Page 26 of Rise of the Witch (Witches of Keating Hollow #17)

Briggs had watched the video footage outside the recording studio so many times that his eyes were starting to blur.

“I just don’t think there’s anything we can glean from this,” Melissa said, sounding just as frustrated as he felt.

“No. It’s obvious that Kassie knows whoever she’s talking to, but we never get a decent look at the guy,” Briggs said.

He didn’t know why, but the way the guy moved scratched at his brain.

It felt familiar, like he reminded Briggs of someone.

But he just couldn’t put his finger on it, and it was driving him insane.

“I think maybe we should just go to bed,” Melissa said, rubbing her eyes. “It’s been a long day.”

He couldn’t argue with her there.

King had called a few hours ago. The online harasser had actually been a seventeen-year-old kid who had a broken leg and had been laid up in bed for a few months.

When he’d learned that Kassie was missing, he’d started hyperventilating and wanted to know how he could help find her.

Sadie had told him to leave it to the law enforcement investigators, and although he hadn’t been happy with that, he’d finally relented.

They were convinced he had nothing to do with Kassie’s assault.

Since then, they’d been combing through clips from the studio, going over footage from the previous week to find out if there were any other suspicious meetings. There weren’t. And Briggs had to agree with Melissa that they’d hit a dead end.

“Briggs?” Melissa asked. “Ready to hit the hay?”

“Yes.” He stood and held her hand as they made their way to his bedroom. “You’re sure you want to stay over?”

She just scoffed at him. “You can try to get rid of me, but it won’t work.”

Briggs chuckled softly. “Not me. All I want to do is get you naked and forget the last couple of days ever happened.”

“I’m in.”

He met her gaze and then swept her up in his arms and took her to bed.

Briggs woke just as the birds started to chirp and the sun started to rise.

He looked over at Melissa, who was buried under the covers and sleeping peacefully.

He was glad someone had slept. He’d only gotten a few hours before he’d woken, his mind racing with what could have happened to Kassie.

He hated that they didn’t have any leads.

Hated it even more that he hadn’t asked her more about her life so that he’d have a clue of where to start.

After carefully rolling out of bed, Briggs pulled on sweats and a T-shirt and padded into his kitchen. While he waited for his coffee to brew, he scrolled through Kassie’s social media again, searching for something—anything—that might give them a place to start looking.

He found nothing other than her clickbait posts.

They weren’t all about Briggs and King. Some were about her label, and some were about entitled fans.

One even called out a restaurant that refused to substitute a salad for french fries.

But none of them were too over the top. Nothing that would trigger someone to drive hours to Keating Hollow to abduct her.

The first hit of caffeine was a welcome reprieve, helping to clear the cobwebs from his mind.

He quickly grabbed a bagel with a smear of cream cheese and then sat at his table, staring at Kassie’s social media picture.

She was holding her phone and making a face as if she’d just read a text she wasn’t thrilled about.

It reminded him of all the texts she’d sent him while she’d been on the road. All the messages he hadn’t read. He opened up the text chain and started to scan her ramblings.

There was a lot of small talk about her tour, and sexy talk about what she wanted to do with him once she got back in town, and a lot of swearing when he didn’t text her back. But then he hit on a string of messages that were all about her mom and stepdad.

That’s when things got interesting.

Her stepdad had actually followed her around for a few shows. He’d been there, demanding money to pay her mother’s debts. And then finally one where she implied that he’d threatened her.

He reread the text again.

Wayne was just here. He’s angry. Said he didn’t want to have to be here, but my mother gave him no choice. That if I didn’t give him the money to pay for her facelift that I’d regret it. In the end, I just gave him the money. It was worth it to get rid of him.

Briggs snuck back into his room, quietly got dressed, and then left Melissa a note. It was still early, and he didn’t want to wake her, but he needed to talk to Sheriff Baker ASAP.

With his phone tucked into his pocket, he hurried out to his truck.

But when he pushed the button to start it, nothing happened. “What the hell?” he muttered.

“Get out of the truck,” a man ordered from outside of the vehicle.

Briggs looked over and froze when he saw a gun was pointed at his head.

“Out. Now.” The man, who appeared to be in his late forties or early fifties, had a receding hairline and a crooked nose. He didn’t look to be messing around.

“All right. I’m getting out,” Briggs said.

The man took two steps back and waited.

Very slowly, Briggs reached for the door handle and pushed the door open. Once he had his feet on the ground, he raised his hands in the air. “What do you want?”

“You know my daughter, Kassie?”

Daughter? Was this her stepdad? It had to be. Kassie had told him her biological father had passed away when she was very young. “I know Kassie.”

“You’re the one she’s been living with?” he asked.

“She had been staying at my house, yes,” Briggs said.

“Good. Let’s go inside. She has something of mine.” He waved his gun, indicating that Briggs should move.

“She moved out a week ago,” Briggs said, his heart racing. The last thing he was going to do was let this man in his house where Melissa was sleeping. “She has been staying with a friend of mine.”

The man’s nostrils flared. “If you’re lying to me, I’ll put a bullet in your chest.”

Briggs’s magic tingled at the base of his spine, but he couldn’t risk losing control.

He didn’t know what would happen. If the gun went off, he didn’t want to be on the smoking end of it.

He also couldn’t risk doing any damage to the man until he found out if he was holding Kassie captive.

“I’m not lying. I can take you there if you want. ”

“Move it.” The man swung his weapon again, making Briggs want to duck, but he did his best to keep his cool. “Go out onto the road to the silver Honda.”

Briggs did as he was told and prayed it wasn’t too late to find Kassie.