Page 87 of Her Devoted HERO

Why would Buddy and Kenna both be targets over that fucking dating site, if Buddy didn’t have a profile, or did he? It all begins and ends with that stupid fucking site!

He called Clint.

Before Dex even asked a question, Clint started talking. “I haven’t found any e-mails coming into Buddy’s accounts from the Starbuck’s IP address. Now I’m going through his less than stellar fan mail. It’s the usual bullshit crap in business. He’s made a couple of special fans.”

“You’re kidding, right? Buddy seems so likeable.”

“There’s this one guy that swears he stole his company out from under him. He’s fucking pissed. Or he was,” Clint said.

“Gates! I know him. Buddy mentioned him at a barbecue.”

“Gale. Lyle Gale. Yeah, there have been a few back thirteen months ago. They’ve tapered down.”

“That’s our guy!”

“What the fuck are you talking about? Are you sure, Dex?”

“It all makes sense. The killing centers around the site but started when Buddy ripped the company out of this guy’s hands. Let me guess, the e-mails from Lyle were over the top.”

“Yeah, they were,” Clint conceded.

“This guy had to have figured out that Buddy was doing this to check-up on Kenna, so Kenna became a focus. He’s been e-mailing her since the takeover.”

“Why kill the other women?”

“I don’t know about the first, but Jean was clearly a message to Kenna, so was this last one where he sent video. My bet is that we’ll find a connection between the first and Kenna if we look. But we don’t have time right now. Find Lyle’s properties.”

“Stay on the line, I’m doing it right now.”

“At last. We’re finally getting off this fucking freeway.”

He followed Hunter down the exit ramp, past the gas station, and took a left through the light. They got lucky, and there was a break in traffic. He could hear the tapping of Clint’s computer keys as they drove fast through the sparsely populated area leading to Wildcat Canyon.

It was killing him driving there, but where else did they have to go at the moment? It was still possible he was wrong, and Buddy was the killer. If Lyle’s properties were in La Jolla, then Dalton and Griff were there if it was San Diego, then Clint and Aiden were there.

“You have got to be shitting me.”

“What?” Dex asked Clint.

“The one house of Rosalie’s that’s being rented in Wildcat Canyon?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s got Lyle Gale’s name on the lease,” Clint said.

Hunter was already going twice the legal limit on the road. Dex stomped on the accelerator and roared past him.

***

She’d thought he’d strip her. But she was still wearing her blouse and jeans. He’d used rope, not zip ties, to tie her to the chair. When she tried to tip it over, she realized it was bolted to the cement floor.

“Ah Kenna, this is a pro operation. If the chair fell over, I couldn’t have my fun.”

She watched as he went over to a table near one of the plastic tarps. Now that she wasn’t fighting him, the smell was even worse. Or maybe she was just imagining her body being under one of the tarps, and that’s what made her gag. Lyle picked up something up. He turned back to her, and she watched as he put on a mask.

“Thank you.” She smiled.

His step faltered as he walked back to her. She ignored the whip in his hand.