Chapter 10
That’s not creepy at all.
Ben
Unlocking my phone, I pull up the cameras in my house to check that everything’s good, and as I suspected, all is well.
Dad is just standing there, with a relaxed posture, looking out, something he does all the time.
My mom is at the kitchen table with Annie, who has her leg up on a chair with an ice pack on her ankle.
I use the tips of my fingers to enlarge the screen and see Annie up close.
She’s smiling, chatting, and eating a cookie.
It’s eight in the morning, so of course she’s eating a cookie.
That girl loves her breakfast sugar, which reminds me I need to hit up the grocery store to get her some cereal. I’ll do that later.
I exit the app and get back searching Vito’s room.
I’m standing in his dirty bedroom, next to his unmade bed, with a photo in my hands. An image of Annie, Vito, and an older woman in a wheelchair fills the glossy print. I’m assuming the woman is his grandmother, but because her face is scratched out, I can’t be positive.
They’re in a cafeteria of sorts with holiday decorations hanging from the ceiling.
Vito’s arm is around Annie, who’s wearing a pair of red scrubs, and her body language screams that she doesn’t want him touching her.
Her shoulders are hunched, her hands on her bent knees, her body made purposely small, angled away from Vito, but still smiling.
Something about the fear in her eyes in this picture gets to me in a bad way. She’s been scared for way too fucking long, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to make her feel safe again, only this time it won’t be temporary.
“We need to bounce,” Shep hollers from the other room.
I fold the picture in half and put it in my pocket, along with the piece of paper I found with Annie’s address on it. “You find anything else?” I ask, dragging my feet across the brown carpet to mask any indentations from my boots.
“Unfortunately.” He hands over a small black notebook. The spirals are bent, and the weathered pages are filled with dates and times.
“He was keeping track of her schedule.”
“I sent a picture to Fitz for verification. Park’s got him on the phone waiting to give us an update.”
I add that evidence to the others. “Let’s get out of here.”
We walk through the house, which looks like it hasn’t had a single update in at least fifty years, making it clear that this was his grandparents’ home.
When we get to the kitchen, Shep climbs through the open window first, then I follow, sliding it down behind me. We make our way around the front, then straight to the Tahoe idling at the curb.
Shep walks around to the back, and I hop in the front passenger seat. The second our doors are closed, Landon peels away. Parker holds his phone up and gives Fitz the go-ahead.
His voice comes through the speaker. “I finally got a hit on Vito’s location. I’ll give you one guess where he is right this second, and if you say anywhere other than the morgue, you’d be wrong.”
“Holy shit.” I sit up straighter. “What the hell happened?”
“Carjacking gone wrong. According to the police report, an eyewitness saw a man force Vito out of his vehicle at gunpoint while waiting at a red light. He stole his wallet, pistol-whipped him, and then took off in his car. Vito jumped on the back of his vehicle but ultimately flew off and died on impact.”
Shep whistles. “Damn. I was not expecting that.”
“That’s not all.” I hear him typing through the receiver, and a few seconds later, he’s back. “This witness also reports that when this interaction was taking place, a black cat jumped out of the vehicle and ran away. All of this occurred about a quarter mile north of Annie’s apartment building.”
“Were they able to identify the guy who carjacked Vito?”
“They have a suspect. Colt McIntosh, forty-two. He was involved in an armed robbery at a gas station a few hours prior. He confessed to the robbery but vehemently denies the carjacking.”
“I would too, if it resulted in murder,” Shep mutters.
Fitz makes a noise of agreement. “Do with that information what you will.” He disconnects, and I take a minute to analyze what I just heard.
Landon pulls into the parking lot of Safeway and turns to face me. “You’re the lead on this. What do you want to do?”
“Not sure what else there is to do,” Parker chimes in from behind me. “Between what you found at his place and that police report, it seems like we got what we were looking for.”
“I agree. But what are you thinking, Ben?” Shep asks.
“Give me a minute.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose and feel that instinct in my gut that something isn’t right about this—about all of it. Not just Vito but I keep getting warning flashes about Poe, too. His behavior toward Annie still doesn’t sit well with me, and not just because she’s mine.
She’s mine.
Dammit, I need to focus.
“I’ll be right back.” I jog through the lot and go straight to the floral department. I purchase a birthday balloon and the largest bouquet they have, then hurry back to the Tahoe and tell Landon to drive to her apartment.
Without question or doubt, he shifts gears and pulls onto the road.
I hand the vase to Parker. “Aw. You shouldn’t have.”
“Did you read my notes in the brief on her neighbor?”
His sarcasm vanishes. “I did.”
“There was a lot off about him, but the way he said I have your cat makes the hair on the back of my beck stand up.”
Parker nods. “Right.”
“There was no empathy there, his voice was empty…it was weird. I need to get a lock on him, Park. He’s already seen me, plus, I can’t be impartial,” I admit.
“Even if Vito’s completely out of the picture, Poe’s a problem.
I just don’t know to what extent, so I want you to deliver those to Annie and get a feel for him. ”
“Got a script or want me to wing it?”
“I need to know if he knows it’s not her birthday. Play your identity however you need, but remember I told him I was her boyfriend, and he did not like that.”
Parker moves his head side to side while he thinks. And when he comes up with a plan, he grins wickedly. He puts a pinhole camera on his hat and a mic on under his shirt. We test the audio and visuals, then he heads inside to fuck with Poe’s head.
“You sure about this?” Shep asks when Parker is out of sight. “I trust your instincts, but this guy just might be a friend who has a crush on her.”
“It’s not just a crush. There’s something off about him.
Parker’s gonna fuck with his head, just wait and see.
” We watch the live feed through Parker’s camera on my phone, and when he gets to the fourth floor, I hold my breath.
He pounds on Annie’s door obnoxiously, and then Parker turns around and Poe’s face appears on the screen.
“Damn.” Shep whistles. “You’re right. He’s got crazy eyes.”
He does. And no matter what happens, there is no way I’m going to allow Annie to live across from him anymore. She’s been too far away for too long, and I’m going to change that—now more than ever, I need her close.