A carton of eggs, an unopened pack of bacon, and half a gallon of milk sit abandoned on the island. It looks as if they were getting ready to cook breakfast, but they never made it that far. A purse sits on the credenza by the front door next to a set of keys.
A heavy thud rattles the light fixture overhead.
Benson raises his weapon immediately, moving toward the stairs with slow, measured steps. I fall in behind him, gun raised, checking our six as we climb. Another thump—then a muffled scream.
We don’t hesitate.
Boots pound against the steps as we clear each room one by one, doors open, corners and closets checked, until we reach the primary bedroom at the end of the hall.
“What the fuck?” Benson grits his teeth as he holsters his gun. Gainey’s wife is tied up on the bed, her arms and legs bound by zip ties. He removes the tape covering her mouth. “Are you okay?”
“They took Jeremy!” she says, breathless.
“Who took him?”
“I don’t know. They were dressed in full tactical gear and wearing masks. I think one of them was a woman.”
Benson and I share a knowing look. “How many?”
“Three.”
“Where are the kids?” I ask, studying her carefully. She’s a petite woman with short brown hair, and her brown eyes are filled with a mix of fear and confusion.
She swallows hard, her voice trembling. “Em-Emmet is at school, and my mother picks up Clare on Thursdays. What the hell is going on?”
Benson removes a knife from his pocket and cuts the cable ties from her wrists and ankles. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”
After speaking with Gainey’s wife for over an hour, we discovered that she knew nothing about the case or what her husband had been up to. When we asked her about the extra money he was bringing in, she claimed his luck had turned around with his sports betting. That’s what he told her anyway.
I didn’t report it to the police. I can’t trust anyone at this point, and my gut is telling me this goes beyond the department.
I advised Haley to pick up her son from school as soon as possible and stay with her parents until we get back in touch.
Reid and I went back and forth while he and Oakley began digging through the Ring camera footage, but there wasn’t much to go on. It had all been wiped clean. Oakley is scouring nearby street cams to see what he can find, but I’m not holding out hope. If they can alter surveillance footage at the police department, they can manipulate anything in the city.
“What’s the next move?” Karmen asks.
The day has already been intense. From the conversation with my dad this morning to the moment Karmen and I shared in the truck earlier, to finding Haley. Now, Gainey, the one person who could potentially help us, is missing.
Tension radiates from every inch of my body. I feel like I’m spiraling, and, for once in my life, I don’t know what my next move is.
“Still trying to figure that out,” I reply, pulling into my apartment complex.
My phone vibrates on the console, Reid’s name lighting up the screen. I put the truck in park and answer. “Please tell me something good, brother.”
“I don’t know if it’s good, but we definitely found something.” My pulse quickens. “We were able to locate the vehicle on a nearby street cam, but the plates were a dupe. Registered to a Virginia Moore, eighty-nine-year-old grandmother who lives in a retirement home and hasn’t driven in about twenty years. No connection to Parker or Gainey.”
Reid takes a breath.
“We also tracked Emily’s phone, but not much to go on there either. It was disconnected the day before yesterday. It last pinged a cell tower near her home. My guess is she’s using a burner phone.”
I blow out a frustrated breath. “Fuck, I thought you said you found something.”
“I’m getting there,” he says.
I grit my teeth, my patience wearing thin. “Get there faster, asshole.”
He chuckles. “We’ve been digging into Gainey’s finances and decided to do some forensic accounting on everyone in the department, and we discovered multiple donations to a charity called Haven of Hope.”
