Chapter 15
Brett
“Brett Cage,” he said into his phone the following morning, having answered without looking at who it was.
Everyone had stayed through the night again, sleeping in shifts, working through the evidence, including the short document the profiler had given them on kidnappers. His stomach churned as he read it.
“Brett, it’s Brady. We’ve found something that we believe belongs to Felix.”
His heart almost stopped. “What is it?”
“Clothes.”
“Clothes? Are you sure?”
Brady hummed. “Not certain, but from what was with it, I’m pretty sure.”
Brett tried not to be impatient with the commissioner, but it wasn’t easy. “Which is?”
“His watch.”
Swallowing hard, he swallowed down the urge to curse and throw his phone—he wasn’t Dominic, after all.
“Where?” Brady gave the location. “I’ll be there soon.
” He hung up and explained what Brady had found to those in the room.
“Eric, Owen, I need you with me. Sam, can you bring up this location and see if there are any cameras, CCTV, anything like that which could give us an idea of who might’ve left it? ”
“Sure.” Sam turned back to the computer he’d been at all the previous day and night.
He headed out with Eric and Sam, but Maddox stopped him. “Can I come?”
Brett hesitated, still not wholly convinced that the man wasn’t a spy in their midst, but regardless of whether he was, he couldn’t keep him in Sec HQ indefinitely. “Fine.”
The four of them strode towards the car, Brett allowing Owen to drive instead of himself.
“Did Brady say what was there?” Maddox asked, leaning forward a little between the seats.
Brett shook his head. “Nothing but what he’d found. It could be a field or someone’s back garden for all I know. We’ll have to wait and see.”
He also wasn’t convinced they were Felix’s items. Yes, Felix had a rather unique watch, but it wasn’t the only one in existence.
His uncle had given it to him not long before he’d died, and Felix had worn it ever since.
It wasn’t cheap, hence the uniqueness, but others had one as well.
He’d know when he saw it, though. There was a particular scratch on it that Brett knew had happened when Felix had protected Oscar one of the first times.
Oscar’s house had been attacked, and Felix had to get him out, and Felix had dragged his watch against the wall.
After he had recovered from it—a day’s rest ordered by Brett—he had been rather proud of the scratch.
Owen parked the car on the edge of the property line, a fence dividing the road from an expanse of land. It was huge, surrounded by trees, but there didn’t seem to be anything built on it, as the grass was easily up to their knees.
They went over to where they could see Brady. Brett stopped a short distance away.
“How close can we come?”
“They’ve processed everything, so you’re good,” Brady replied, putting his phone in his pocket.
Brett stepped closer to him and paused as he looked down.
They stood just on the inside of a crop circle-style flattened area, and in the centre was a pile of clothes.
He didn’t need to see them up close because he could tell they were Felix’s.
They were what he had been wearing when he disappeared.
“The watch?”
Brady handed it over. “It’s not working.”
Brett studied it, finding the scratch. “It’s definitely his,” he murmured. He looked at another section of it. “It’s not broken. He stopped it on purpose.”
“How do you know?”
“Because this type of watch has a specific way of working, and unless you know how to do it, it’s not easy to stop it.
Obviously, unless it’s broken. But…” He fiddled a bit.
“As you can see, it’s still working.” He held out the watch to show the second hand starting its journey around the face, but then stopped it again.
“Why did he stop it then? What was the point?” Maddox asked, leaning closer.
Brett considered his answer carefully, his instincts roaring at him that something wasn’t right. “Maybe the time was relevant to something that happened to him. The time they removed it from him, or the time he took it off. I don’t know.”
He couldn’t put the pieces together, but he allowed the watch to go back into the evidence bag. He would request it back once they’d finished with it, if only to give it back to his family.
“Do you know if the clothes were removed before…or after?” He couldn’t articulate what he meant through the thickness in his throat, so he hoped Brady understood his question.
“We don’t know. It might show after testing, but as of right now, I can’t answer that.” Brady’s tone held a note of sympathy, but Brett ignored it.
“Anything else you’ve found?”
“Not so far. Obviously, we’re doing forensics on everything, but it seems far too clean. Potentially a drop and run.”
Brett stared at the pile of clothes, something catching his eye about it. He crouched but didn’t touch them. “What’s that?” He pointed at something burgundy coloured.
“A scarf. Why?”
“As far as I’m aware, Felix doesn’t own anything that isn’t black, grey or blue.”
Brady picked it up, the fabric hanging loose from his fingers. “This isn’t Felix’s?”
Brett stood again, staring at the item. “My instincts tell me no because he wasn’t a man to wear colours, but I couldn’t guarantee it. Owen? What do you think?”
“I think you’re right. I’ve never seen Felix wear anything other than dark colours either. Whose… Holy shit.”
“What?” Brett’s gaze snapped to him.
“We found roses with his phone, and now a scarf with his clothes. Roses were something Douglas and Randall had to deal with, and a scarf was something Evan and I had issues around.”
“What about Nick and Kai? Did they have something relevant through their ordeal?” Brady asked.
“Notes and photographs mainly, similar to when we found his phone. Whatever they’re doing, they’re leading us on a merry trail,” Owen said, hands on his hips while he surveyed the area, walking in a circle. “First the phone, now this. What next?”
“Whatever they’re doing, they’re not finished,” Brett said.
“Why’s that?” Eric asked.
“Because they’re still leaving clues. Felix is…dead, but they’re still leaving things for us to find. If it was over, they’d be gloating, and it would be the end.”
“Where is his gun?” Owen asked. At Brett’s frown, he added, “We have his clothes and his phone, but where is his gun and holster?”
“Probably a keepsake,” Maddox said, and Brett glared at him, though he wasn’t looking at him. “What are they after?” Maddox continued, something in his voice making Brett look at him a little closer.
He met Maddox’s gaze. “Chaos.” He could’ve elaborated, but he didn’t.
“Time to head back. There are still things to do. And we have some guards who need to be on duty. As much as I want to keep us focused on finding Felix’s…
Felix, our regular jobs take precedence.
” He hated saying the words, but it was his job to make tough decisions.
And he knew Felix would want them to continue protecting the Sutcliffes, no matter what.
Brett turned around, surveying the area they stood in. There wasn’t much around them. “Brady, how did you find these? It’s not like anyone overlooks it, and apart from the circle and where we all walked, nothing looks disturbed.”
“Someone called in an anonymous tip. And before you ask, yes, we tried tracing it but couldn’t. We have no idea where the call came from. There was a path in the grass before we got here, and we got forensics to look at it before we followed it, hence the delay in letting you know about it.”
“Maybe out guy can help,” Brett said, squinting.
“How long have you been here?” Brett frowned at Brady.
“Around four hours.”
“You were told about this four hours ago, and you didn’t tell me?” Brett rounded on him. “Four hours!”
Brady stared at him, narrowing his eyes. “I will let that slide… this time. We weren’t told what it was or whom it related to, just that something was here. Until I researched the watch, I had no clue it had anything to do with Felix.”
“What do you mean, researched the watch?”
“I’ve never seen a watch like this before, so it caught my attention.
I did an online search of the make and model and found it was rare.
When I contacted the creator, they confirmed they only made ten, and when Frank Jamison’s name came up, it didn’t take long for us to link him to Felix.
” Brady cleared his throat. “There is also an issue with the rifle the detectives found.”
“What issue?” Brett said.
“The registration number matches Felix’s licence.”
“That can’t be right. It’s in the weapons locker. Right, Maddox?”
Maddox’s eyes widened. “Rifle?”
Brett tried to withhold his irritation. “You just did an inventory check. Was Felix’s rifle there? It was on the list to check.”
Maddox rolled his lips inwards and shook his head. “It wasn’t there.”
“This is getting fucking ridiculous,” Brett said, cursing beneath his breath.
“They’ve targeted Dominic, Owen, Nick, and now Felix, and I’m no fucking closer to finding out who the fuckers are!
” He ran his fingers through his hair, then pressed at his temples.
He exhaled. “We need to get back.” He started towards the car, ignoring the calls of his name coming from behind him.
He couldn’t deal with any more platitudes right then.
The four of them ended up back at Windsor, but before they all entered the castle, Maddox got his attention.
“Can I have a word?”
Brett reined in his sigh and nodded. “What’s up?”
“You know who my father is.” Brett nodded. “I know you think the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. But I also know where you’ve been. I don’t want to be part of that world, same as you don’t, but we keep getting dragged back in, no matter what we do.”
“If you don’t want that life, Maddox, don’t do what they tell you to. It’s that simple.”