach bottoming out. “Denver?”
“It was delivered to the gate guard not but a few minutes ago, the delivery boy is still there under lock and key.”
“Bring me the delivery boy,” Knox growled, ripping open the box. Like opening a can of rot and ruin, the lid popped off and filled the room with its stench. A rotting corpse is a specific scent that Knox knew well. He dropped the box onto his desk, grabbing his suit jacket up and over his face. Maevin, Zavros, and Denver all rushed to cover their faces.
Ah, there it is…the head in a box I kept joking about. Knox stared inside a cardboard box with a defrosting head inside…Sandy the waitress’ face pinch in terror stared back at him. Well, fuck. “Zavros, I wouldn’t worry about where Sandy is anymore.”
“Oh, fuck no!” Zavros wheeled around on his heel and stumbled from the room. Maevin clambered to the desk, took one look inside the box, and careened away from it with a groan of pain. Knox pulled his jacket off his arms and used it like gloves to pull the head from the box. She was decapitated swiftly, not a lot of damage to her neck. The cut was clean like a sharp blade, but there were grooves in the flesh. Like nails had been clawed across the throat.
“I’m starting to think Rick was also in on the infected vampire’s pay roll. Why else kill a waitress that he scammed?” Knox dropped the head back into the box.
“Why send you the head?” Maevin huffed, “They’re sending a message.”
“Clearly, a head’s a really clear message. I just wish it came with a calling card. Denver, send in someone in to clean this up and get me that delivery boy. I doubt he knows much, but they’ve made this personal.”
Denver bowed his head and bolted into the house. Knox tossed his soiled jacket into the box, ready to never see it again, before heading out of the office. Maevin, hot on his trail, whispered into his ear. “Boss, you said it’s a clear message, but I don’t get it, what are they trying to say?”
Knox shook his head. Inhaling greedily outside of the office, he put his hands on his hips. “That whoever is doing this has no remorse, that they’re willing to kill innocents to get what they want. I’m assuming they want my head.”
They were willing to kill innocents. Sandy was just a waitress. She’d been a victim of Rick’s, her credit card run up and identity stolen for what? He couldn’t imagine what Rick wanted with his waitress, but Knox was going to get to the bottom of this. Zavros limped back to them, having clearly lost all his cookies in a plant or a sink somewhere.
“I need you to go back to the casino and get me all the records on Sandy. Rick ran up her credit card, we have that report, I want to know what he bought. Everything, where her ID was flagged and what was he doing with it.” Knox saw the relief in Zavros’ eyes as he nodded, saluted Knox, then stumbled out of the house.
“And this goes without saying, but,” Knox turned to meet Maevin’s eyes and they spoke in unison, “Guards on Penny and Amelia.”
“I’ll get someone to tail the widow and her kid, I’ll personally keep an eye on Amelia.” Maevin pulled out his phone from his pocket and began dialing.
If they were willing to kill the waitress to cover up something or send a message, there was no doubt that Amelia or her family was next on the list. It was more imperative than ever that he go see her at the signing tomorrow. If not for the sake of his soul, but her life.
Whether she liked it or not, Amelia Armstrong was about to be in bed with the devil again. He wasn’t about to let her get hurt because of him.