Chapter 30 Rebel
Rebel
“What do you mean, case?” What the hell else is my brother keeping from me?
“I can’t discuss this with anyone but Riot.”
“I’m going to need more than a badge.” I cross my arms over my chest and widen my stance.
The identification looks like the real deal, and he carries a regulation firearm in his shoulder holster.
I spotted the weapon under his suit jacket when he retrieved his badge.
But it’s not enough. With a dead goat and a possible psycho among us, he’s not getting any further on those credentials alone.
“We vetted him at the gate, Mr. Maddox,” the bodyguard says.
“I’ll come find you,” Owen mutters as he walks away with Jett, probably to replay our plans to visit Duke to the rest of the brothers.
Plans I’m going to leave my brothers out of with the wedding two days away and an FBI agent after my baby brother. An FBI agent who doesn’t seem to have overheard our conversation, thank Christ. “If you wouldn’t mind, I would like to double check them myself.”
“Of course.” He takes out a rectangular card with Bureau insignia and his name and several phone numbers on it. “You can call the head office and check with them.”
“I can find the number.” Jumping through extra hoops to make sure this guy is for real will be worth it. It takes me a few minutes to get someone on the phone that can be helpful, at which point Agent Lane takes over. He gives his badge number to the woman on the other end.
“Sorry. It’s a big week for my family,” I say as I put my phone away when it’s clear Agent Lane is who he says he is.
“It pays to be careful,” he says.
“What the hell has Riot gotten himself into?” I ask the FBI agent when the guard leaves us. He probably won’t give me a straight answer, but I can’t help asking again. I’m always going to look out for him.
Agent Lane follows me into the house where Riot and Kelsey should still be. “He’s not in trouble.”
Considering our family’s track record of ending up in handcuffs… “That’s a relief.”
The bodyguards both rise as we come into view. The agent flashes his badge at them. “You’re his personal security? Here and on tour?”
The older one strides over, his shoulders high and gaze alert. “The name is Rook Calloway. Head of tour security. Considering the circumstances, it was decided that a contingent accompany him here.”
The agent nods. “Good idea. I’ll have some questions for you both after I’ve met with Mr. Maddox.”
“Riot.” This time I pound on the door and hope he and Kelsey have had enough time to kiss and make up. Can’t wait to rub this news in Rogue’s face later, after he didn’t tell me about Riot and Kelsey until today.
Riot yanks the door open. He’s shirtless, his hair all fucked up. Nail marks all over his shoulders. “What?”
“You tell me.” I stalk around him. “It’s okay, candy head.”
“Don’t call her that,” he snarls.
“We all know you’re together.” I smirk at the pissed off and defensive expression he’s wearing. “You can get off the floor.”
“All?” Riot groans as Kelsey’s head pops up next to the mattress.
“Not all, but Rogue and I figured it out.”
“Summer and the rest of the girls found out this afternoon too,” Kelsey admits as she tucks the sheet around her boobs and stands.
If Dizzy knows, West probably knows.
“Even this FBI agent knows.” I indicate the man behind me. “But why don’t you explain what none of us know, except, I’m guessing, Kelsey; which is, why does the FBI need to talk to you?”
“Full dad mode activated,” Riot retorts as he grabs his discarded shirt and tugs it over his head. Kelsey gathers her clothes and disappears into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
Hands on my hips, I glare at him. “So?”
“Slight stalker problem.” He pinches his fingers together to indicate it’s not a big deal. “Nothing to worry about.”
“We should talk in private.” The agent steps forward and offers his hand to Riot. “By the way, I’m Agent Soren Lane.”
“It’s fine.” Riot says shaking the man’s hand. “Go ahead. I’ll just tell them what’s going on anyway.”
The agent nods. “Since this person has stalked you in multiple states and districts and seems to be growing increasingly more unstable, the detective handling your case asked for us to get involved.”
“Great,” Riot says. “What do you need from me. I already told the cops everything.”
“Due to the nature of the letters, we suspect we’re dealing with a woman in her early twenties who might be suffering psychosis,” agent Lane says. “But I’ll need you to answer some questions to help us further detail out the profile.”
“Unstable? Suffering psychosis?” There’s a buzz under my skin. It settles in the base of my skull and makes my shoulders draw up. “That doesn’t sound like a slight issue.”
“Okay fine.” Riot exhales like he’s finally given up trying to hide things from me. “She killed a bird. Stabbed it to my Strat.”
“And these letters she leaves?”
“They started out like any other fan mail.” Riot cringes. “But they’re written in blood.”
“You’re fucking with me.” And he didn’t think this was worth mentioning to us? I almost wish he was in trouble. At least we have a great lawyer who could have helped with that. But this…
“I have digital copies of all the letters. Photos from the scenes,” the agent says. “I’m here to get your firsthand account of each altercation you’ve had with the unsub.”
“Wait.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. All this new information is giving me a headache. “Could she have followed you here? Could she have killed the goat?”
Kelsey emerges from the bathroom in a pair of leather pants and a midriff baring corset. “What about a goat?”
Riot’s brow furrows. “The goat we spent the whole afternoon looking for—”
“Is dead,” I admit. “We found it with its throat slit and multiple stab wounds. Couldn’t work out why and didn’t want to alarm anyone this close to the wedding. We hid the body and informed security to be on the lookout for anyone acting suspicious. But if this is why—”
Riot winces.
Oh shit. Probably shouldn’t have talked about hiding a dead body in front of the FBI. “You don’t—”
“I can’t say for sure that what you’ve just told me is related.” Agent Lane walks further into the room.
“But we also don’t know it isn’t.” It could be. This woman who is stalking Riot could be here.
“Or it could be Alec,” Riot says. “Or Nicole.”
He’s not wrong. The Hawthornes turned our world upside down. Alec almost killed Ivy. And that’s what worries me now. Whether this has anything to do with him… or Riot’s stalker… “We can’t underestimate someone like this.”
“I think you shouldn’t jump to any conclusions,” the agent says. “We have no reason to believe the two things are connected at this time.”
“Was there a letter? Any bad poetry left with the goat?” Riot asks.
“No.”
“Then it’s probably not her,” Riot says.
“I need to see the animal,” the agent says. “We might be able to tell if there are any similarities.”
“Slight hitch,” I say, as Riot takes Kelsey’s hand and tugs her down beside him on the crumpled comforter. “West took it to the pit. If it’s not coyote food by now, we will be if we try to go out there at night.”
“Fine. We’ll wait until morning and check to see if there’s anything left to analyze.” The man looks at his watch. “In the meantime, I need you to answer some questions.” He glances at each of us in turn. “This part really should be conducted in private.”
I plant my feet. “I’m not going anywhere. I have a few questions of my own.”
“That’s not how this works,” the agent says.
“You can ask in front of them. Kelsey already knows everything.” Riot takes Kelsey’s hand. He twines his fingers through hers, and they share a look. “And my brother needs to be filled in. If after that you have more questions to ask, we can do that.”
“All right.” The agent takes the only seat available at a small desk in the corner. He lights up his phone and starts recording. “Interview with Riot Maddox. Kelsey Peterson and Rebel Maddox in attendance.”
In the next twenty minutes I discover a lot about my baby brother.
Like how he’s kept quiet about this stalker for the last four months.
How at first she seemed like an overly obsessed fan, then slowly over time became increasingly worrisome and delusional.
And that her behavior is becoming more erratic and violent with each interaction.
I learn that his relationship with Kelsey is serious. It’s obvious in the way he looks at her. In the tone of his voice. Everything has changed between them, and I still can’t believe I didn’t notice.
“And your relationship with Sonatina Savant?” the agent asks.
“I don’t have one,” Rogue says.
“You understand I have to ask due to the doctoring of the photo of you two together,” the agent says. “I’ve already studied her social media, and you were featured a lot in the last twenty-four hours.”
Kelsey looks away, focusing on the corner of the room.
“That sometimes happens with our fans,” Riot says. “We end up tagged in a lot of things. I did call her to tell her that I have a stalker and to be cautious.”
“I can’t believe you’ve been keeping all of this from us for months.” Since before Christmas. “You should have told me.”
The agent stops recording.
“We didn’t think it was serious.” Riot swivels toward me. “And now that we know it is, I still don’t expect it has anything to do with Alec.”
“Why?”
“You know why,” he says.
Because our youngest brother is only our half-brother, and not a Hawthorne by blood. It’s the only thing that makes sense of why Alec never appeared interested in him. “You’re aware of our history with Alec Hawthorne?” I ask the agent. “Any chance they’ve located him?”
“I’m aware through chats over the watercooler. And not at present, but I can check with my superiors.” He adjusts something on the desk next to him. “Your brothers. You, Rogue, and Alec?”
“And West,” Riot adds.
“West?”