Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-One
Kelley sat up straight in bed, breathless with his heart beating a crescendo in his chest. Something wasn’t right. He didn’t know what, but something niggled at the back of his mind. His room was still bathed in darkness as he got up from the bed and walked into his dressing room. He stood there for a few minutes deciding what to do. He had no idea why he felt like he did, but the feeling was almost suffocating.
He pulled on jeans, boots and a t-shirt and opened his bedroom door. The house was dark and quiet as he made his way to the stairs and then to the foyer. Connor appeared beside him and Kelley didn’t even question why he was awake. It made the feeling more real.
“I feel it too,” Connor said. The tension between them was palpable but Kelley felt less like a superstitious idiot now that Connor was feeling it too.
“It’s too quiet. Our victory was too easy,” Kelley said.
Connor’s jaw tensed and Kelley could see the muscle twitch there. He had no idea what he should be doing but he knew he had to get out of the house. “Let’s take a drive.”
Kelley’s phone rang and he pulled it from his jeans pocket and swiped to answer Blaire’s call, seeing that it was one am. “Blaire.”
“Dude, I got a location on Charles, he’s in Yorkdare Bay.”
“Good work, Blaire, send me the address.”
“Kelley … I’m feeling on edge, been feeling off the whole night. Something’s not right, I can’t explain it.”
“I feel it too, we’ll figure it out, Blaire.”
Kelley ended the call and Connor shot him a look. Kelley shrugged as they walked out of the house and Kelley headed straight for his SUV. Connor slipped into the passenger side and they drove slowly out of the main gates.
“Where are we going?”
“Something’s telling me to go to the docks. I don’t know … I can't explain it.”
Connor just nodded his head as Kelley sped up and drove towards lower Yorkdare Bay and the docks. Traffic was non-existent and few cars passed them. Kelley turned onto the road where the streetlights never worked and turned again as the dock and harbour came into view. Kelley slowed down and his lights bathed the buildings in brightness as he turned the SUV onto the paved road and drove past the first warehouse.
“What’s that?” Connor asked and pointed to a man huddled against the wall of one of the warehouses.
Kelley parked the car and put the lights on bright and climbed out. Connor had his gun out as Kelley knelt next to the man. He seemed familiar and Kelley pressed his fingers to his neck. “No pulse,” he said softly.
Connor turned and surveyed the area around them. It was deathly quiet, the lapping water the only sound in the darkness. Kelley turned the man around and stumbled backwards as he swore loudly. “Connor … fuck … Connor … it’s Blain.”
Connor turned again and looked at the perfectly round hole in Blain’s forehead. His eyes were closed, his face almost peaceful. A line of blood had trickled down from the hole and ran down his face, almost perfectly in the middle.
Connor blinked and swallowed away his own emotions as tears ran unchecked down Kelley’s face. Kelley sat back and he held his head in his hands and sobs shook his shoulders. Connor pulled his phone out and knelt next to Kelley. It was the most emotional he'd ever seen Kelley. He hadn't known Blain well, had talked to him face to face perhaps only five times, but his death was now a turning point for Kelley.
“I have to get Blaire down here and we have to call the police.”
“I know,” Kelley said, his voice hoarse and uneven. He stood up then and his fists were balled next to his sides. “They have Marella. The fuckers have Marella.”
Connor made two calls and Kelley had barely heard him talking. It felt like only seconds before Blaire came running past the other warehouses. “Blain! Blain!”
Kelley caught Blaire in his arms and kept him away from Blain’s body. “You can’t touch him, Blaire. There might be evidence."
“Get out of my fucking way, Kelley!”
Kelley held Blaire even as he struggled to get out of his grip. His grief had made him stronger and Kelley struggled to keep his hold on him. “Blaire! Listen to me! We’ll find them. I promise you, the man responsible for this is a dead man.”
“Promise me, Kelley! Swear it on your life!”
“I promise you, Blaire, he’s dead!”
Kelley and Blaire stood like that until the police arrived and took statements from them. Blaire had stood there and watched his brother until the coroner arrived and they had placed Blain in a body bag and loaded him into the coroner’s van.
The sun would soon rise and by now they were alone again. Blaire’s eyes were red rimmed and even Connor had been wiping his when he thought nobody was looking at him. Kelley’s blood was boiling with anger and guilt.
Blain was dead.
“Oh fuck, Kelley … Marella.”
“We’ll find her,” Connor said and Blaire could only nod his head.
“You should come home with us, Blaire. I don’t think it’s safe for you to be alone at the warehouse,” Kelley said.
“I’ll stay with him, help him pack up and get him back to the house,” Connor said.
Kelley got back into his SUV and pulled his phone from his pocket again as it pinged. He opened the email alert and then the attachment. It was a picture of Marella, tied to a chair, her eyes fear stricken and blood trickling from under the tape covering her mouth.
Kelley looked up from his phone and watched as Connor placed his arm around Blaire’s shoulder and they started to walk back to the warehouse. He started the SUV and his knuckles whitened as he gripped the steering wheel.
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