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Dom and I drive straight to mine, but I know I’m too late. The fucker has already been here, and Kenz is gone. If my gut hadn’t clued me in, then the open front door and dead cop on my hall floor certainly fucking do.
“Fucking bastard!” I yell, slamming my fist into the front door, once, twice, three times. My hand throbs, but the pain is nothing compared to what’s going on inside me right now. Or the pain Peters is going to feel when I get my fucking hands on him.
“Save your energy, Ash. Any idea where he might have taken her?” Dom asks, ever the voice of reason. The man is an absolute force to be reckoned with in every aspect of his life. But he’s always calm.
Blowing out a breath through my nose. “I can hazard a guess. But I can’t afford to be wrong, Dom. They let her walk away six years ago, but there’s not a fucking chance they’ll make the same mistake a second time.”
Just the thought of what they’ll do to her has my heart thundering in my chest and my hands itching to do something, preferably some serious damage to whichever fucker lays their hands on her.
“What about tracking her phone?”
I search my pockets looking for my phone, when it appears in front of me, and I remember that Kenz has my burner but this one was checked in at the station. Switching it on, it seems to take entirely too long to load up. The moment it does, I open my phone tracking app and pray to the gods she has her phone and it’s still on. While I could still find her, it would take twice as long.
Kenzie’s phone flashes up in her last location, which was twenty minutes ago, and on the freeway heading toward Tungsten Bay.
“He’s taken her to the site in Tungsten Bay.” Before the last word has left my mouth, I’m racing into the house, careful to avoid the mess in my hall, and snatching up my car keys from the dish.
As I exit the house, Dom is already on the phone and calls out to me as I get in my car.
“I’ll meet you there. Go.”
He doesn’t need to tell me twice, and I peel out the drive, kicking up gravel as my wheels spin.
I set my phone in the holder and call Tripp.
“You heard from Kenz?” I ask as soon as he answers.
“Not since she called me asking about Carmichael’s record. I tried to call her back about fifteen minutes ago, but her phone must be dead or off. Why, what’s going on?”
“Carmichael’s record. Why would she be asking about that?” I ask, and just as he begins to explain, it clicks. “Carmichael and Aria, right?”
“You got it, man. That’s one sick guy. I managed to dig up some more shit on him, which wasn’t hard. He needs to fire his PR company if this is how they bury shit.”
“What did you get,” I ask, trying to focus on something else rather on the fact I’m still fifteen minutes away from the site and Kenz.
“So, just over ten years ago, Carmichael was accused of grooming a fifteen-year-old girl, but there wasn’t enough evidence. But when I went back a little further, there was another allegation. Girl the same age, but this time, they settled out of court. At the time Carmichael didn’t have the funds. You want to guess who fronted the cash?”
“Preston Thomas.”
“Yep. Now, if Kennedy is right, and I think she is, then how do you think Thomas will feel when he finds out that his best friend has groomed his daughter.”
“Jesus Christ. How fucked up is that? Maybe someone should tell him. We got any proof?”
“Funny you should say that. After Kennedy called me, I took another look at the picture I found of Aria and Carmichael I sent to you, and it didn’t take me long to find what Kennedy saw. So, I decided to hack into Preston Thomas’ emails and maybe plant a little picture and a message, but would you believe that someone beat me to it.”
“Kenz?” He gives me an impressed ‘you got it’. “Damn my woman is smart.”
“They have her don’t they?”
“They do. But not for long, Tripp. Not for long.”
“Be careful, man. Bring her home, and call if you need anything.”
“Thanks,” I say, as the call disconnects. I turn off the freeway and speed through town to the site. As I get closer, I decide it’s safer to go in on foot. I park up where I saw that car parked the first time I came here, which I now know was Kenz.
I exit the car and slowly make my way inside the site entrance making sure to keep to the shadows and out of sight.
The further in I go the surer I am there isn’t anyone on watch, and so I’m able to move faster if I don’t stick to the shadows.
