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Without another word, the three of us climb into our cars and take off toward the downtown Dallas area. Pulling up to Mom’s office building, I park against the curb of the back alleyway, knowing there aren’t any street cameras there, but there are building ones.
Hendrick and Coleman are close behind me, and we all three exit our vehicles, then walk up to the building.
“You got Mom’s building camera info?” Coleman asks, turning to look at Hendrick.
Hendrick is a nerd, always has been, but it’s worked out in our favor because he’s been able to do a lot of shit that we couldn’t even pretend to be able to do. That includes jamming surveillance and security camera systems.
“Jammed,” Hendrick states as he shoves his phone into his pocket.
Coleman shoves a key into the back door, but before he opens it, he looks back at Hendrick. “Alarm?”
“Do you think this is amateur hour?” he asks. “I did that before I fucked with the security computer system.”
Coleman turns the key, opens the door, and together, the three of us walk into the building. Luckily, this isn’t one of the buildings that has or needs twenty-four-seven security. My mom’s office is upstairs, but the rest of the offices are much like hers—psychologists, real estate offices, things like that.
Coleman locks the door behind us, and we move toward the staircase to make our way up to her floor. Thankfully, she’s not all the way at the top, so it doesn’t take us long to climb the staircase. Moving down her hallway, we stop in front of her doorway, and I watch as Coleman lifts a key, slips it inside of the lock, and turns it to unlock the office door itself. He has a master key to all the offices, and Mom’s is no exception. A perk of the family owning the building.
Stepping into the room, I flip the light on. “Mom will have it written down in her calendar,” I state.
“Just make sure you don’t move anything. She’d know if someone moved a paper clip a millimeter,” Coleman mutters.
I would laugh, except he’s right. My mom is a perfectionist when it comes to her office space and her appearance. I don’t know that it bleeds over into any other part of her life, but work, clothes, and makeup are always on point.
As I walk toward her desk, my eyes scan the top before I touch anything. Her appointment book is sitting right on top. Without moving anything but the pages, I open it and flip to today, finding the time I was here.
Parker Nichols.
My lips curve up into a grin. “Parker Nichols,” I murmur loud enough for my brothers to hear.
Taking my phone out of my pocket, I take a picture of the entry, although I don’t think I’ll forget that name. It’s different and intriguing. I won’t forget it.
Hendrick is at the filing cabinet, and he tugs it open before he begins to riffle through it. “Found her notes.”
Closing the book, I turn my head to look over to my brother. He’s holding up the notebook on Parker. “Want to know how fucked up she is?” he asks.
“Go for it,” I say, but I probably shouldn’t.
These are her personal things, thoughts, feelings, and my mom’s notes. Things that only my mother is supposed to know. It’s like reading a diary entry or some shit. However, that doesn’t stop Hendrick. He clears his throat and begins.
“Parker Nichols suffers from anxiety due to her trauma as a small child. She awoke to a man standing over her when she was asleep. He was dressed in a dark suit. He did not harm her, but she believes he is the person who killed her parents, as after he left, she said it was discovered that her parents had been killed. Although she believes this man was involved, he did not scare her.”
Coleman grunts, then Hendrick continues, “Mom scribbled some shit down at the bottom in the corner, but it’s just a name and a question mark.”
“What’s that?” I ask.
“It says,Henry?”
Henry. “Like, as in Dad?” Coleman asks.
“I don’t know. I’m assuming. That’s weird, though, right?” I ask.
“Maybe…” Coleman’s voice trails off. Then he lifts his head, his eyes finding mine. “Anything else you need?” he asks.
“Nope,” I say, popping thep. “Let’s roll.”
We leave the office, lock everything up tight, and once we’re driving away from the building, Hendrick unjams everything he jammed when we arrived. We all run home to change and shower before heading to the club, but I use my time to look up Parker Nichols, and I discover that she only lives a few blocks from me.
The temptation is too great. I must see her.
