Chapter 34 #2
who was the lead investigator
Benjamin Steele
He doesn’t text me back, and that alone has fear sliding a frigid knife across my skin.
He doesn’t have to say anything.
I fucking knew it.
That’s how I recognized him, but he wouldn’t have noticed me. I was just sitting in the back, taking notes.
Benjamin Steele was the lead investigator who made sure the kid got away with it.
Without waiting for a response, I pick up the phone and call Skyler.
After half a ring, the call goes to voicemail.
God damn it.
My hands shake as I toss the phone onto the counter, running my fingers through my snarly hair.
My phone finally dings, and the message sends chills down my spine.
aidan was an expert witness for jesse morrisons defense team
And Ben Steele was the investigator.
And the guy got away with it because of them.
When my phone rings, I answer it without hesitation.
“Hi,” my voice is nervous and high-pitched.
His is more serious than I’ve ever heard it, “Brigit, I need you to grab your electronics and lock yourself in the safe room.”
“What?” My voice shakes.
He breathes out, “Something is really wrong. Steele set us up. He— motherfucker.” I hear clicking on what must be his laptop. He continues frantically, “Grab your stuff. Get in the saferoom.”
I nod before remembering that he can’t see me.
“And Brigit.”
“Yeah,” I say breathlessly, slamming my laptop shut and bolting out of my chair to grab the code Cormac said I would need off the fridge.
He groans, “You might see things in that office that you won’t like. But I need you not to freak out. Cormac will explain everything.”
Now both of them have warned me about what might be in there, making me only more afraid of it.
He doesn’t say anything else, the phone line going dead before I can give his ominous statement any sort of reaction.
But if he’s worried, I need to be doubly worried. He’s never been anything but humorous, even when cleaning up a dead body and using me to lie to the cops about it.
The wall safe looks as if it used to be covered with a painting, a large rectangle around it slightly lighter than the rest of the wall.
Fighting against the shaking, I type in the code, wondering how on earth a wall safe is going to open up into a safe room.
The second I push the last button, something clicks somewhere behind the safe, and the wall itself cracks open.
Easing it the rest of the way, I step through into a pitch-black void, using only my free hand to feel along the wall for a light switch.
When I finally find it and the room comes to life, I have to cover my eyes from just how bright it is in here.
Once they adjust and I can see everything, I take my first calm breath since coming down the stairs, closing the hidden door behind me.
I’m not sure how to get it back open, but that’s a problem for later.
Why did they feel the need to scare me?
It’s just an office.
Yes, a hidden office.
And yes, I’m sure there’s stuff in those filing cabinets that I would hate, but they made it seem like I was going to find corpses or something in here.
At the desk, dark brown rings overlap across the wood, and I shake my head, running my fingers along them, searching for some kind of connection to Cormac even when he’s far away.
I wonder how much time he spent here in this room, locked away in the silence. If this is where he did most of his work.
Based on the polar opposite upkeep of the immaculately clean desktop and wildly dusty coffee table, I’m guessing he uses this a lot more than the couches.
I’m obsessing over decorative choices.
In his secret office, I’m trying so hard to find anything to think about besides what might be hidden in here that I’m mentally spiraling over dusty fucking furniture.
But if I don’t, there’s no telling what kind of dark shit I will convince myself is in here, hidden in the drawers or cabinets.
If I still had a job, I could at least spend my time doing something for that.
Drafting contracts would be a dream right now.
The perfect distraction. But all I can do is wander aimlessly through the stark, gray concrete room and twiddle my thumbs.
Before I abandon the desk altogether to continue exploring, I see a vaguely familiar photo in my peripherals.
As my hand reaches for it, a small smile pulls my lips up.
Cormac briefly showed me a picture of us together the night we met, but I didn’t know there were more.
One of us dancing, him staring at me with that same wide-eyed wonder he doesn’t bother to hide or muddle. My head thrown back in laughter, his hand almost inappropriately low.
Next to it, there’s one of him getting me to try drinks from that night. There’s no hiding the pink in my cheeks in that one. Even though I wasn’t ready to accept it then, Cormac’s attention has always made me feel alive and desired in a way I don’t know if I deserve.
The third picture makes my cheeks heat indecently.
This is the one he sent me after sneaking in.
It really wasn’t that long ago. He would have had to get it developed almost immediately after taking it. And it’s even in a frame?
My stomach flips on itself.
Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t have been ready for someone this obsessed with me back then.
I’m not even sure I’m ready for it now. But shying away from Cormac because I don’t think I’m worthy of his… devotion would only hurt both of us.
The fourth photo, I can’t quite remember the night of.
That’s definitely me dancing on the bar, but when did he take that? I haven’t been to Mingle without him since we met, and I absolutely haven’t danced on a table in years.
How would Cormac have a picture of me from at least three years ago?
The flipping in my stomach churns instantly into nausea.
Don’t freak out.
It’s his bar.
And Skyler keeps tabs on everything. It wouldn’t be hard for them to get stills off their surveillance cams.
Don’t freak out.
This is not a security camera.
Someone took this from the ground, and I’m the only thing in focus.
Don’t freak out.
…
I’m freaking out.
This has to be what they were talking about.
My devotion to you.
Unconventional methods.
There hasn’t been anyone but you since we met.
He hasn’t just been stalking me since getting out of the hospital. He’s been following me since the night these pictures of us were taken.
And Skyler not only knew, but he helped.
I have to get out of here.