Page 22

Calder

We haven’t heard from Eliza all day. She was nearly in tears with her migraine this morning, so she is likely in bed still.

Although, I’d imagine at some point, lying in bed would do more harm than good.

I know if I am in bed for too long, I get a headache.

“Still nothing?” I ask when Julian puts his phone down.

“Yeah,” he sighs. “I might cut out early and go check on her. I’m worried.”

“I am too,” I admit.

“Hey,” Ryan says, throwing the door open to the office. “Jasper is here. He has backup.”

“Fuck,” I sigh and stand up. Julian walks out of the office with me just as Jasper gets to us. He has two officers with him, and my blood turns to ice.

“What’s wrong?” Julian asks.

“I need you two to come down to the station with me,” Jasper says simply.

“Why?” I ask, narrowing my eyes at him.

“I think you know why, Calder,” he says simply. “I will give you enough respect to let you walk out of here and drive to the station, but you are coming down to talk to me right now.”

“Do we need a lawyer?” Julian asks simply but changes his mind. “Don’t answer that. Ryan, will you call Chad?”

“I’ve already texted him,” Ryan says, glaring at Jasper. “I’ll call Eliza and meet you down there.”

Anxiety pricks at my patience as we take the elevator down to the main floor and walk out of the building.

Jasper has been here before, but never with backup.

Everyone knows something is going on, but no one says a word as we exit.

I can still feel them staring at us as Julian and I get into the car.

For the entire ride to the station, we are endlessly trying to call Eliza. Something doesn’t feel right because she always answers if we call her like this. She isn’t a very heavy sleeper. By the time we get out and are walking in, I stop and look at Jasper.

“Don’t make this more…”

“Can you send someone to check on Eliza?” I ask. “I know why we are here, and we can face that, but we can’t get ahold of her. She stayed home with a migraine from work, and we can’t get ahold of her now. It’s out of character for her.”

“Calder,” he says with a sigh.

“Jasper, I know you are doing your job. Okay? I get it. But please… just send someone to check on her. As long as they put eyes on her and confirm she is okay, we can focus on this and not be distracted.”

“Fine,” he sighs and takes out his phone. He taps around for a moment before slipping his phone away. “I sent my boss to go check on her. If she is there, she is being brought in for questioning next, anyway. Okay?”

“Okay,” I say simply, but really, I want to wring his fucking neck.

I know he cares about her. He has worked on her case for too long to not care.

I’d rather she be here getting questioned than at home alone, anyway.

I don’t care if we go to jail, because she will have Ryan until we can get back to her.

I am not afraid to face the consequences of our actions.

We did what we had to do to keep her safe.

When we get into the interrogation room, Chad Hugh, our lawyer, sits with us.

“Alright,” Jasper says. “Right to the bullshit. Troy had a camera in his kitchen. He gave us the footage of what you did. We have the report of the injuries from the hospital. I have everything I need to charge you two with first-degree rape, sodomy, and communicating threats.”

“They wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t a deal on the table,” Chad says. “No bullshit, so get to the point.”

“We believe Troy is a serial rapist. We are very close to getting what we need to charge him with twenty-seven rapes over the last decade. There are more, but the victims have since disappeared, which leads me to believe he is killing some of them, too.”

“Fuck,” Julian says.

“So, your little stunt fucks that up,” Jasper says bluntly. “Plead guilty to misdemeanor assault, and the rest will go away.”

“Is that… legal?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.

“I have the only copy of that video, and it wasn’t entered into evidence.

He reported to the hospital that it was an accident and self-inflicted,” Jasper says.

“That video isn’t running, and honestly, the fucker deserves worse than a hot sauce enema.

Nice choice, by the way. Bet he was shitting fire for days. ”

“Why are we up here then?” I ask. “Couldn’t you have said all this at the office?”

“Not if I am charging you with simple assault,” he says. “Plus, I…”

“Detective,” a woman says, bursting in the door. I recognize her as his partner, and Julian and I both jump up.

“Where is she?” I bark. “Where the fuck is Eliza?”

“Calm down…” Jasper starts.

“She’s not at home,” Sergeant Detective Rachel Gunther says matter-of-factly. “Her phone is in her office. Her purse, car keys, wallet… it’s all there.”

The moment we realized that day that Eliza was being raped by Julian and she was not consenting, I felt my heart twist in pain… That was merely a tickle compared to what I feel right now.

“He took her,” I say before anger explodes out of me. “ He fucking took her, and you fucking idiots helped him!”

“Calder,” Jasper says calmly.

“No,” I bite, pulling out my phone. I don’t know why I didn’t check the cameras before.

I guess it’s because I didn’t even consider she would be fucking kidnapped from the house.

I look through the notifications of when the front door opens and find it.

Julian steps close as I play the saved segment, and rage settles in my body when I see Natalie at the door.

Listening to her lure Eliza out of the house, Eliza hesitates halfway down the drive but continues…

How the fuck didn’t we see it? How did we not put it together or even investigate why Natalie was with him that day in the club?

Natalie is a money-grabbing whore, so we figured she was just fucking around. We never saw any other connection…

“Come on,” I say to Julian, who is dead silent. His expression is unreadable, and I don’t know if he is going to cry or become murderous. Both, probably.

Me too…