Chapter 23
Kendrick
In the span of a few hours, Reese had called me both a hero and her savior.
I was neither, although I doubted my ability to convince her I was more of a rogue than anything else.
I’d worked hard during college and law school to become more polished, something my father had reminded me was necessary.
That was unless I’d wanted to be a good ole boy practicing law in some Podunk town in the West.
While I’d adored my life on my parents’ ranch, including all the outdoor activities, I’d aspired to something greater than turning into my father.
Which was why I’d had my sights set on Miami from the time I’d turned fifteen. Well, if I was being honest, I’d made my decision after a family vacation to Miami where I’d lost my virginity.
How ridiculous to plan my life around a girl whose name I could no longer remember. At the time it hadn’t mattered.
Now I wondered why the ten minutes had seemed profound enough to change my life.
But I’d been gung-ho, refusing to listen to my mother pleading for me to choose somewhere close like Missoula. Not a big enough city for the cowboy turned city boy.
As my brother used to say.
I didn’t mind Miami, except now I realized that while I’d been fighting the good fight, ten years of my life had vanished. Yeah, I had dozens of wins I should feel damn good about, but it was always the losses that haunted me.
Fighting the good fight because I hadn’t been able to with my sister.
Reese was perhaps the most intuitive person I’d met. Even now after what we’d shared, I was surprised I’d allowed her to get so damn close. Close enough I’d fallen asleep with her in my arms, which was why I found it fascinating she was already knee deep in work.
On my computer after cracking my passcode.
The thought brought and kept a smile. The girl had one too many hidden talents.
As I stood with a coffee mug in my hand, watching Reese working with her fingers flying over a keyboard, I was once against surprised how normal it seemed with having her in my world. The little minx had even riffled through my things, finding a pair of drawstring shorts and a tee shirt to borrow.
Or keep.
The girl certainly looked better in them than I did.
She was shifting her attention from one screen to another, with flashes of a book cover, Maverick’s face and his Instagram page. I didn’t even know the man had an Instagram page.
With her hair in a ponytail and one long leg curled underneath the other while sitting on my office chair, she appeared at ease in her environment.
The closer I came, the more I noticed how much work she’d already accomplished. As soon as I was close, my shadow appeared on the window.
She stiffened, tipping her head over her shoulder. I could tell by her sheepish expression she knew she’d been caught breaking into my computer. “Morning.”
“Hmmm,” I said gruffly on purpose as I placed the mug beside her, planting my hands on the table and studying what she’d already done. “Do I want to know how you managed to get into my system?”
“Well, it wasn’t that difficult since you left your passwords on a single sheet of paper in your underwear drawer. The box didn’t hide anything.”
“You were in my underwear drawer?” I threw her a look, adoring the way her cheeks flushed.
“Shorts?” She pointed to what she was wearing. “Seriously, you can’t keep your passcodes just lying around.”
“They weren’t lying around. They were coded.”
“Which I easily broke. Of course because I knew a few things about you, but questions on Aerosmith could be easy to decipher.”
She was right. “I’ll make mental note although you’re not forgiven for getting into my private information.”
“Sue me later. I’m ready to launch this baby.” She grabbed my mug of coffee, immediately taking a sip. It would seem nothing was sacred around her. I kind of loved it.
“You mean a spanking later. Maverick knocked it out of the park.”
Her excitement was almost addictive.
“You bet he did. I even called him a couple hours ago to see if he’d record something for TikTok. That just came through.”
“You’re sure about this.”
“Oh, I think it’s perfect.”
“But will it get to the right people?”
She rolled the chair away, turning it so she could look up at me. “You really don’t know how popular Maverick Callahan is. Do you?”
Shrugging, I took the coffee from her hand, gulping a sip. “It hasn’t come up at our poker games.”
With her eyes holding a hard glare, she returned to the computer. “See that number? That’s five point seven million follows on Instagram.”
I continued glaring at the screen.
“And you have no idea how big a deal that is.”
“Does it matter?”
Her sigh turned into an ‘ugh’ sound. And she grabbed the mug again.
“Anyway, Maverick has a huge following so yes, I think it will get to all the right people. Especially Franklin. But I’m going to do some pushing mechanisms to try and make the posts go viral.
If I can get the algorithms correct, we’ll be golden. ”
I did have some reservations, but at this point, it was an excellent option.
While it was possible to get DNA from a fingerprint, I wasn’t holding my breath. And the fingerprint itself I could bet would prove useless.
“Are we ready?” Reese asked, peering up at me with a quizzical look on her face.
“Do it.”
As soon as she made a few keystrokes, she held up her hand for a high five. “Finally, I feel like I’m contributing to rescuing my sister.” I grabbed her fingers, squeezing.
“Like I said. We’ll find her. What now?”
“Now, I wait and tweak. I need to babysit everything for a little while.”
“I’m going to make a couple phone calls.” I’d already sent a text to the others about the change in my residence, which had pushed Chase on edge, his return text even using an angry emoji.
“After you do, I need to contact my father. Can we get my phone back?”
“You forget that your name is now associated with a crime, which means your things were collected and shoved into an evidence box. You can use my phone later. Okay?”
Her wide doe eyes reminded me just how dangerous of a position we were in. But she nodded, the trust evident on her face.
I hoped that it wasn’t blind trust I couldn’t honor.
As I headed to my bedroom, I dialed Jackie’s number. I was taking a risk in contacting her, but at this point, I needed some inside help from the police.
“Detective Abbott.”
“Jackie. It’s Kendrick.”
“Kendrick. I wasn’t certain if I’d hear from you.”
“How’s Denise?”
Her sigh was heavy. “I put her on a bus and sent her back to Missouri.”
“The police wouldn’t give her protection.”
“Nope. I tried but with no real case, there was no way to make it happen.”
“Jackie. You need to listen to me. While I can’t go into details, you need to keep our conversation for your ears only and ensure that there’s nothing on file about your visit.”
“I already told you there wasn’t. What’s going on?”
“This is much bigger than we originally believed.” I moved toward the bedroom window, peering out at the street below. The sidewalk and the boardwalk area were always crowded, no way of knowing for certain if my identity had been discovered.
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re going to need to trust me, which means in doing so you can’t trust Darren.” The chief of police was balls deep. That I was certain of.
“Whoa. Hold on. Let me go outside.”
As she pulled away from the phone, I moved to the safe I’d had installed in my closet, including a false wall.
“I’m back. What about my boss?”
“I can’t go into any details, but he’s involved. To what degree, I’m not certain. I can tell you several of the girls have been identified.”
“Does that mean you found Reese Murphy?”
“It’s better you don’t know.” I pulled out two additional weapons and a duffle bag, loading several magazines as well.
“Goddamn it, Kendrick. I left several messages on your cellphone and while you’ve always been an asshole, not to that degree. Not after the way you reacted about Denise Taylor. I tried you at work and Misty told me you were on vacation. That’s not like you. What did you get yourself into?”
“Nothing I can’t handle. I will send you several photographs and sketches of some of the girls being used by this club.
While some are runaways and I’ve yet to discover their identities, others could be victims of kidnapping.
” Eying a selection of knives, I grabbed my favorite hunting knife, a gift from my father years before.
It did the job, although I wouldn’t be hunting deer this time.
Or gutting them either.
“You’re not making any sense,” Jackie insisted. “What are you involved in? You’re not a cop.”
“You’re right. Which means I can fly under the radar. One of the victims is Janey Devonshire. Ring a bell?”
When Jackie didn’t accost me or challenge me in any way, I knew something was wrong. “Yes, I know who she is.” Her tone was hollow.
“What the hell happened, Jackie?”
“You haven’t heard?”
“Heard what?”
“This is an FBI case, a friend of mine leading the investigation, but it was all over the news this morning anyway. Marvin Devonshire committed suicide. Janey’s father.”
“How?” I bristled with anger all over again.
“The reports haven’t been released. I do know he was very distraught. It was his only child.”
I slumped against the wall. “He didn’t kill himself.” I wasn’t asking. I was informing her.
“What the hell are you talking about? How would you know?”
“Trust me. You need to tell your friend to open an investigation. That man was murdered.”
“And what am I supposed to say to her?”
“That justice needs to be served.”
Her sigh was heavy. “I don’t know what you’re into, but if I discover you’re playing an officer of the law, I will arrest you myself.”