Chapter 30
Nick stared at the phone in his cousin’s hand. Everything inside him went cold. Ice-cold. Cold enough that surely his internal organs would freeze and stop working.
“He will not hurt her,” he gritted out. “Not Poppy.”
“No one is hurting her,” Billy said
“No one,” his siblings all vowed together
“I want to speak to him, Denton,” Nick said.
Billy shook his head. A tap on the door had him saying, “Enter.”
A large bald man walked in. His stomach hung over his trousers, which were a faded brown, almost beige. The cuffs of his long-sleeved white shirt were rolled up to show a black tattoo of a panther. His nose leaned to the right and looked like it had seen a fist a time or two.
“Chief Benowitz, these are my cousins, Nick, Sam, Gracie, Thomas, and Emma,” Billy said. “Nick is Poppy Sylvester’s partner.”
“I’m sorry your girl is going through this, but we’ll get her back,” the man said, shaking Nick’s hand.
He wanted to believe him, but he knew what Davy was capable of. He was a cunning bastard who had been stalking Poppy for years as if she were prey.
“Nick’s phone just rang, and it was Davy. He wants to exchange Poppy for Denton,” Billy said. “There were threats made, and Davy cut the call.”
“He’ll call back,” Chief Benowitz said, looking at Nick, who was now pacing the small room.
“Malcolm Davy flew into town four hours after we arrested Denton trying to leave. He used the alias Stephen Taylor. We tracked him through airport footage,” Chief Benowitz said in a slow voice Nick was sure had soothed a few frayed nerves in his time. It was doing nothing for him.
“Let me talk to him,” Nick said.
Chief Benowitz gave him a hard look. “I’d say that if it were my woman missing, too, but I’m telling you it’s not going to happen, Nick.
I hope you don’t mind me calling you that.
The reason is that you’re not trained to deal with psychopaths like Denton.
Second to that is I want him alive, as he’s the only way we’re getting to Davy.
If you talk to him, there is every chance he won’t be.
” He raised a hand as Nick opened his mouth.
“You can stand with your cousin in the room next door. It has two-way mirrors.”
“I want to look for her,” Nick growled.
“Where would you start?” the chief asked. “We have everyone checking everything to do with Brad Denton, Malcolm Davy, and Stephen Taylor. If he’s leased a place or hired a car, we’ll know about it shortly.”
“We’re also checking the cameras in the location Poppy was taken and trying to get a license plate of the van or a picture of who was driving,” Billy said.
“Davy is smart,” Chief Benowitz said.
“Great, I would hate to think Poppy was being held by a dumbass,” Sam snarled.
“He’s convinced police he’s not after her because he’s talked to idiots… until now,” the chief said. “We’re not dumb, and everyone makes mistakes. Even someone like Davy, who is next-level intelligent.”
“What Chief Benowitz is saying is that we’ve got this. We’ll get Poppy back, and you need to trust us,” Billy said.
“I don’t want to sit here waiting until you do.” Nick said.
“I understand that. For now, let’s go interview an asshole,” the chief of police said. He then left the room with the Athertons on his heels.
Nick had been through tough times—family illnesses, financial stress, friends suffering in many ways that had him suffering right along with them—but never had he felt this boiling rage and absolute whole-body fear. The ferocity of it took his breath away.
Poppy, his girl, was out there alone with a madman, and it was killing him.
“Nick, you have to believe they will find her,” Gracie said, placing her arm around his waist.
“Poppy has been back in my life for days, and I don’t know how I ever lived without her. How will I live without her if she doesn’t come back to me?” Nick’s words came out thick with emotion. “What if he’s hurting her, Gracie?”
She stepped in front of him, gripping his shoulders. “Stop that right now. Poppy is strong, and she’ll fight until we get her back. You have to believe that, Nicky. Be strong for her because she will be thinking of you and know you will do everything you can to get her back.”
He closed his eyes briefly.
“Now, let’s listen to this assface, and while we are in there, we contact everyone we know. Athertons and their friends have a far reach in this town. We’re going to lean into that,” Gracie said.
They all then filed into a small room. Nick stood with his back pressed to a wall. Thomas stood on one side of him, and Sam on the other. Gracie pulled one of the two chairs in front of him and sat. Em did the same. They were boxing him in.
Billy stood with a pad and pen.
Denton was pacing the room beyond the glass in front of him, and nothing about the man’s appearance signaled what he was capable of. Nick wanted to punch him until he told them where Poppy was.
Chief Benowitz wandered in with a coffee, pad, and recording device. He took the seat facing Nick and waved Brad Denton into the other one across from him.
“He’s a master at this,” Billy said.
“Interview with Brad Denton,” the chief said, relaying the date and time into the recorder.
“I’m texting everyone I know,” Sam whispered. “We all are. Description of Poppy, and any details we have about what went down.”
Nick pulled out his phone and handed it to Em. She could contact everyone on that too.
“Mr. Denton, you are here because you have been involved in the harassment and surveillance of one Poppy Sylvester,” Chief Benowitz began in a monotone voice. He then read through the list of things Davy had done and Denton’s part in all of it.
“Fucker,” Nick snarled.
Denton said nothing, just watched Benowitz.
“Stalking of this level is afelony punishable by two, three, or five years in state prison, Mr. Denton. Add to that kidnapping, threatening behavior, and several other charges, and you will be lucky to be out before you die.”
That got a reaction, Nick thought. The man twitched.
“Malcolm Davy has been obsessed with Poppy Sylvester for years. He’s brought you into that obsession, Mr. Denton. If anything happens to her while she is with Malcom Davy, that sentence will be upgraded, and you will be an accessory to her murder.”
This time, it was Nick who jerked. His entire body screamed , No!
“He’s saying what he needs to, Nicky,” Billy said in a calm voice. “We have to shock this guy into talking.”
“Now, Mr. Denton, I believe one of my officers searched your phone, and found a flight to Utah, that you were planning to take tomorrow to meet with Malcolm Davy. It’s also my belief this meeting was to discuss your continued harassment of Poppy Sylvester, which, let me be clear—” Benowitz leaned in so his face was close to Denton’s.
“—has destroyed her life for no other reason than Malcolm Davy is fixated with her. She turned him down, and he didn’t like that.
His campaign has been thorough and forced her into hiding, which hasn’t been easy considering what her career is. ”
“It’s him who planned all this, not me.” They were the first words Denton had spoken.
“Maybe not, but you aided Malcolm Davy by trashing her apartment and then sending those disgusting pinatas to her at the League Hotel. You also entered Nicholas Atherton’s house?—”
“I-I would never touch her,” Denton interrupted Benowitz.
“Is Malcolm Davy someone you trust, Brad? I hope you don’t mind me calling you that, but I feel you need a friend, and I’d like to help you out. I have a son your age.”
“And now he’s softening him up after hitting him with the facts,” Billy said.
Denton nodded.
“My son, Peter, he’s a good guy but can do some dumb shit.”
“He has four daughters,” Billy said.
“Here’s what I’m going to do for you, Brad. I’m willing to fight to make the prosecutors go easy on you if you tell me where Davy has Poppy Sylvester.”
Denton jerked in his chair.
“By that reaction, my guess is you didn’t know he had her. Kidnapped her a while ago,” Benowitz said.
“I didn’t know Malcolm was here. I was going to meet him in Utah tomorrow.”
“Maybe he’s not your friend then,” Chief Benowitz said. “Because if he was, surely you’d know what his movements are?”
“He is my friend!” The words sounded desperate to Nick.
“Remember what I told you, Brad. You’ll be going down as an accessory if anything happens to her. Tell me where I can find Miss Sylvester, and I’ll fight for you. But if you don’t, there will be nothing I can do.”
Benowitz sat back and looked at Brad Denton. The clock in the interview room ticked as long, tense seconds passed in silence.
Nick stared at the back of the man who could help him find Poppy. He wanted to smash a fist on the window, but his family would stop him before he reached it.
“He rented a place here when Poppy Sylvester came to live in Brook,” Denton finally said. “It’s where he wanted to take her when he finally got her.”
“Address?” Benowitz said, picking up his pen.
Seconds later, Nick was sprinting out of the room behind Billy with his family on his heels.
We’re coming, Poppy. Be strong.