Chapter 26
Brooke stormed around the apartment fit to be tied. Not only had Fox asked her to move out, but he had offered to take Ethan off her hands. She was supposed to be packing while he was out. That was a laugh.
She had no intention of giving up her living arrangements, though.
He had no idea what he had. Not every woman would put up with him.
He let her down time after time, but she never complained.
And when she tried to have an occasional night out, he pitched a fit.
He should be thanking his lucky starts that she had lowered her standards to be with him.
She also had no intention of giving him any leverage over her by keeping her son. It wasn’t like Ethan was his. There would never be any children for him. She had made sure of that after Ethan was born. She was saddled with one brat. There would be no more.
Like it or not, Fox was stuck with them right where they were. He would go on paying for her needs until she said it was over. She broke up with men, not the other way around.
She stomped through the living room again. There must be something she could do. She made another lap of the room and began to scheme.
The dream of strapping him into Edmund’s contraption had been growing every day. She already knew he had enough money in his account for her to survive on her own for quite some time.
It wasn’t hard to separate a man from his money. She had been doing it her entire adult life. And there were plenty of men left out there willing to roll over to make her happy. Maybe she wouldn’t have to stay after all.
By the time she emptied his account, there would already be someone willing to do her bidding standing in the wings.
Perhaps even Edmund would be ready to settle down.
She just needed Fox to disappear for a while and to get her hands on the credit cards in his wallet.
By the time she stopped pacing, she had the start of a plan put together.
Today seemed like as good a day as any to do something with him.
With Ethan out of the way, nothing stood in her way.
She would need help though. There was no way she could carry an unconscious man to the trunk of his car.
She also had nothing to knock him out with that wouldn’t kill him. Pulling out her phone, she made a call.
“What do you want?” Edmund said on the other end when he answered.
“I’m supposed to be moving out,” she said, ignoring his attitude. “Fox tried to break up with me.”
“What did you do?”
“Why do you think it was anything I did? That asshole is fucking my sister. He thinks he’s breaking up with me,” she raged. “He’s a fool if he thinks I’m moving out. I need you to help me. Do you have a medallion for a builder? He’s done tonight.”
“Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I’m not the stupid one. Fox has pushed me one to many times. His time has come. Now, leave whatever it is you’re doing and come help me. We can talk about our next steps when you get here. It’s time I moved up in this world.”
The phone was silent. So silent, she thought they had been disconnected. “Just don’t do anything stupid until I get there,” he finally said.
She heard the fury in his voice, but she didn’t care. His anger was only matched by her own. It was time to do it her way for once. She wanted Fox gone now. Tonight. She wanted his body laid out in some anonymous private school field by the morning.
“Then hurry.” She ended the call before he had a chance to.
She paced around the apartment waiting for Edmund to show up. He sounded like he was rushing over to help her, but where was he? Fox could be home at any moment, and they needed a plan before he arrived. Finally, she heard the buzzer at the door and pressed the button to let him up.
“What took you so long?” she hissed as she all but dragged him through the door.
“I was in the middle of something.”
“Whatever. We don’t have much time.” She spun around and walked toward the couch. “I’m thinking we wait until he sits down. Then you can step out and—” She didn’t get the chance to finish her sentence.
Her hand reached up brushing across the sting at her neck.
Something warm trickled onto her blouse.
She only had a moment to contemplate the red streaks on her fingers before her legs buckled.
It felt like the world was rolling by in slow motion as she slumped toward the floor.
Her gaze landed on the couch in front of her. Red was sprayed across the cushions.
She opened her mouth, but no words would come out.
Then it occurred to her. Edmund had killed her.
But why? She was the one who always came out on top.
Not her drug-addled mother, not her backstabbing sister, not even her shit of a boyfriend.
She was the winner. It was her last thought as her life bled from her.
Fox was exhausted, but for the first time in a long time, it was a good exhaustion. The work on the townhome was almost complete. He would soon be free of this nightmare and back to the job he loved.
He had broken up with Brooke. She should be out by now, and Bailey already had Ethan. His offer still stood to take care of the boy. He doubted she would agree at first, but he had some money set aside he could sweeten the deal with. He wasn’t beyond bribing her to sign over her rights to him.
He rocked back on his knees to look at the new floor he had just finished installing in the attic. The house had settled into silence since the crew left for the day. The remodel was one of their best, and he wasn’t bragging just because he was involved. The whole crew had done an outstanding job.
Standing, he quickly cleaned up what he had to. The rest could wait until tomorrow. With any luck, by the time he got home, his apartment would be just as silent.
He had no idea where Brooke would go, and if he was honest, he didn’t care. The thought of relaxing in silence on the couch tonight after Ethan was in bed while nursing a beer, sounded like heaven.
He wasn’t sure what he would do if she was still there.
Probably head to his sister’s place to sleep on the couch.
Anything would be better than being in the same room as Brooke.
His fingertips brushed the remnants of the bruise on his face.
How could two sisters be so different? He was really looking forward to getting to know Bailey better.
The smile on his face grew just thinking about her. His mind could already see the three of them, him, Bailey, and Ethan, spending holidays and weekends together. There were so many things he wanted to share with them.
He stepped out of the townhouse and locked the door. He would just run home for a minute to change and check the apartment. Traffic was already past rush hour, so it didn’t take him long to get home.
He found a spot along the curb not far down the street and parked. Climbing the stairs to his apartment, he paused for a moment to take a deep breath. He needed to be prepared if Brooke was still inside. The key slid into the lock, and he stepped inside his living room.
His gaze landed on the couch first. There was something wrong with the upholstery.
Parts of it were darker than normal like something had been spilled.
His eyes moved down until they found Brooke lying on the floor in front of the coffee table.
None of what he was seeing made any sense. Why would she be lying there?
“Brooke?” he asked, stepping forward. “What’s going on?” His mind quickly moved on. “Ethan?” he called before remembering Bailey had picked him up.
A sharp prick bit into the side of his neck.
His hand moved by instinct to protect the area but found nothing there.
He took a step forward only to find his knee giving out.
He just needed a place to lie down for a little while.
He couldn’t use the couch, since it was covered in something.
The floor would have to do. It rushed at him as if by invitation.
He could feel someone moving around him.
His eyes couldn’t focus enough to see who it was.
Reaching out, he tried to touch Brooke. She was just too far for him to get to.
He knew she would hate to know that her beautiful blonde hair was tinged pink.
His mind floated, unable to put together what was happening.
His eyes had closed when he heard a knock at the door. A familiar voice called his name. He tried to warn away whoever was there or maybe he was going to beg for help, but he couldn’t form the words. Then he heard the thud of something large hitting the floor before he was wrestled off of it.
He fought to open his eyes only to find himself being carried over someone’s shoulder down the stairs. His eyes fell closed once again. Finally, he felt himself rolled onto a solid surface, but it was the last thing he knew before he lost consciousness.
Dover felt frantic when she pressed the number for her brother’s phone again. Just like the last five times, it went right to voicemail. She didn’t bother to leave a message this time. If he was going to hear it, he would have already responded to the first four.
“No luck?” Dex asked. He was studying the video from the bar where Peter Hansen was last seen. “Hand me the photo again.” He held out his hand, and Knox handed him his phone.
Pulled up on it was the photo he had taken of Brooke earlier. At the time, he told them he took it so he would remember who they were following. Little did he know it would be used to compare to a grainy video.
“Why don’t I go to his apartment to check on him,” Knox offered.
“That’s probably a good idea. Until we can say for sure that’s who it is, I’d hate to get everyone else involved,” Dover agreed. She watched as he walked out of the incident room before turning back to Dex. “Anything?”
“I’m pretty sure it’s her. We should take that photo to the bar to be sure.”
“Let’s go then. Danny, can you see if they can get us a better copy? We also need someone to go back over all the other video and see if she shows up.”
“Got it,” Danny said before walking out of the room.
“I need to let the captain know about this on the way,” she said.
“I’ll meet you at the car.”
She felt almost giddy following Dex out the door. Finally, they had a break. It might be a small, blurry break, but it was one nonetheless. She didn’t even stop when she was waved directly toward the boss’s office. It only took her a few minutes to update him before heading outside to join Dex.
“Knox sent me the photo,” he said as she slid into the driver’s seat. “I forwarded it to Danny.”
“This is it. I can just feel us getting closer,” she said almost vibrating in her seat.
Adrenaline coursed through her at the thought of someone identifying her brother’s girlfriend as a person of interest. Hell, she was possibly even an accomplice.
“I can’t believe she was under our noses all this time. ”
“Hopefully she doesn’t suspect us of knowing anything. That would be dangerous for Fox, not to mention Ethan,” Dex answered.
“Jesus, I didn’t even think of Ethan. See if Knox is there yet.”
“I told him to call the second he found out anything. They’ll be fine. We just need to focus on identifying who’s in that video. If she can just lead us to her partner, we can stop them both.”
It felt like it took years to drive to the bar. The place was in the middle of serving the after-work crowd when she pulled up in front of the door.
A large man standing at the door started to wave her away when Dex pulled out his credentials. They moved through the crowd until they found the back office. A manager met them at the door.
“We need to ask if any of your staff recognizes this woman,” Dex said pulling the photo up on his phone.
“Of course,” he answered. They followed him around the room asking servers until they made it to the bartenders.
“Yeah, she was in here the other night,” the man said.
“Can you be more specific?” Dover asked.
“Like I told the other guy. It was two nights ago. She left with some guy she met at the bar. I remember her as quite the looker. Turned down several guys before she settled on the one, she went home with. I didn’t really see them leave though.
I just know they were there one moment and gone the next.
Anything else?” There were patrons waving their hands for his attention.
“No, thank you. You’ve been very helpful.” They thanked the manager and headed back to the car. “Son-of-a-bitch, we got her!” Dover exclaimed once the car doors were closed.
“I think so, but we might have another problem,” Dex answered. “Knox never called, and his phone goes straight to voicemail now.”
“Shit. Send a patrol car to Fox’s apartment.
” She started the car and pulled back out into traffic.
They raced back across Boston. There were already several patrol cars parked in the middle of the street when they finally slid to a stop.
She was out of the car in a heartbeat racing up the stairs behind Dex.
“Oh, shit!” she cried out when she stepped up to the tape marking off the apartment entrance.
Her gaze took in the mayhem. Blood was everywhere.
Brooke lay prone on the floor. Knox was sitting to the side with a medic holding a bandage to the back of his head.
She flashed her badge and covered her shoes before stepping carefully under the tape.
“What happened?” she heard Dex ask behind her.
“I don’t know. The door was open when I got here. I barely stepped inside before I was hit over the head. Brooke had her throat slit, and Fox is gone. So is Ethan,” Knox answered.
“Call Bailey. Let’s pray she has Ethan. Maybe Fox is there too,” she ordered.
Dex stepped back out of the room with his phone already held to his ear. She knelt next to Knox. The cut on top of his head looked like it needed stitches. What had happened here, and where was her brother?
“She has Ethan,” Dex announced from the door. “But she hasn’t heard from Fox.”
“We have to find him,” she whispered. Looking at Knox, she found him gazing back at her with fire dancing in his eyes.
“We will. Dex, get Memphis on the phone.”