28. Zombie
TWENTY-EIGHT
ZOMBIE
I was sitting at my desk when my computer let out a noise signaling that it was done analyzing the partial print through the Automatic Biometric Identification System.
Knots gathered in my stomach when it was confirmed that the partial print I had gathered from the letter belonged to none other than Sarah Myers.
I called Badger with the news and tried to seem hopeful when I was delivering it.
Now that we had a confirmed partial print, we knew where to direct our resources.
Which also meant I needed to be strategic in how I played both sides of this situation.
One on hand I needed to keep Sarah none the wiser that my team was on to her even more and then on the other hand I needed to make sure my team didn’t find out about my involvement with Sarah.
Word spread quickly, and Chief was working on a plan to take Sarah down once they pinpointed her location.
Guilt gnawed at my gut for not telling them where to find her.
I knew I should and knew it was wrong to keep vital information away from the team.
However, if I did tell them, it could mean that my very own daughter would be put into the sex trade at the age of two.
It also meant that Cassie would have to be related to something that was evil. I didn’t want that for either of them.
It had been several days since I last hung out with Lennie.
She’d been working overtime trying to use my findings to triangulate where Sarah was.
I wanted so desperately to hold her in my arms and tell her the truth, but it couldn’t happen.
She needed to figure everything out on her own.
If that meant also outing me, then I would have to deal with those consequences as they came.
I was working on sorting some evidence for the county, when a text came through from Sarah. I let out a curse as I read it.
UNKNOWN:
All hands on deck. 10 PM tonight. Urgent.
A pit formed in my stomach. Did Sarah know what was going on with the investigation? Did she have someone on the inside besides me? Questions swirled in my mind.
I sent my typical thumbs-up emoji to let her know I received her message.
Before I headed to the warehouse, I stopped outside Lennie’s place, making sure to park a couple blocks away. I needed to get a glimpse of the beautiful woman that occupied my brain at all hours of the day.
It was a little past ten o’clock, and lights filled the second-floor condo where I could see Lennie dancing in the living room with the goth woman, who I’d learned was named Darcy.
A smile filled my face when I saw Lennie use her wine glass as a microphone as she shook her hips to whatever they were listening to.
I promised myself that next time I was over there I would place some cameras so I could really see what was going on inside instead of being the creep who stood outside in the dark.
I continued to watch, and before I knew what was happening a gun was cocked and pressed to my back.
“Put your arms up and turn around, you sick fuck.” I recognized the gravelly voice as Bohdi’s.
I turned around and came face to face with the behemoth of a man. His eyes were dark and steely, and he had a no-nonsense aura around him.
He looked confused when he saw it was me before his steely complexion returned. “Zombie, what the fuck are you doing here?”
My heart started to hammer in my chest as I tried to come up with an excuse as to why I was out here.
Think. Think. Think, I yelled internally.
I kept my hands up where he could see them. “I live a couple of blocks away and was going for a walk. I saw Lennie dancing her butt off and thought it was funny.” It was partially the truth, so I hoped that he would go along with it.
Bohdi lowered the gun and gave me a wary look before holstering the weapon. I continued on like this was a normal occurrence.
“Are you on duty tonight?” I asked, pushing my hands into my pockets, attempting to look as non-threatening and casual as I could.
If things got really bad, I wouldn’t stop myself from shooting this fucker in the face. I didn’t care who he was.
Bohdi seemed to relax a little and ran a hand over his long hair, which he was wearing down rather than in his usual bun. “Yeah, gotta make sure that she's safe.”
I gave him a nod when I really wanted to tell him I had it handled. But I kept that to myself. No need to poke the bear.
“I’m glad that Kade is still having you guys keep an eye on her. I’m going to continue my walk. Have a good night, man.” I swung a thumb over my shoulder to indicate that I was going to carry on my merry way.
Bohdi shot me another calculating gaze before giving me a nod. “You too, Z.”
On that note, I turned around and started walking the long way to my car.
By the time I got to my vehicle, my heart was hammering.
That had been a close call. I really needed to step up my game if I wanted to continue to keep an eye on Lennie.
Especially now that I knew Kade was still having someone on guard.
I drove to the warehouse with my mind racing. I had so many thoughts swimming through me that I was unsure what to focus on.
I mindlessly followed the roads to my destination until I reached the warehouse. More cars were there than usual, and I wondered what it was all about. When I walked inside, Sarah stood in the front of a crowd of twenty or so men who were speaking animatedly.
“Oh good, you’re here,” Sarah said frankly.
I rolled my eyes and walked over to her in front of the group.
I knew most of these men at this point and had been planning how I would dismantle their lives for being part of such heinous crimes against humanity.
I knew how ironic that sounded—I too was part of these heinous crimes, whether I wanted to face that or not.
I stood next to Sarah as she began to speak.
“Alright, listen up, the feds are starting to investigate the missing person cases a little more thoroughly now that Daddy is gone.” She paused and placed her hands on her hips.
“Even though I have my connection at the station, we need to come up with a new game plan for how to dispose of the bodies.”
She turned to me, and I felt my face pale.
“That’s where you come in, my dear brother.”
My brows knitted together. “Why me?”
She gave me a cruel smile. “Because you are the king of the dead and know the most effective ways to slice and dice. Taking after Dad so well.”
I wanted to puke. I never wanted to be anything like my biological father, and of course naturally I had chosen a job where I did in fact know how to “slice and dice” bodies so they were untraceable.
She looked out at the crowd of men and then back at me. “Give us some insight on how we can run our operation more effectively.”
I really thought I was going to vomit right in front of everyone. I took a deep breath before answering.
I licked my dry lips and took a moment to center myself.
“First, you need to be more creative when disposing of the bodies. They should not be intact, if you will. If you’re dumping the parts in the river, they should be weighed down so they don’t wash ashore as quickly.
That means it will take longer for them to be found, which means they’ll be more decomposed and more difficult to analyze if they are discovered.
” Everyone looked at me as if I was giving them a golden ticket to the Wonka factory.
“Perry, Phil, you will be in charge of starting this up. I will look at new locations to start putting pieces, so it slows the feds down,” Sarah said.
I hated to say it, but she wasn’t dumb. Ricci had groomed her well.
“Also, the auction is in three weeks, so we need to make sure our product is in tip-top shape.”
A ringing started in my ears, tuning out the rest of what Sarah was saying. She didn’t know that I knew about her involvement with Badger’s sister, and now I had only three weeks to make sure that she didn’t disappear forever.