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Zack trusted Finn. But he didn’t trust some of the staff. Lucy was right that this was an extremely sensitive subject. Zack didn’t want to be the catalyst released these videos in the wild, so to speak. They had to tread delicately here.
Not just for Sarah, but for all the young women caught up in this.
As for his high school buddies?
He didn’t feel a bit sorry for them and the consequences he hoped they’d finally face for their actions.
25
Lucy simply couldn’t watch that video one more time. They’d all closely gathered around the screen, slowing the video down to a crawl so they could see almost every frame individually. An arm would appear in the corner for a moment and then be gone. So far, they’d heard soft voices, too, but hadn’t been able to identify whose they might be.
Seeing Sarah lying on the bed, practically passed out and unaware, had bile rising in Lucy’s throat. It was disgusting that a few teenage boys thought that this behavior was justified because they wanted something that was against the law. How entitled did a human have to be to think that way?
Sarah and the other girls hadn’t even been treated like human beings. They’d been treated like…blow-up dolls without any feelings. It was sickening. Now these so-called “men” had wives and families. Would they be okay with this happening to their spouse or daughters? Did they just think that the ends justified the means?
She was ready to simply call Finn and let him handle it from here. This entire situation was going to open a nasty wound in the community. People were going to get arrested; stories would be told and not all of them would be even remotely true. Lives would be changed forever and not in a positive way. There would be finger pointing, sides taken, and families torn into shreds. It wouldn’t be pretty, and while Lucy had been all in helping Zack find out the truth about what happened to his half-sister, this was something that neither one of them had envisioned when they’d started. They needed a professional to go any further.
“Look,” Zack said, excitedly, jumping up from his seat and pointing to the screen. “Do you see that? Do you? It’s a tattoo. I know I’ve seen it before. I swear I have.”
Tate was tapping on the keyboard, telling Zack to hold his horses. He’d zoom in on the video.
Everyone was leaning over, getting as close to the screen as they could. The picture zoomed in, and Lucy could see the tattoo that Zack was talking about. It was clear now when it had been too small before.
“I’ve seen it, too,” Lucy said. “But I don’t know where.”
Zack sat back down, scraping his fingers through his hair.
“I know I’ve seen it before,” he said. “It looks really familiar.”
The tattoo was a feather with scrolls around it, along with what looked to be a crow on the upper arm although it was less clear.
Lucy’s phone vibrated in her purse, and she retrieved it to see who was calling. The number wasn’t familiar but it was the local area code.
“Lucy, this is Deputy Blake. It looks like someone has broken into the back door of your store. Can you come here so we can make a report as to what might have been stolen?”
Lucy groaned out loud at the news. First her condo, and now her bookstore. Was this person looking for the thumb drive? Or was this simply a campaign to scare her off?
“I’m at Tate’s so I’ll be right over. Thanks for calling, Blake.”
She ended the call and stuffed the phone back into her purse.
“The store has been broken into. Deputy Blake is there. I need to go.”
“You can’t go alone,” Jane said, hopping up from the booth. “I’ll go with you. It’s not safe.”
“I’ll go, too,” Zack said, starting to get up, but Lucy shook her head no.
“You have to stay here and figure out who the third person is. We’ll be fine. The police will be there after all, and it’s practically next door.”
“I don’t like this at all,” Zack said. “Even if it is a few doors down.”
“I’ll go with them,” Cooper offered. “I can’t help with this video, but I can make sure that Jane and Lucy stay safe. Plus, as Lucy said, Blake will be there, too. He wouldn’t have called her to come if the perpetrator were still there.”
It was easy to see that Zack was conflicted, but Lucy was firm about this. He needed to keep watching the video and figuring out who it was. She didn’t want to leave him to do this on his own, but she didn’t have much choice.
“It will be fine,” Lucy assured him. “But I think we might be there for a while. He’ll need me to tell him if anything is missing and that will take some time.”
“If we can’t figure anything out in the next thirty minutes or so, we’ll go over to help,” Zack said. “I really don’t like you out there on your own.”
