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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Noel

The owner of Sogni di Caffeina was Amo Cormac. Once that tidbit of information came our way, I went into a deep dive. Angel and Gabe were going to stay at the café for a couple of hours in the hopes that they’d bump into him. We didn’t have a photo of him yet, but I was sure I could find one.

“Amo Cormac owns eleven cafés around the world, and his net worth is well over one hundred million dollars.” Nick was also working on this while Mason, JJ, Matt, and Four were keeping an eye on the monitors and listening to Angel and Gabe.

Phoenix had left for a little while to help Shep with dinner, and I’d told him that as soon as we saw the man or required his help, we’d call for him, but I thought he needed a break.

Hazel was folding a shit-ton of laundry, and I asked if she wanted help, but she responded with, “No, leave me be—this is what I do when I’m anxious.” So, we let her be.

“He has not only money and power, but it sounds like he has incredible reach as well.” Mason snorted. “And as if having all of that isn’t enough, he needs to be a super serial killer on top of it.”

“I don’t give a fuck what his anything is; I’ll leave the profiling and shit for Aziza and the FBI.

I just want to get a photo of this guy, and hopefully Phoenix IDs him and we can wipe him off the face of the earth.

” I’d scanned everywhere and no pictures were showing up, but I’d find them.

No one with his kind of popularity could hide that well.

“If he has that many places, what are the possibilities that he’ll show his face at the café so soon since the last time?” JJ asked.

“Well.” I spun in my chair to face him. “He’s a fucking serial killer using this area as his playground. He’s not going anywhere until he’s reached his completion.”

JJ hummed. “Good point.”

“He has seven residences, all within an hour from the café.” Nick groaned. “I hate this guy, even if he’s not the killer.”

“Checking out those properties will be easy enough, but I doubt he’s holding victims there.” Four stood and stretched. “If Angel and Gabe don’t see Amo today, maybe we can split up and check them out tomorrow.”

I didn’t like the idea of us thinning our numbers, but with seven houses it would take all day if only two of us did it, so it was the best plan.

“Yeah, okay.”

After two hours, we heard Angel stop one of the baristas to ask them a question. “Is there any way we can speak to the owner?”

“Is something wrong, sir?” the woman implored.

“No. I had a few questions is all.”

“Unfortunately, Mr. Cormac isn’t here today. He’s out of town for a few days, but Keith is the supervisor. I’m sure he could assist you.”

Fucking hell.

“No, thank you.”

“It’s a bust, come home,” Nick said.

“I doubt he’s out of town; he’s likely doing something horrible,” Mason surmised.

And the next morning, we found out how true that was.

BNN News Outlet: “It was like something out of a horror film. Not one but two bodies were discovered this morning on the football field of Raymore High School. The groundskeeper immediately called the authorities, and what we’re being told is that one body was displayed in The Broken-Doll Killer’s usual fashion: dressed like a doll, pristine, with dead flowers surrounding her.

The other person was beside her in what a source described as almost unrecognizable with fresh flowers around them.

Their identities have not been released to the public at this time.

We will have more information as it comes in. ”

Jason Highland and Katherine Lewis. Those were the bodies found.

I’d hacked into the FBI database and gathered the information.

Katherine had gone missing six months ago on her way home from cheerleading practice.

She’d attended Raymore High School, so it was likely not a coincidence that she was found there.

Jason Highland was the man taken a few days ago who looked a lot like Phoenix.

We all suspected there had to be a note on either Jason’s or Katherine’s body, a message to Phoenix or us, but there was nothing in the report about it yet.

“It may not be a bad idea to call Carmichael. We can say we saw the news, and that last time there was a message on the body. He knows we’re watching everything; he won’t suspect we have our own operation going on,” Gabe suggested as we all sat wherever there was a seat available in the living room.

“Unless he says he’ll come by to discuss it.” Angel clenched his jaw. “Then what?”

“We tell him we’re painting the living room, bring him in through the side door and down the hallway to the study.” Shep shrugged.

“Yeah, I guess that would work.” Angel went back to scrolling all of the news reports.

“My man is so smart.” JJ stood on his tiptoes and kissed Shep.

“Love is blind,” Nick muttered, earning him the finger from Shep.

I clapped my hands together. “Who’s calling?”

“I think Mason should.”

We all looked over at Four, who’d suggested it.

“Me, why?” Mason was aghast.

“You’re smart, levelheaded, and you dealt with them perfectly when they showed up last time.”

Mason chuckled. “I don’t think they liked me very much. Shouldn’t it be someone who hasn’t pissed them off?”

“Haven’t you all pissed them off?” Hazel laughed.

I rotated my chair until I was facing her and grinned.

“Why are you smiling at me like… oh …I drew attention to myself, and now you want me to call them because I’m Phoenix’s sister and…yeah, okay, that’s fair.”

She looked at her phone and glanced at me. “What do I say? Exactly what Gabe did?”

“That’ll work.” I handed her Carmichael’s card. “There’s the number.”

She took a deep breath and called. She put the call on speaker and placed the phone on the desk.

“This is Agent Carmichael.”

“Good morning, Agent Carmichael, this is Hazel Briar.”

“Hello, Ms. Briar. What can I do for you? Did Phoenix think of something?”

“No, I’m calling because I’ve been watching the news.”

There was a pregnant pause. “Uh-huh.”

“You see…well, last time the broken body of a man that looked like my brother was found, there was a note. I’m not a moron; I’m sure there was one this time as well. Care to tell me what it said?”

“Ms. Briar, I know you’re scared and?—”

“Don’t presume to know anything about me, Agent Carmichael. Keeping information from me and my brother puts us in danger. We need to know what’s going on and what this maniac is saying.”

She was doing really well, and I shot her two thumbs-ups, earning an eye roll.

Carmichael sighed. “He’s angry, Ms. Briar. He kept to his timetable with the woman’s body. The boy?—”

“Jason Highland. I know his name; he was kidnapped a few days ago, and it was on the news.”

“Jason Highland, his body was almost unrecognizable. More so than Brady Cunningham. He took his time with her, but he was slaughtered, Ms. Briar, and the message he left was vile.”

“I understand that, but I still want to know. If you keep us in the dark, we can’t see anything coming.”

“Fair enough, Ms. Briar, but I’ll ask you not to share this publicly.”

“I promise.”

“‘You run, you hide, and this I can’t abide. You will make me do more monstrous deeds the longer you hold back my needs. Show yourself my firebird, or soon there will be a third. Their pain far worse than the one before, I’ll let it linger, I’ll give them more.

Don’t delay, my little doll, or I promise you more will fall. ’”

A tear slid down Hazel’s cheek but she was quick to wipe it away, and she took a deep breath.

“He’s never going to go to him, but even if he did, he talks like Phoenix would know where to go.”

I realized the second she said it, that was because he believed Phoenix knew where to go.

“We noticed that too,” Carmichael responded. “Which makes me wonder if Phoenix knows where Adonis wants him to be.”

Okay, so Carmichael wasn’t a complete idiot.

“I can ask him, but everything he knows, he’s already told us.”

“Please ask him.”

When she ended the call, a haunting feeling shrouded the room. Phoenix was sitting close, having listened to the whole thing, his eyes downcast.

“There’s only one place he’d want me to go.” His voice was barely a whisper.

“Where?” I took his hands in mine.

He lifted his eyes, dread and sorrow shining through.

“He wants me to go back to the shed.”