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All I can think about is the weight that’s hanging over me, I need to tell Skid about the situation we’re in and I need to tell him now.
“Could you watch Charlie for me?” I ask Ella as I stand up from my chair.
“Sure.” She looks a little confused when I start backing away from the table but I don’t have time to make up an excuse.
“You stay there with Dylan, do as Ella tells you, okay?” I look down to the floor where Charlie is rummaging through the huge box of Lego. Then spinning around, I rush out of the clubhouse and across the yard to the garage.
“Um, now's not the time.” Rogue immediately blocks me when I step into the workshop. She’s got a worried look on her face which is alarming in itself.
“What do you mean now’s not the time? You’re the one who’s been insistent that I tell him. That’s what I’m here to do.” We both jump when a loud crash comes from the office and when I look past her shoulder and through the glass, I see Skid attacking everything in sight. I go to stop him but Rogue holds me back.
“Believe me, you do not wanna go in there,” she warns.
“What the hell happened?” I ask, watching him slump into his chair and bury his head in his hands.
“Skid just got a message from his brother.” Her worry is replaced with anger as her lip snarls like a wolf ready to bite.
“What kind of message?”
“You got a strong stomach?” Rogue asks, taking Skid’s phone off the workstation where it’s lying screen down.
“I…” Rogue doesn’t give me a chance to answer before she holds the screen up in front of me. What I see instantly turns me cold, and I can feel the image imprinting on my brain.
“Fuck’s wrong with you, Rogue?” Skid bursts through the office door and barges her out the way, snatching the phone from her hand and slamming it back on the counter. He reaches out to me, dragging me into his chest and holding me tight against him.
“What the hell was that, was it Car…” I can’t even finish my sentence.
“No.” Skid’s heart is beating rapidly against my ear, his grip on me so tight I can barely breathe.
“It looks like her though,” Rogue adds.
“Will you shut the fuck up?” Skid snaps.
“No, Skid, I won’t shut the fuck up. Because if this woman is gonna be with you, you can’t keep shit like this from her.” Rogue looks at me as I tug myself away from him and I realize what she just did wasn’t done out of spite. She’s right, me and Skid can’t keep these things from each other.
“That was a message Chop just sent. The woman in the photo, who I’m pretty certain is fucking dead, looks just like Carly. He’s taunting him,” she explains, looking murderous
“Take the thing to Maddy.” Skid reaches for the phone and shoves it into her hand. “Get her to trace where it was sent from.” He takes a step away from me, rubbing the bridge of his nose like his head is causing him pain.
“She’s right, he’s tauntin’ me.”
I don’t know if he’s talking to me or himself, but I close the distance between us and go to him.
“What do you need me to do?” I look up at him, feeling helpless.
“I need you to stay real fuckin’ close,” he tells me, covering his mouth with his hands and looking tortured.
“Her name’s Jenna Armstrong.” Maddy slides the brown envelope across the table at me. “She worked at the hospital where our John Doe rocked up last month. It was her phone he used to send you the message and the picture is clear enough for me to identify that it’s her when I compared it to her driver's license photo.” Maddy keeps her head down. I know seeing the picture would have unearthed bad memories for her too, she was the first person to find Carly on the day Chop took her life. “I called the local PD and gave them an anonymous tip, so they’d find the body, pretended to be a concerned neighbor.”
I nod my head back at her gratefully, then notice the look Jessie gives her from across the other side of the barroom. I’ve drunk just enough whiskey to numb my head and calm my rage, so whatever's left to be said can come right out.
“What ain’t ya telling me?” I look between the pair of them.
“Go on,” Jessie encourages her.
“There was a transaction made from her credit card at 3 p.m. today, just before the text was sent to you.”
“What kind of transaction?” I look up at her.
