Page 65 of Her Devoted HERO

“I’ll be there. Hold on, Son.”

The phone went dead.

“What the fuck?” Warren said.

“They’re holed up at Rosalie’s.” Dex’s hand was on the conference room door. Sanchez and Warren were up and following behind him.

***

Austin was waiting for him outside on the front steps at the top of the circular drive. He was pacing back and forth. His eyes immediately took in the second car that pulled in behind Dex’s jeep.

“Who are they?” he asked as Dex bounded up the stairs.

“They’re cops. I was at the police station when you called.”

“Mom will figure out something’s up.”

“Where is she?”

“She’s in Rosalie’s office.”

Dex nodded. “Got it. We’ll go around the back to the verandah. You go in and bring your laptop to us.”

“I didn’t think of that,” Austin said.

For the first time since he’d met him, he seemed like the fifteen-year-old boy that he was. Dex cupped the back of his head. “It’s understandable, Austin. You’re doing great.”

“It’s bad,” he whispered. Dex heard the tremor in the boy’s voice.

“We’ll get through it together,” he assured him.

Austin nodded. “I’ll meet you in five.”

Then he was gone.

Dex turned around and faced the detectives. “Let’s park around back with the other cars, so we’re not so obvious. We’re trying to fly under the radar for the time being.”

“We’ll follow you,” Warren said.

Dex moved his jeep back behind the garages. When he got out, he motioned for the detectives to follow him.

When they got to the verandah, Austin was standing there holding his laptop in his hand. The four of them huddled up. “We can’t look at it out here. You need to hear the sound, and anybody could come by.” The kid had a point. Austin pointed across the yard to the greenhouse.

Dex looked at the house and calculated. The office was on the other side, looking out over the side lawn, not the back lawn. They should be good. They made their way over to the greenhouse. One gardener was in it. Dex asked him to give them some privacy. He looked at him confused. Then he and Sanchez repeated the request in Spanish at the same time. Sanchez grinned at him. Dex didn’t give a shit that Sanchez was impressed he spoke Spanish, he was just happy the gardener left, and they could see what was on Austin’s computer.

“Did you say you got this e-mail from school?” Warren asked.

“Yeah, I’ve been getting a lot of my homework from school. This had my school’s address, so I opened it. I didn’t recognize the teacher’s name, but I figured it was just a substitute. There was a video attached. Sometimes it’s like that.”

He opened his laptop and clicked to his e-mail files. “Here it is. Mr. Forrester.” Austin’s finger trembled as he pressed the button to open the e-mail.

“Austin. You’ve already watched it. Why don’t you go outside?” Dex said quietly.

“I should watch all of it. I can handle it.”

“Austin, I don’t doubt it. But this shit eats away at your soul. Life’s going to scar you enough over the years. If you can hold out a little longer so that you can take more hits later...well...you’re better off.”

“Won’t it help Mom, if I watch? Try to get in this bastard’s head?” he asked grimly.