"With no luck?" Boner asked.
Cass sighed. "We try calling the numbers and see who answers."
"They'll get a bit suspicious when they hear someone else's voice on the other end of the phone," Boner pointed out.
"Then they don't hear someone else's voice," Cass said, as if that explained everything.
I frowned for a moment. "You were recording him when we confronted him?"
"Every word," Cass agreed. "I figured his voice might come in useful."
"That's fucking genius," Boner said. "I could kiss you right now."
They exchanged a glance and we all started walking a little faster.
CHAPTER 2
HARLOW
"Nice place," Boner said as he followed us inside. "I bet the walls are thicker than mine." He tapped on the drywall beside him. Waited a few moments and nodded in satisfaction after no one yelled at him to stop.
"Yeah, it's okay," Cass said with a shrug. He headed over to a desk in the corner, flopped into a chair and powered up his computer.
As if automatically drawn there, I stepped over to the kitchen and started to make a milkshake and coffee. Both machines going, I hunted for snacks and found a bag of chips and a couple of apples. Not much else.
I searched in a couple of drawers before I found a knife so I could slice the apple and place the pieces on a plate beside the chips.
"You can take the chef out of the kitchen." Boner leaned a hip against the counter and grinned. "I'll be the first to admit nocturnal activities such as these makes me hungry." He leaned over and snagged a piece of apple.
"Food is my way of showing appreciation." I placed the plate close to Cass and poured his milkshake.
"Is that another way of saying it's your love language?" Boner accepted the coffee I handed him with a wink.
"Are you asking if I love all my customers?" I carried Cass' milkshake over and placed it beside his right hand.
"Just the handsome ones, right Cass?" Boner stuffed a couple of chips into his mouth.
Cass glanced over and frowned. "Sure."
Clearly he wasn't listening, his attention focused on the screen. With one hand, he slid open a drawer beside him and pulled out a long cable, plugged one end into the computer and the other into the phone.
I picked up a piece of apple for myself and bit into it. It wasn't my usual snack of choice for the middle of the night, but it would do.
"I'm going to download the data from the phone onto my computer," Cass explained. "Then I'll run it through…" He glanced up at us as he waved vaguely toward the screen.
"Do whatever you have to do," I told him. This sort of thing wasn't my forte at the best of times. Better that he got on with it, than stopping to explain to us, step by step.
“There are…photos and videos," he said, voice weak.
"You don't have to look at them," I said. "Leave that to me and Boner."
Not that I wanted to look either, but if it helped us to find the other three men, then I'd look.
Quickly and without trying to see.
Right before deleting every single one. Chances were, we'd see no adult faces in any of them.
"Sick fucks," Boner muttered.
