Page 137

“The stalker,” I said. “Nav, you get facial rec on that guy yet?”

“No. All I have are his eyes. It’s gonna take time.”

“I can fix that,” Pippen offered. He handed his daughter to Sypher and moved over to Nav’s computer. Nav gave him his seat, and we waited.

“What stalker?” Dec asked with a sigh.

“You don’t share shit with your uncle?” Sypher asked.

“I’m his fucking brother,” Dec snapped. He was a little testy when it came to someone pointing out they weren’t actually brothers.

“Only what we have to,” King answered. Turning back to Dec, he filled him in. “Gunner’s sister showed up a couple of days ago. She’s being followed. We’re working on it.”

Blade got up to answer a knock at the door. Joey was on the other side.

“What’s up, Joey?”

“Uh, Archie said you were looking for Melissa?”

“Yea, you know where she is?”

“No, sir. She left right after the sheriff got here.”

“What?” I asked the prospect.

“She drove out right after the sheriff drove in. The gate moves kind of slow, and aside from stepping in front of her car, there was no way to stop her. Also”—he looked down at his hands—“this came a few minutes before. I didn’t have time to run it in before the sheriff pulled up.”

He handed the paper to Blade, who opened it. Looking back at Joey, he asked, “Where did it come from?”

“A kid dropped it off. Said someone gave him a hundred bucks to deliver it.”

“Thanks, Joey. You can go back out to the gate.” After he closed the door, he looked at Gunner, then me.

“What the fuck does it say?”

“You can’t keep her.”

“Son of a bitch!” I yelled. “Who the fuck is this guy?”

Nav’s computer pinged, and a face came up on the screen on the wall. “Detective Andrew Henderson is the man who destroyed Melissa’s office,” Pippen announced.

“He’s also the man who reported the kidnapping,” the sheriff confirmed.

“I need a computer,” Sypher demanded.

“WHERE THE FUCK DID SHE GO?”

“Calm the fuck down, brother.”

“Fuck off, Cash.” I shouldn’t be snapping at him. This wasn’t his fault. It was Sypher’s and Pippen’s. Turning my glare toward the two men, I asked, “What the fuck did you two do? What did you say to her?”

“It was my fault,” Dante admitted.

“Baby, it was not your fault.”

“It was. I asked her about her brother. I shouldn’t have done that. We were supposed to be talking about Dani.”

Declan had left to put out an APB on Melissa and Detective Henderson. Nav and Sypher were working together. One looking for Melissa, and one looking for a connection to Caylee Meadows.