“Can’t you hack into his phone?” Keanu asks.
“It needs to be powered on for me to do that,” Keven confirms.
“Can’t you use his phone to track his location?” Kyler adds.
“It seems it was dumped somewhere on the railway tracks at Mattapan Station. My colleagues are searching for it now.” Keven stares at me. “I did some research on your foster brother and The Vipers on the plane, and I didn’t like what I found. It seems Clay and his merry band of thugs were under investigation for a variety of criminal activities. I wasn’t on that task force, but I’ve spoken to one of the lead investigators, and it’s imperative we find Kent before they do. Do you have any idea where he could be?”
“I have wracked my brain to come up with options, but I don’t know. We don’t go out much, preferring to stay in, and apart from work, college, and the gym, I don’t know where he hangs out.”
“I spoke with his buddy Lance,” Keanu says, leaning back against the counter. “And he had no ideas either. It’s summer break, and most students have gone home.”
“There is someone we could ask,” I blurt, just thinking of Jet. “A guy who sold drugs in the neighborhood around the bar. I know Kent has bought stuff off him before.” Kent was messed up when he left, and it wouldn’t be unthinkable for him to turn to drugs or booze.
“Where can we find him?” Keven asks.
I rub my pounding temples. “I don’t know. He wasn’t on the street corner when we were leaving, and he’s one of Clay’s guys, so he’s probably gone underground. I can ask my boss though. He might know.”
Keven talks quietly with his brothers while I call Rafe. I hang up a few minutes later, frustrated and scared. The four Kennedy men look up at me. I shake my head. “It’s a dead end. He doesn’t know where he lives. He also said The Vipers haven’t shown up at the bar, which is concerning. They’ve been expecting them.”
“That usually means they’ve already gotten what intel they need,” Keven says, scrubbing a hand over his prickly jawline.
“Damn it.” I quickly explain about the customers who were filming, how we confiscated their cell phones, and the financial reward I offered.
Keven listens intently, showing no emotion on his face before pulling out his cell. He places a call. “You need to swing by Ramshackle and pick up a bunch of cell phones that were confiscated. We need to examine them to see if someone sent a recording or a message externally. That might be how we trace The Vipers.”
“Shit.” Kalvin rubs the back of his neck. “We’ve got to get those recordings. If it gets out, they’ll arrest Kent. They won’t need Clay’s statement to press charges if they have video evidence.”
We all know Clay won’t press charges. That’s not how he’ll retaliate.
“I’ll get that money tomorrow and give it to Ford,” Keanu says, coming up behind me. He removes his hoodie, handing it to me. “You’re shaking.”
I didn’t realize I was or how every bone in my body feels ice cold. I pull his hoodie on, tuning the others out as I try to think of where Kent might go.
All the blood drains from my face as a thought pops into my mind.
Keven ends his call, walking toward me. With a gentle touch, he clasps my face in his hands, forcing my terrified gaze to his. “What are you thinking?”
“The drug house,” I whisper. Tears leak out of my eyes. “He was with me the day I found Chris. If he wanted to get high, I think he’d go there.”
We don’t know that he does. All of this is conjecture. But he was in a murderous rage, and if Clay is involved in his attack, it could’ve sent him spiraling. I saw the same thing happen to Chris enough times to guess Kent has probably sought solace in booze or drugs. He’s smart, and he knows you don’t take out a gang member without swift retaliation, so he wouldn’t risk going to a bar. He’d want to go somewhere to lie low. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that is where he is.
“We need to hurry.” I grab Keven’s arms. “We need to go now.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Presley
“Fucking hell, Presley. Why the fuck did you bring him here?” Kyler asks when we pull up in front of the old dilapidated hospital turned drug den. He stares at me with blatant disbelief.
“I wasn’t thinking straight that day,” I truthfully admit. “Then I figured maybe it might’ve done him some good. I think it did, because I don’t think he’s touched anything stronger than weed since we found Chris.” I can’t be one hundred percent sure though because I spent a lot of the days after Chris died in a numb haze.
“Don’t take it out on Presley,” Keanu says as a second blacked-out SUV pulls up alongside us. “Kent would not want that.”
Kyler sighs. “I’m sorry.” He squeezes my knee. “I’m just so worried.”
“I know. I am too.”
“I think you should stay in the car. Let me and my colleagues search the place,” Keven says, twisting around from the driver’s seat to stare at us.
