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Chapter 5
Caleb
Since Aria is still asleep, I decide to bring my team to my house to get an update. She had a restless night, tossing and turning, whimpering, jumping, and that was even in beside me. I can only think it would have been much worse if she slept in her own room. I feel bad for leaving her in bed alone, but I can't put off this team meeting. We need to make plans. We need to find the culprit behind these heinous crimes.
I pour a cup of coffee and sit down on my couch. My full team is here, apart from a couple of the guys who are out working. The main guys are here, and we'll make it our mission to make Aria's kidnapper pay… at any cost. It’s good to know that we’re all on the same page here, because we’re all going to need to work together.
"Thanks for coming over here, guys," I start.
"How is she?" asks Clay.
"She had a bad night. We spoke for a while after you called, but today is a new day. Do you have anything?"
Chris clears his throat first. "Clay and I spoke in detail with Al and his partner yesterday. They've got absolutely nothing yet. Post mortems are being carried out on the dead girls today. They've had a team of officers searching the area for any clues. We all figured that, because Aria was found within that area, he must have been holding her somewhere close by."
"After the state I saw Aria in last night, she couldn't have moved very far," Clay adds.
"I don't know. We all know that the body can produce energy if you really need it. The body and mind are powerful." I shrug.
When I was a detective, we worked a lot with psychologists. It gave us a good insight into the human body. How it can shut down to protect itself, and how it can get a burst of energy from nowhere if it really needs it. I only hope that Aria used these coping mechanisms when she was captured, because eleven months is a long fucking time to be locked away from everything familiar.
Amber stands up and walks towards me. "I've been doing searches on that particular area. There is no property as such, but the land is separated into three areas. Each bit of land is owned by farmers. There are no out buildings or houses they could tell me about. It's all woodlands." Amber hands me over a map.
Amber was a tracker in the army. She’s been known to find people in the worst conditions possible.
"He had to be keeping her somewhere." I sigh with frustration, clenching my fists tighter. “She didn’t just appear in that area by magic.”
"There were no windows,” a small voice says from behind me.
I jump up and slowly walk over to Aria. Her arms are wrapped around her body, but she looks a little stronger on her feet this morning. Her eyes don’t look as dead, but she still looks tired.
"Come and have a seat, sweetheart." I help her to sit in my seat. "You know Clay and Chris, but this is Amber, Mike, and Liam. These guys help us run Shawland Security. Each of them has a military background, and each of them is prepared to help us keep you safe.”
"Hey, girl. It’s good to see you." Chris leans over the table and squeezes her hand. She doesn’t pull away from him, which is a good sign.
“Hi, Chris.” She grins.
I take the seat next to Aria and hand over my coffee cup. She smiles weakly at me but lifts the map I was just looking at.
"I think it was like an old shepherd’s cabin. You know, like something the hired help would stay in in the old days. It was old. Rundown. Very sparse with furniture. It was cold and damp, even in the warmer months.”
She looks up at Clay and he pulls out his laptop. He's a whiz on computers. I daren't ask him how he does it. I just know if we need anything done computer-wise, he’s our guy. He isn’t afraid to hack into anything.
"Can you remember any landmarks or something significant that you thought was weird?" asks Chris. “Anything. A strange scent? Any sounds?”
Aria shakes her head. “Honestly, from the moment I got outside of that cabin, nothing else entered my mind. I heard nothing. I saw nothing. It was like I was in a world of my own, and all I thought about was getting to safety. I didn’t care that I was hurting myself more by having no shoes on. I just needed to get out of there. I can’t explain it. I was in a bubble.” Her shoulders sag.
I hold up my hand. "We don't have to do this now. We can work with what we have." I take the map away from Aria, but she pulls it back.
"We have very little," Chris says. "The quicker we get this out of the way, the better it will be."
"I said leave it!" I snap at my brother.
"I need to do this, Caleb. I can't hide from it if you're going to catch him. I trust you and your brothers to find him. I can't hash this out with strangers. If you trust your team…” She pauses. “Then I trust them too."
She looks around the other guys and I feel a deep sense of pride. Compared to the woman I saw last night, I see a little glimpse of the strength she once possessed.
"Whatever you say to us stays between us. From now until we find this..." I pause, because I don't know what to call him. “The compound is on lockdown. The only detective allowed through is Al. I don't care what they have to say about it. Send him to me if he wants a fight. Family only allowed in here, and even that goes through me, Clay, or Chris. Any client meetings can be taken care of from Clay's old apartment."
