I looked around the apartment; nothing looked disheveled or out of place. It didn’t appear that she was forced to leave, but she wouldn’t willingly leave her phone or the door to her apartment wide open. Something wasn’t right, and we needed to figure it out as soon as possible.
“Rock, can you have Officer Downing meet us here?” I asked.
“He’s already on the way.”
Officer Downing was our main contact at the police station. We worked together to keep men who abused women off the streets. Our operation was simple and worked flawlessly because we made the job of law enforcement officers easier.
When I was seven years old, and Rocky was ten, our father beat our mother to death. He was currently serving life in prison, but if we could get our hands on him, we’d torture him to death. Our mother’s parents took in me, Rocky, and our younger brother, Roman, and raised us like we were their own.
Unfortunately, Roman died six years ago from a severe and untreated case of pneumonia, and Rocky and I gained custody of his son, RJ, because his mother was no longer interested in raising him. We opened theRush Brothers Youth and Recreation Centerin Roman’s honor, using some of the money we won from the lawsuit against the hospital for its negligence in handling Roman’s care.
Roman was young when it happened, but Rocky and I never forgot how our father beat the life out of our mother, and not just the day she died. He beat her so often that when we looked into her eyes, we could see her zest for life leaving.
When Rocky was about sixteen, he made it his mission to rid Onyx City of men like our father. He didn’t tell me what he’d been doing until I was sixteen, and that was when we built our underground organization. Domestic violence incidents occurred in our city, but if we were made aware of it, we handled it.
I’d lost count a long time ago of the number of bodies I had, and when I found out what happened to Rose, I’d be adding another one to the list.
“What do you think happened here, and who do you think is responsible?” Officer Downing asked.
I was so deep in my thoughts, I didn’t realize he’d arrived.
“I think Rose may have been kidnapped, and a nigga named Preston is responsible,” I told him.
It could have been one of the other niggas I’d scared off, but my gut told me that after what happened last night, Preston was responsible.
“Do you have a last name?” he asked.
“Did she tell y’all his last name?” I asked her sisters.
“No. She didn’t tell us anything about him,” Rue said.
“Where’s her phone?” I asked.
Blossom gave it to me, and I prayed she hadn’t changed her code. I breathed a sigh of relief when I entered my birthday and the phone unlocked. I immediately went to her text messages and found Preston’s name.
“Preston Williams. He said he’s from Chicago and works for Onyx City Parcel Services.”
Officer Downing’s fingers moved quickly across his phone screen. While he did that, I texted the apartment manager to get access to the building cameras.
“I sent the info to my guy. We should have something in a few minutes,” Officer Downing said.
“I’m waiting to hear back from the apartment manager for camera access,” I told them.
“How long do you think she’s been gone?” Downing asked.
“She texted us at eight forty-five and asked us to meet her at her place at ten. We got here at nine thirty, and she was gone,” Rue said.
He looked at his watch, then said, “It’s been a little over an hour, so that’s good. Does anyone know what kind of car he has?”
We all shook our heads. Had it been a few days from now, I would’ve had all the information he needed about Preston, but Rose had done a good job keeping him under wraps. My phone vibrated with a text from Melvin, the apartment manager.
Melvin:
I can reach out to the security company, but they are closed on Sundays.
I didn’t bother responding by text, and a few seconds later, he picked up my call.
“Mr. Rush, is everything okay?”
