Page 55 of Carver’s Crusade

“What are you saying?” Shield asks.

“Raven said two other men left Rollings’ house at the same time he did. Did they go to the bar?”

I frown at his question. “I didn’t see them or their cars in the parking lot. You’re right. If the three of them were headed to the same place, why take separate cars? I guess they could have been planning on going home from there, so they drove separately, but I didn’t see the other two. Only Tony.”

“Maybe they arrived before you and went inside?” Babe suggests.

I shake my head. “They weren’t that far ahead of us. In fact, I remember seeing them turn off and go in different directions. Why do that if they were going to the same bar?”

“Besides, wouldn’t his friends have been helping get the girl outside? You said she could barely stand, right?”

I nod.

“Where was he going with her? I mean, what was the plan? Was he going to rape her there or take her somewhere?”

No one answers Carver. I turn my mind back to the scene. Tony telling her that they were going to have some fun. No, he said that she might not have as much fun.

“Tony said something to her,” I murmur. “He said that they were going to have some fun. But then he said that maybe she wouldn’t.”

“So, who is they?” Carver asks.

“He and his friends?” Min asks quietly.

I swallow hard.

“You said Tony and his friends convened at Rollings’ house before three of them took off. Why meet up if the plan was to separate? Unless that was only the first part of the plan?”

“You think he was bringing the girl back to the house?” Babe says.

Carver nods. “It makes the most sense, doesn’t it?”

The awful realization settles over all of us.

If I hadn’t walked into that alley when I did, nobody knows where that girl would’ve ended up.

Shield pulls out his phone and disappears outside. Leaving us to stare at each other in horrified silence.

“You said two others took off at the same time as Tony, right?” Min asks. I nod. “Where did they go? You said they didn’t show up at the same bar.”

I shake my head. “I don’t think so. I didn’t see them or their cars. As I said, I think they turned off and went in different directions from Tony.”

“You think they went somewhere else,” Babe asks.

“I’m guessing that’s what they did,” Shield says as he returns to the room. “I called the precinct and had them check missing persons reports. Two women disappeared from two separate bars Friday night. I’m having Maestro check traffic cams to see if he can spot the cars of the two who left at the same time as Tony. My guess is we’re going to learn that the three were hunting that night and two came back with their prey.”

“Six men,” Min says flatly. “Three women.”

Nobody speaks.

Because the math lands instantly.

Tony had one girl.

The other two men left the house the same night.

And now two women are missing.

A cold wave of horror rolls through me so hard I grip the edge of the counter to stay steady.