Chapter Sixteen #2
I stop. “Look, bro, I talked to Kels, okay. I heard what you said last night and I know what you’re thinking now,” I tell him. “I’m fixing this,” I add, gesturing around the street. “I fucked up, but I want her back and I’m gonna find a way to make it work.”
“Just don’t break her heart again, Beck,” Finn says as he starts walking. “She deserves better than that.”
I swallow hard, knowing I deserve this because the truth is, I did break her heart once. And I did it after I promised I never would, so really, what makes this time around any different? I know Kelsey isn’t the only one I have to prove myself to.
I catch up with Finn. “Listen, Finn,” I say, glancing at him. “I know that Kels isn’t the only one I pissed off by leaving.” Finn looks at me but says nothing before he turns away. “And Kelsey isn’t the only one I’m trying to make things up to now, okay?”
“You sure about that?” he says.
“Finn,” I say, grabbing his arm. “I am, seriously. I know I bailed on you and Pop, too and despite what you may think, I have missed this, missed hanging out with you, doing shit together.”
“Me too, Beck,” Finn says as we turn and walk into the station.
“Wanna grab a beer later on tonight?” I ask him.
Finn finally smiles as he says, “Yeah, that would be good.”
Finn and I spend the next two hours getting each other up to speed on what we’ve found out.
The cameras come from a manufacturer out of Atlanta and when Finn calls to find out if they have a record of where they sent them, we finally get an address for where this fuckwit might be recording and watching them from.
Just as we’re trying to work out a plan for what to do next, Ryan calls.
“Hey,” I say, as I answer my phone. “What’s happening?”
“Hey,” Ryan says. “Well, we went over this guy’s place and yeah, at first glance, it looks just like a regular apartment.”
“But?” I ask, knowing there’s more coming.
“Well, I can see how the guys would have missed it, and maybe it’s only because I know what this guy has been doing that I even thought to look for it in the first place.”
I exhale; this is not going to be good. “Tell me.”
I hear Ryan exhale too, almost as though he doesn’t want to say whatever it is that he’s found. “There were hidden cameras in his apartment too, Beck,” he says. “And this time we found the videos.”
“Fuck,” I breathe out. “What was on them?”
“You’re not gonna like this,” he says.
“Just tell me, Ryan,” I say. “Please.”
“Okay. I’ve only watched half of them, but so far I’ve seen nothing but him fucking other women.”
“Jesus christ,” I practically shout.
“Beck, that’s not all,” Ryan says and from the tone of his voice I can tell that that wasn’t the worst part.
“They’re all time stamped,” he continues.
“Some of them were during the time he was seeing Kelsey.” I exhale hard, my blood boiling as I think about that fucker screwing my girl and countless other women at the same time. “And…” he says.
Suddenly I want to punch something. “What, just tell me everything, Ryan.”
“These videos he had, they were pretty bad, Beck. The women didn’t exactly look like they were enjoying it. I mean some of them, you’d definitely classify as rape, maybe even torture.”
“Fucking hell!” I shout, gesturing for Finn to get his ass over here.
“I know, there were no videos of Kelsey though, okay?”
“Yeah, she said she never went to Boston and saw him; probably wanted to avoid running into me,” I say, furious at myself for leaving her all over again.
“One other thing,” Ryan says.
“What?”
“These videos were all hidden in a wall cavity, that’s why they were missed.
The cameras were definitely professionally installed.
When we opened up the wall though, we found a bunch of other things in with the videos,” Ryan says.
“Knives, packing tape, rope. It looks like this fucker had more than just rough and non-consensual sex in mind.”
“Fuck,” I say again. “I wonder why none of these women have ever come forward and complained about him?”
“Yeah I know,” Ryan says. “I’m actually looking into that now, wondering if maybe these women didn’t just disappear altogether. The DA is very interested given everything we’ve found. They approved the expansion of the search warrant to include a storage locker this guy has.”
I take a deep breath as the full ramifications of what this guy has done hits me.
I never expected it to be this bad or get this far.
Just knowing Kelsey was once involved with him is bad enough, but to think it could’ve gone further.
That Kelsey could have wound up on one of those tapes…
or worse. I feel like I’m going to throw up.
“Ryan,” I say, exhaling hard as I run a hand through my hair and force myself to remain calm. “Thanks buddy, I really appreciate everything you’re doing for me down there.”
“Beck, please, it’s nothing. I’m just glad I can help out.”
“Keep me posted on what you find?” I ask him.
“For sure,” Ryan says. “I might be up again next weekend if I can. We can go over things in person and come up with a plan for catching this asshole.”
Despite all the shit that Ryan’s just told me, I can’t help but smile. “Uh huh, and that’s the real reason you’re coming up here then, Summers?”
“Well, that and a certain fiery little redhead,” he says, laughing.
I laugh. “Fucking knew it, you’re so whipped,” I say.
“Whatever,” Ryan says. “I’ll talk to you soon.” And then he hangs up.
“What’s going on?” Finn asks, and I turn and see him standing next to me.
I scrub a hand down my face, trying to work out where the fuck to start.
Jesus, this shit just got real and if I thought I was worried about Kels and what this fucker might do to her before, then it’s nothing compared to how I’m feeling now.
There is absolutely no way she can be on her own now, not until this bastard is caught.
At least Finn’s got a uniform at the inn so she can work, but she’s gonna have to stick with me at all other times because there is no way I’m letting her out of my sight.
“A fuckload,” I say to him.
“Talk to me,” Finn says, gesturing for me to sit.
I do and then I proceed to fill my brother in on everything Ryan found in Boston.