Page 41 of Obsession

It takes me a few minutes to identify the license plate. It’s definitely the same car.

“It’s empty,” I say, peering inside.

“She must be here somewhere,” Vaughn mutters. “How many floors does this place have?”

“Looks like two.”

We exchange a look and I nod. “You take the top floor. I’ll take this one.”

This warehouse clearly used to be a slaughterhouse.

God, I hate these places.

It smells of death and despair.

As I go deeper inside, having notified my team of the car via text, I hear a murmur of voices coming from the back of the cooling room where meat was probably once hung to drain. I move through the old, tattered tarps, careful not to make any noise.

I text my team as well as Vaughn that I think I’ve found something or someone but to still keep looking for clues wherever they are. Everyone knows that I can handle myself if I happen to find myself in trouble.

The murmur of voices grows louder as I reach the back where there seems to be an open area. There is a single-bulb lamp dangling from the ceiling and it’s lit, casting light over a small area where I can see one folding chair and a person tied to it.

“Bitch!”

The sound of flesh striking flesh is not an abnormal sound to me, but my blood grows cold as I watch who is being hit.

Megan’s face whips around by the force of the blow. She doesn’t see me, but I can see her face, and it’s the emptiness of her eyes that makes me tighten my hand on the gun. I’ve seen this once before. It’s as if she’s not present in the room. Almost as if she has to disassociate herself from the situation to survive it. It’s a coping mechanism that only someone who’s had their ass beaten repeatedly would know to use. The thought of that makes my chest tighten.

“What did you do?” A familiar voice snarls. “You little bitch, what did you do? You snitched to him, didn’t you? That’s how that bastard knew about everything, right? You wanted my position and used your tits and ass to get it, I bet.”

Nothing typically surprises me, but I have to admit that I underestimated my former manager, Steve. I thought he was nothing more than a lazy jackass using an overworked college student to do his job for him, but now I see that he can get very creative when he wants to be, and he clearly has a taste for vengeance. That would have been nice to know a few months ago. Perhaps I could have used him in other areas of my work, but now he’s really just pissing me off.

Even though every part of me wants to put a bullet through his head right now, I have to be smart about this. From my recollection, there was a getaway driver, so his accomplice must be somewhere in here.

I watch Steve’s hand grab a chunk of Megan’s hair as he forces her to look at him. “What did you do? Suck his dick? Didyou crawl on all fours and let him fuck you? You always thought you were better than me, but you’re nothing more than a little whore, you know that?”

Megan doesn’t utter a word, and when he releases her after a stinging blow to her ears, her head falls forward, her eyes dazed. She’s totally checked out. Gone is the fiery and brave girl who took on my entire table at The Blue Whiskey.

I grind my teeth, my hands itching to blow this bastard’s brains out, but I watch carefully around the edges of the room where the light dimmed, and sure enough, I see a slight movement.

There’s definitely someone else here.

So I wait.

Chapter 14

He Must Atone For That

HUNTER

“Look, you said she knew things about Middleton,” a man complains from where he stands in a corner, and I see the flicker of a match as he lights his cigarette. “She’s not even talking.”

“She knows something,” Steve tries assuring the man.

“I’m not sure if this is working out. The deal was that you were going to get me information that would be beneficial to me. This kid is nothing more than some who-gives-a-shit bartender.”

“I’m telling you, she knows something!” Steve says desperately. “I’ve never seen him act like this before over some pussy. And she’ll sing like a fucking canary if I rough her up some more. I promise you that.

The man’s voice lights up in interest. “She’s a pretty little thing, and there are different ways to get her to talk. Why don’t you step out, Steve? Let me and the little lady have a few minutes together.”