Chapter 25
Cooper’s phone chimed as he finished installing the last outside camera. Kendall thought he was only replacing her locks with better ones, and he hadn’t told her any different because he didn’t want to argue with her when she said it wasn’t necessary. Not much she could say once it was done.
He pulled his phone out, and seeing it was Grayson, he said, “Whatcha got?”
“The name of Kendall’s stalker.”
“Wasn’t expecting that so soon. Great news. Who is he?”
“Chadwick Manning Schroder the Third.”
“That’s a mouthful. How’d you find him?” He gathered up his tools.
“Henderson went to each of the libraries he used to send her the emails, and using the date and times on them, he found the same man at each one. The libraries had better video than we got from the grocery store. He ran the man’s picture through his facial ID program and got a hit.
Schroder was arrested in California when he was nineteen on a charge of peeking while loitering.
In simpler terms, he was a peeping Tom. His family’s wealthy and got him a top-notch attorney.
Schroder got a slap on the wrist and a warning that if he continued with the behavior, he would get jail time. ”
Henderson was a private eye friend of theirs based in Atlanta. “How old is Schroder now, and is he married?”
“Forty-six. Never been married.”
Their profiler had gotten that much right. “And no other arrests?” He knew that many serial killers got their start as peeping Toms as a teen before escalating to their deadlier crimes.
“No, which tells us that he’s been very careful since then. Where are you?”
“At Kendall’s. Just finished installing new locks and outside cameras. I need to drop off a key to the detective on the case to the new locks, then I’ll go pick her up at her dad’s house.” He locked up behind him and headed for his truck. “Where does Schroder live?”
“Atlanta. Get this. He’s a juvenile court judge.”
“You’re kidding. How is that possible if he has a record?”
“Good question. He comes from an influential family, so I’d guess they had connections or something like that.”
“I’m not liking this, Gray. He could have been using his position of authority to prey on children no one cares about.”
“The thought occurred to me. Listen, I’m on my way there. Liam wants to come, too, but Quinn’s due any time, and—”
“No, he needs to stay with her, and I’d rather he be close to Livie. Make sure she stays safe.”
“He will. Where are you staying tonight?”
“Kendall says she can’t stay in her house. It’s so messed up, she couldn’t even if she wanted to. She feels so violated that I don’t know if she will ever be able to live there again. I booked us a hotel room.”
“Understandable. Harlow said the same thing about Pressley’s house.”
“No surprise there considering what she went through with her ex-husband. I’m texting you the hotel info now so you can book a room. Call me when you get here.”
Knowing the man’s name and who he was created a sense of urgency he couldn’t shake. After dropping off the key to Rossi, he went straight to Kendall’s father’s house. When he pulled into the driveway, an older man was standing on the steps, a puzzled look on his face.
Cooper exited the car and walked to him. “Mr. Hart?” When the man nodded, Cooper said, “I’m Cooper Devlin. Is Kendall inside?”
“That wasn’t you at the door?”
“When?”
“Five minutes ago? She said it was you.”
“Sir, I just got here.” Every instinct, every bad vibe he’d ever had screamed at him in voices so loud he almost covered his ears. Chadwick Manning Schroder the Third had gotten to her.
He’d promised to keep her safe, and he’d failed.
“Someone came to the door. She thought it was you. I was in the kitchen plating dinner, and she went to let you in. Was it him?” The man wilted before Cooper’s eyes. “He took her, didn’t he?”
It was only because of his special ops training that he managed to keep it together. He pushed aside the man in love with her and brought out that man who stayed calm under enemy fire, the one who’d gone after the bad guys with single-minded focus.
“Do you have a Ring camera, Mr. Hart?”
“It’s Frank, and yes, I do. Kendall made me get one.”
“Good. Let’s look at it.” He felt as if he were separate from himself. As if he were looking down on the soldier calmly taking the right steps, not the man hovering above who had never felt such fear in his life. What if he couldn’t find her?
He followed Frank inside, to the kitchen. “Is that your phone?” he asked, pointing to the one on the island.
“No, that’s Kendall’s.”
Damn. So much for tracking her.
“My phone’s right here.” Frank picked it up from the counter and brought up the camera video.
They both watched as a man rang the doorbell, then the man lifting a gun after Kendall opened the door.
“Oh, God,” her father cried.
There wasn’t sound, so Cooper read the man’s lips as best he could before they walked out of sight of the camera. “Damn,” he muttered. The camera wasn’t angled toward the driveway, so he couldn’t see the make of the man’s car. When the video finished, he called Grayson. “He has her, Gray.”
“How?”
“Came to her father’s house, and she opened the door, thinking it was me. He pointed a gun at her. There wasn’t any sound, but I was able to read his lips enough to understand that he threatened her father if she didn’t leave with him.”
“And she did what any of us would’ve done with that threat. She went.”
“I need Schroder’s address.”
“I’ll bring it with me.”
“Give me the damn address, Gray.”
“No. You need to stand down until I get there. You know it.”
“We need to call the police,” her father said.
Cooper shook his head. “No.”
“Who’s that? Her father?”
“Yeah. How fast can you get here?” It was going to kill him to wait, but his brother was right. Going in half-cocked meant mission failure nine times out of ten.
“The plane is ready to go as soon as I get there, so two hours max.”
“I’ll wait, but only that long.” It was going to be two hours of torture. “Text me Schroder’s address so I can put it in my GPS.”
“Sending it to you now. I’ll call Jules from the plane and have him start searching for any other properties Schroder owns or leases.”
“Good.” Jules was a hacker they used in extreme cases, and if there ever was one, this was it. “I’ll be at the airport waiting for you.” He disconnected.
“Why aren’t we calling the police?” Frank asked.
“Because my partner and I are not only the best at what we do, but we’re not bound by the restrictions the police have.
They’ll need a warrant unless they actually see Kendall in his house, which they won’t.
He’ll have her hidden. I don’t care what laws I have to break to rescue her.
If she’s not at the house where he lives, which she probably isn’t, we have resources who my partner already has searching for any properties he owns or rents. ”
“But you are going to find her, right?”
“Frank, if I have to, I’ll tear the town apart with my bare hands until I find her. I mean to bring my daughter’s mother home.” Unharmed he prayed.
“About that—”
“Yes, we need to talk about that, but right now, the priority is planning this mission.” His phone pinged with an incoming text.
“That’s the text with Schroder’s home address.
I’m going out to my truck to put it in my GPS, then grab my laptop.
Back in a minute. Stay by the phone in case she manages to call. ”
Outside, he put his hands on the roof of his truck and dropped his chin to his chest. Every mission he’d ever planned had been meticulously prepared, and during his time in the military, all but two had been successful.
Not one of them had been personal. This one was, but he had to take his emotions out of it and bring back the skilled operative he once was. The cold, calculating soldier.
Kendall’s life depended on him making the right decisions. Failure was not an option.
He wasn’t a churchgoing man, but he believed in God. He’d always said a short prayer before each mission. Tonight, his prayer was longer. When he lifted his head, he looked up at the sky. I’ll find you, Kendall. I promise.
Once he was back inside, he sat at the dining room table, opened his laptop and brought up several satellite images of Schroder’s house and the surrounding streets. “Do you know this area?” he asked.
Frank had taken a seat next to him and leaned over to view the screen. “Sandy Springs. Yeah, it’s a nice suburb of Atlanta. It’s about thirty minutes from here.”
Cooper’s phone chimed, and he glanced at the screen. “It’s my partner, Grayson.” He put it on speaker. “Gray, I’m here with Frank, Kendall’s father, and you’re on speaker. That okay?” He wanted to include the man as much as possible. If it was his daughter, he’d insist on it.
“Sure. Hello, Frank. Listen, Jules just sent me another address for a cabin Schroder owns outside of Cleveland, Georgia. It’s actually not in his name, but an LLC owns it. Jules traced the LLC back to Schroder.”
“That’s in the mountains,” Frank said. “About an hour and a half from here.”
“So, he’s hiding that cabin’s his. My gut says that’s where he’s taking her. He took Kendall only thirty minutes ago, so he’ll have another hour before he gets there.”
“It’s a long way to go only to find she isn’t there,” Grayson said. “We just took off, so I expect to land in an hour and a half.”
“Here’s what I’m going to do. I have time to go to Schroder’s Sandy Springs house before you land. If it’s unoccupied, then it has to be the cabin, and we’ll go there. If it is occupied, I’ll come get you and we’ll go back to his house.”
“I’m good with that as long as you wait for me so you have backup before acting.”
“Roger that.” And he would as long as he didn’t find Kendall in imminent danger. If he did, all bets were off. Grayson knew that because he would go in without backup if Harlow’s life depended on it.
“I’m coming with you,” Frank said after Cooper disconnected.