The wall was sprayed with red dots and I meant one thing—high velocity blood splatter. Someone had been shot in the hall—Laura. I allowed my eyes to trail down the wall until I was hunched down. The blood belonging to Laura was easy enough to spot. The rest of the droplets showed me someone was bleeding and running toward the front door.
“Someone else was bleeding.” I muttered.
The rest of the house was annoyingly familiar. I rummaged through without touching much even with the gloves on. The bedrooms were different—the master bedroom looked as though someone had gone through it looking for something. Ellie’s bedroom was empty except for the large blood stain in the middle of the bed. I assumed that was where they’d found the puppy.
When I finally made it into Jeffrey’s office, I wasn’t at all surprised by what I found. It didn’t fair much better than the rest of the place. I stepped over the carnage and sat in the leather chair behind the desk. “If I was Jeffrey, where would I hide my most precious secrets?”
It wouldn’t be a safe behind a picture frame. Jeffrey worked with some of the worlds best special forces teams and often times CIA—he would learn from them.
Where he hid things would have to be somewhere he knew no one would think of looking.
I walked over to the bookcase and began dragging my finger along the frame of it.
My next try was under the office desk. To my surprise, my hand hit something.
Curious, I slipped to my back and used my phone’s flashlight to see what I was touching. “Very clever, Jeff. Just not smart enough.”
I pulled the black book off, peeled the tape away and pushed to my feet.
I couldn’t make heads or tails of the numbers and abbreviations. I shoved it into the inside pocket of my coat and exited the house.
It didn’t take long for me to reach the Protector’s headquarters. When I arrived, I expected more people to be there, but I only Swede sat in the kitchen tapping away at his laptop. I handed him the book but said nothing until after I’d poured myself the first mug of coffee of the day.
While Swede skimmed through the book, a redhead walked in and immediately went for the coffee. She was later introduced as Molly who was with Kujo. She bumped fist with Swede, kissed Kujo then all but bolted out the door after checking a message on her phone. I sat to talk to Swede about what I’d found.
“Are you sure the blood drops aren’t from the dog?” Swede asked.
“No. The dog was killed in Ellie’s room.” I told him. “These blood drops are from someone who was hurt in the house and was running out the door. They were looking for something.”
“So, they killed Laura then toss the place?” Swede asked. “Wouldn’t it have been easier to just ask her? I mean, she’d be scared shitless and would have given them anything they wanted.”
“Unless she didn’t know what they were asking about” I told him. “That man went through a lot to hide that book. I ‘m thinking that’s what they’re looking for.”
“Maybe—I just need to figure what that is.” Swede flipped the page. “This wouldn’t have helped them. There’s no names, addresses, code. Just a bunch of dates and numbers. But for what?”
“You’re the brains of the operation.” I poured myself a second cup of coffee. After a few healthy sips, I turned to Swede. “Where’s Ellie?”
“I’ll take you.”
I followed Swede up the stairs and to the back of the house where Swede knocks on a closed door and stepped in before anyone answered. “Viper, Cobra is here.”
Ellie
Laura Sargent was dead.
It began in a split second, chased by chaos and ended in silence.
The police were no help at all.
My mother and Lilah had been brutally murdered and all they could tell me was that they were investigating. I tried getting a little support from my friends, my father’s friends, but suddenly, no one was picking up their phones. I thought Jennifer and Susan would have my back, that they’d be the first people to be there, holding my hands and crying with me.
I had been wrong and it damn near killed me.
In my time of need, I had to count on strangers I found through a message board.
The sad thing about it, when I called on them, there was no jeering. They’d sent an army to my aid even though they were fully booked. The very sexy one they called Kujo suggested bringing in a friend, someone they called, King Cobra, and I wasn’t about to look a sexy gift horse in the mouth.
But even if I wanted to hit on him, it soon become evident, Kujo was off the market.
