Chapter 27 #2
He grunted. “Evidently not.”
They’d barely cleared the patio when they heard a splash. Too big for a fish. They shared a look.
Next came a gasp and more splashing.
They sprinted. Chairs scraped behind them, boots pounding on stone as the others surged to their feet and followed.
Both men hit the dock at full speed. Dev lunged for the nearest boat and slammed the deck spotlight on, flooding the dock and surrounding water with harsh light. Cari was in the water. Fighting the current that pulled at her.
Dev didn’t hesitate. He dove in, reaching her in a few strokes and towing her to the dock.
Leland scanned the water. “Julia!” he called.
No answer. No movement in the ink-dark water.
Others arrived behind, some searching the bank.
Two men dropped down, reaching for Cari as Dev got her within range. They hauled her up, coughing, water streaming off her as Dev climbed up after her.
Someone pushed a towel into her hands. Another was wrapped around her shoulders.
She slumped against Dev, still gasping. She drawled, hoarse and slightly uneven, “Time for more swimming lessons.”
He huffed once, more reflex than humor.
“Where’s Julia?” Leland demanded.
Cari stilled. Her gaze shifted to the water, confusion sharpening into something else. “We were together,” she said, voice uneven. “I-I went in—”
“You fell?” Dev asked.
Cari shook her head, frowning. “No. Julia bumped into me. I think. It happened fast.”
“Did you see her go in?” Alec asked.
“No,” Cari said, more certain now.
“There are gators everywhere,” Emily whispered.
Alec cut in. “We only heard one splash.”
That registered. Leland scanned the dock, and the moored boats. One slip sat empty. His stomach dropped like a rock.
“Who left?”
Dev turned and looked, too. “Are you sure someone did?”
Rafe, who’d been on perimeter patrol, answered, “Last round, every slip was full.”
“When was that?” Alec asked.
“Thirty minutes at most.”
“Who left?” Leland repeated, quieter now but honed to sharpness.
“Check the feeds,” someone said.
“Can’t,” Dev said immediately. “System’s down.”
Cari’s voice cut through the heaviness, sharp despite the tremor. “That seems a little too convenient.”
Dev turned, command snapping into place. “Lock us down. No one leaves. No one comes in. We account for everyone.”
Leland was already moving. Up the incline, past the house. Every step fueled by a certainty setting like concrete in his gut. This wasn’t an accident. This was targeted. And he’d let her walk right into it.
He took the stairs at the side of the garage two at a time and burst through the door.
“Julia is missing,” he announced, his voice cracking like a gunshot in the stillness of the small room. “Last seen on the dock.”
Callan was already there, his attention fixed on the screen.
Dev came in right behind him. “Bring up whatever you’ve got from the dock and backyard before the system dropped.”
“I would…” Callan glanced at the screen. A progress bar crawled across it, at only 50 percent. “Rebooting after the crash is going to be ten minutes, at least.”
Anger and frustration surged, and he gritted out between clenched teeth, “Julia may not have ten minutes.”
“That’s the absolute best I can offer, my friend,” Callan stated softly.
His first instinct was to break something, but he resisted, planting himself firmly beside the main screen with his arms folded, his focus narrowed to one thing only: finding her.
The security office filled fast, bodies crowding in. Wet footprints tracked the floor as Cari followed them in, still dripping, a towel hanging off her shoulders like an afterthought. No one told her to sit. No one tried to stop her.
The progress bar crept forward. Now 70 percent. Too fucking slow.
“While we wait, build a list,” Dev cut in. “Who was there for the cake?”
Gaby grabbed a clipboard. “Everyone on the patio.”
“Start naming them,” Alec said.
Names came rapid-fire, voices overlapping as Callan muttered at the system. Leland listened—not for names but for gaps.
“Who’s still here?” Dev pressed.
Alec hit a button on the console. “Rafe.”
The comm crackled. “Yeah.”
“Run the property. Everyone you see, call it out.”
Rafe started rattling off names as Gaby marked the list. When they were done, Leland looked over her shoulder. Eight names remained unchecked.
“May I see that?” Cari asked, outstretched hand still shaking.
Gaby passed her the clipboard.
Her eyes ran down the page before backtracking. “It’s Evan Strickland.”
Dev’s head snapped toward her. “You can’t know that—”
Leland cut in. “Why are you so sure?”
Cari looked up, water still dripping from her hair. “He has access to the system. More than access. He designed it.”
Dev frowned. “He’s a charter member.”
“Which means he’s had more time than anyone to understand every weakness in it,” Cari countered. “He could have timed this. Made sure we were blind exactly when he needed it.” She looked at Callan. “Couldn’t he?”
Callan hesitated. That alone said something.
“Technically, yes,” he admitted. “But I’ve worked with Evan. Closely. He doesn’t—”
“Fit your idea of a killer,” Gaby finished quietly.
The room fell quiet because he didn’t. He was one of them, known and trusted.
Rhys spoke first. “Cari might be right. He fits the profile of the stalker.”
All eyes shifted to him.
“He’s not reacting to opportunity anymore. He’s engineering it, forcing openings when none exist.”
Dev folded his arms. “His M.O. has changed. He used to watch. Stalk. Take what he wanted when the moment opened.” He shook his head once. “Now, he’s taking risks. Testing boundaries. Trying to provoke a response. Why?”
“He’s escalating with purpose now,” Rhys replied. “Julia wasn’t a stranger he could toy with. She was here. Right in front of him. Someone he couldn’t touch without exposing himself. When she left the protection of the club, that put her within reach.”
Leland’s jaw tightened. “And when she came under my protection, his access disappeared.” His voice dropped, turning rough. “Now, he’ll take risks he never would’ve taken before.”
“When Rhys and I were going through our… thing,” Gaby said. “Evan Strickland was always there. Just appearing. Helpful. Charming.” Her mouth tightened. “But looking back, the things he said weren’t quite right. Like he was testing reactions.”
Emily shifted. “He always gave me the creeps.”
Alec glanced at her. “How?”
“Not in a club way. Not watching because he liked what he saw. Just… watching. Like he was studying people.”
“That’s not exactly actionable, sweetheart.”
Emily shot him a look, nose wrinkled. “Call it women’s intuition.”
“I’ve never liked him either,” Cari admitted. “Which is why he’s the first name I’d put on the board.”
Leland cut in, his voice hard-edged. “Next time something feels off, you share it.”
“I would have if, I’d been sure.” Cari added drily, “Getting tossed to the gators tends to sharpen your instincts.”
Alec pulled his phone out. “Who handles surveillance at The Underground clubs?”
The question seemed to hang in the room. Even Callan stopped typing.
“That’s an excellent question,” Rhys said.
Alec dialed and put it on speaker. It rang twice.
“What now?”
“No bullshit, Pete. This is important. Who manages your surveillance systems?”
A pause, then: “Strickland Security. Why?”
Alec hung up and lowered the phone. No one in the room liked the answer.
“You can’t tell me that’s a coincidence. Trust me. It’s him,” Cari insisted.
Callan straightened. “We’re up again.”
“Dock feed. Now,” Leland ordered.
Callan pulled it up. Footage of the dock area rolled: earlier, crowded, with Cari mid-gift-reveal. The feed cut out at the point.
“That was several minutes before they walked down,” Emily observed.
“Of course it was,” Alec muttered.
Focused on the screen, Dev asked, “Whose boat was in that slip?”
Callan scrubbed backward, isolating the frame, zooming in.
“There,” Alec said, pointing. “The name’s on the hull. Crystal Tide.”
“Holy hell,” Michael barked. “The bastard stole my boat?”
Every head turned.
“I’m here,” he snapped. “So, obviously, it’s not me.”
Greta patted his arm. “They know that, dear.”
Leland cut in. “Got a tracker on it?”
“No.”
“Yes,” Greta said at the same time.
Her husband blinked at her. “We do?”
“Not a tracker per se. My phone. I always leave it locked up with my purse when we come here.”
Dev’s mouth curved briefly. “This is why I love you, Greta.”
She flushed.
Her husband ignored the comment completely and hauled Greta into a fierce hug.
“Track it,” Leland ordered.