Page 120 of Obsession

I make my way to the front door, tightening the robe’s belt, and slide back the chain.

Chapman’s face greets me through the crack. He holds up a letter, flanked by Detective Briem and more police officers behind him.

My heart thuds violently as I slowly unlock the door and open it fully.

“Good morning, Miss Campbell. We have a search warrant.”

Icy panic slithers down my spine, and my mind flashes to my fridge and its contents. Where’s Robbie?

“A search warrant?”

“Do you mind stepping aside, ma’am, so my officers can enter the premises?”

“Not until you tell me why you have a search warrant?”

He lowers the letter. “We have reason to suspect that you haven’t been truthful. Now, with all due respect, ma’am, you either cooperate with law enforcement and let us enter the premises, or we will have no choice but to remove you.”

Unable to see a way out of this shitshow, I swallow hard and step aside, hands fisted at my sides, my gaze downcast as they enter. Chapman walks in first, angling his body sideways as hesidles past me, followed by Briem and the others. I lose count of how many officers enter my home.

They don’t leave a nook or cranny untouched, spending hours pulling open drawers and cupboards, searching high and low for any sign of Robbie.

Chapman descends the stairs, his boots clomping heavily on the wooden steps before he looks up and spots me at the foot of the stairs. Our eyes clash, and then he’s gone, entering the kitchen. He pulls out a pair of plastic gloves from his pocket and puts them on while briefing with one of his colleagues. No one notices me in the middle of the chaos. No one cares that my world is falling apart around me.

They root through every single cupboard, working methodically, until the only untouched item in the room is the freezer.

Chapman’s big body walks past me, forcing me back a step. I stare at the floor when he pulls open the door, cold steam pouring from the open freezer. Seconds pass—maybe even minutes.

My pulse thuds in my temples as I chance a look, surprised to see Chapman remove his gloves and tuck them back inside his coat pocket. The freezer door is closed.

I’m struggling to make sense of the situation. Did they not see Mark’s head? It was right there, along with David’s body parts.

One of the officers walks up to Chapman and speaks to him in a hushed tone, but I hear him perfectly well. “We’ve found nothing.”

A muscle tics in Chapman’s jaw, and his eyes swing in my direction. He nods once to his colleague, then walks closer to me, making my skin itch with unease. “You were lucky this time.”

He’s a head taller than me, and even with his head inclined, he still towers over me. “We will find him. If he’s smart, he won’t come back here.”

One of his colleagues says something to him as he passes, and Chapman responds before lowering his voice as he speaks directly to me, “But we both know he will because he can’t stay away from you, can he? You’re his weakness.”

I hold my breath and slowly lift my gaze to meet his eyes, taken aback by their cruel glint.

He smirks, his knowing gaze intent on mine. “And our bait.”

Before I can make sense of his thinly veiled threat, he walks out, his broad shoulders disappearing through the narrow doorway.

Spooked, I pull out a chair and plop down, defeated and exhausted.

Silence falls on the house, a silence which somehow seems to scream. I clamp my hands over my ears as my gaze snags on the freezer. I should be handcuffed and led outside to a cop car, but instead, I’m still here, confused as hell and worried about Robbie.

With a sudden burst of energy, I leap to my feet and dart across the room toward the freezer. I rip it open, the force causing one of the magnets to come loose and fall to the ground with a clatter.

I stare at the empty shelf where Mark’s head used to be. Now, there’s nothing.

All the evidence is gone.

And so is Robbie.

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