Page 37 of Finding English

Chapter 15

Henry jolted awake, his body and mind coming instantly alive at the sound of his phone ringing. Noting the time on the clock as four fifteen in the morning, he answered the phone as he slipped out of bed. Cruz calling at this time couldn’t be good news, so he closed the bedroom door leaving Cassie to sleep and went down to the office.

“Cruz, what’s up?”

“We found two more bodies.”

Henry had been expecting it, but it didn’t stop the sharp, defined pain in his gut at the thought of two more people going through the horror that Bunce had more than likely inflicted. The pause on the line told him there was more Cruz wasn’t saying. Too many years as a cop for his senses not to pick up on the pause and inflection.

“And?”

Henry could hear the tiredness in his friend’s voice, everyone was working this case around the clock. “The woman is one of the grandmothers from Michaela’s pre-school. Her and her husband were both slaughtered.”

“Fuck, this is gonna slay Cassie.”

“Yeah, well, hold on because it gets worse. Bastard left a calling card. A copy of the European Chemistry Weekly publication. They did a feature on the top ten minds to watch for and guess who is at number five?”

Henry already knew the answer before Cruz told him. “Cassie.”

“The one and only.”

“He’s taunting us.”

“Yeah, well, when bastards like this get cocky, they get caught so let’s look at the positives.”

Wanting to be upfront with Cruz and Dax, and the others working their asses off, Henry had shared what he could information-wise with them that Eidolon had found weeks ago.

“This ties in with the premise he’s been in Europe.”

“It does. We have our people over there liaising with local authorities on several open cases that look like they may be Bunce’s work.”

“Waggs and Reid ID’d him visiting his mother’s care home six weeks ago. They called it in last night. They’ve been following an electronic trail that leads him across country before coming back here.”

“So we know he’s traveling. Do they know how regular he’s visiting?” Henry heard Cruz walk away from the noise and assumed he was still at the scene.

“Yeah, every six to eight weeks for the last six months.”

“So, he’s due another visit.”

“Yeah, Waggs and Reid are gonna stay up there. Eidolon has friends in Ohio who are letting them use one of the empty properties to keep an eye on the place.”

“Good, that’s one thing less to cover. We’re stretched fucking thin on this since that new drug hit the streets.”

“Yeah, I know the timing sucks. Cass says she’s making some headway with that and is sharing all her research.”

“She is, but we’re still stretched. It’s the only reason I’m happy to let your men run around on this and because they’ve kept their word to stay out of the way and share info.”

Henry nodded as he walked into the kitchen and poured himself a coffee that had just started dripping, thanking God his mum always put the timer before she turned in for his dad to get up to fresh coffee.

“All right if I come to the scene?”

Cruz paused. “Yes, fine. Calder’s here too overseeing the removal of the bodies.” Cruz rattled off the address which was a damn sight closer than he wanted it to be.

“On my way.”

Henry hung up and took the stairs two at a time to his room. Slipping in silently, he grabbed his jeans from the floor, pulling a polo from the wardrobe, and shucking on his jacket. Holding his boots in his hands so he wouldn’t wake Cassie, he decided to leave a note telling her where he was so she wouldn’t worry.

Leaving his chicken scratch note by the bed, he took one last look at the woman who’d stolen his heart and given him her world and stepped out the door.