Nothing.
We found nothing. We searched everywhere until it got too dark for us to see. We followed the blood trail that led off the back porch and into the woods; it just…stopped.
I know she was here. Iknowit deep down in my bones. When that vanilla scent hit me in that room, it was like she walked right by me.
What the fuck happened here, though? There are three dead bodies, two with snapped necks and one with a knife right through the heart. Did she and Zane get away? I’m praying to anyone that will listen that’s what happened.
We trudge back into the house, where Holden is looking through footage on those monitors.
“What the fuck are we missing?” Micah asks, walking in behind us.
Ryder shakes his head. “I don’t know. We need to come back first thing tomorrow and look again.” He looks at Holden, who’s rapidly tapping at the keyboard. “Anything,Bello?”
“I can see the live feeds. I’m trying to get into the saved footage, but it’s password protected,” Holden answers without looking up, still tapping away. “I got it!” he says, stabbing one last key, anddozens of files fill the screen. He starts scrolling, and I realize they’re labeled with dates.
“That’s my boy,” Ryder says, squeezing his shoulder.
“That one,” I say, pointing to the last file on the screen labeled with today’s date.
Holden clicks the folder, and hundreds of little thumbnails pop up. He sees the one that shows Les’ face at the same time we all do, and he looks up with wide eyes. “She was here,” he whispers and takes a breath, opening the file.
The video fills the screen, and it’s focused on her. Her arms are strung over her head, her head bowed, nothing covering her but a thin nightgown. I didn’t think I could hurt anymore, but seeing her like this is wreaking havoc on my heart.
“Hey, Beautiful,” Zane’s voice filters through the speakers, and her head slowly lifts.
“Fuck,” Micah breathes. Her eyes look…lost. She has dark circles under her eyes, thin lines that look like scars on her chest, and too many bruises to count.
The camera pans away from Les and focuses on Zane. He’s sitting on the floor, arms tied to the pole behind him. He’s shirtless, with nasty cuts all over his chest and ribs. Sometimes, I still thought that Zane took her and made it look otherwise; this washed all those doubts away instantly.
Ryder looks over at me, and I can see he knows for sure now the same thing I do. Zane didn’t have anything to do with this; he was a victim.
Zane keeps talking, begging her to talk to him before you can hear him sigh. The camera pans back to her when he says something about them almost getting caught by his dad.
You can see her take a big breath, and her shoulders relax as much as they can from the way they have her arms.
I feel like I’m going to throw up. They hadmybaby girl.
“I wish you would talk to me,” Zane says. “I miss your sweet voice.”
“What does he mean by that?” Holden asks quietly.
“I don’t know,” I answer. Was she not talking? What did they do to her?
The video cuts off, and we all look at each other. Holden looks back to the computer and returns to the folders, clicking the next one.
It focuses on Les again then you hear the door bang open. A guy with a mask on steps into view and spins a lever, letting the slack out of Les’ bindings. Her knees smack the floor, and I can hear her whimper in pain.
“Goddamnit,” I growl. These assholes are going to pay for ever laying a finger on her.
“MOTHERFUCKER!” Zane bellows in the background. “Take it out on me! Goddamnit! Take it out on me!”
The guy with the mask says something and jerks Les to her feet by her hair, shoving her out of view.
“This guy better be one of the dead motherfuckers,” Micah growls.
“FIGHT, ALESSA! FUCKING FIGHT!” Zane yells.
“Why isn’t she fighting?” Ryder asks, gesturing toward the screen.
