Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

ROURK

"I want an update," I tell Maxim when I meet him outside the police station. It's pouring rain, but I'm under the awning waiting for him.

"It's not good," he says bluntly, and although I know that this is how he is right now, it's a dagger to my heart. "The video didn't give us anything. Whoever it was has done this before."

"So it wasn't Andrew?"

"If I was going to guess I'd say he was outsourcing."

In my experience, Maxim's guesses are usually spot on. "Okay, if it is him, then how the fuck do we find him?"

Right as I ask the question, Detective Webb comes out of the building to join us. "We need to move," she says, looking back at the awning where there are cameras. "We can't talk here."

I wasn't sure if Detective Webb was going to play ball with us. Maxim isn't exactly the one to do things by the letter of the law. In fact, he's quite the opposite. But he's got contacts the police can't touch, and he's not afraid to get dirty. Especially when it comes to saving people.

We run through the rain, and when we get to the end of the block, Webb leads us into a coffee shop. Thankfully it's almost empty, and we take a seat at a nearby table. I'm not in the mood to sit around but I have to trust that they've got some kind of plan. Webb looks around to make sure we're good to talk and then lowers her voice.

"We were able to secure Andrew's phone records and there was a number that came up quite a bit."

"Did you find out who it was?" I ask, and I see Maxim and Webb exchange a glance.

"It was Karmen's mother," Webb says, and my stomach drops. "It looks like she initiated the calls to begin with. We don't know what it is they talked about, but it can't be good."

"Her mother? Why the fuck would she be calling him?"

"It looks like the first phone call was several months ago," Detective Webb says. "It was around the time Karmen made the first complaint about his behavior. After that, they talked regularly up until Karmen was sent to Bellevue. Once her mother had her name dropped from the contacts, the phone calls stopped."

"This doesn't make sense. Andrew was the one that pressed charges when Karmen stabbed him. He was the one that had her sent to Bellevue."

"We think that was part of his plan," Maxim says. "I cracked into the server at the school where he was working. There wasn't much, but I found a receipt where he purchased cameras. They were the ones the cops found installed in Karmen's room. When I ran the receipt, I saw Karmen's mother used her credit card to pay for them."

"What the fuck." I clench my fists on the table as rage boils inside of me.

"When Karmen stabbed him, they asked that she be mentally evaluated. Her mother knew that her father wouldn't have anything to do with her, so if she broke off contact, then?—"

"Karmen would be all alone," I finish for Webb, and she nods.

"I know this is hard to hear," Maxim says, and he must see my body is vibrating with hate. "The good news is that Detective Webb getting involved made him change his plan. Karmen wasn't supposed to be released for another week after the evaluation period was over."

"Once we raided his home, he must have known she'd be released early. Whatever plan he had before needed to change quickly so he's scrambling. Which means he's going to make a mistake," Webb says, and then Maxim takes out his iPad.

"Andrew has a couple of places he could go into hiding." Maxim taps on a few things and then turns the screen to face me. "On the school server, I found the location of three properties that are registered to an LLC in the school's name. They are listed as storage, but there were a lot of purchases made and shipped to these locations."

"I've requested search warrants, but it's taking time," Webb says. "Karmen is over eighteen, no one has reported her missing, and the video doesn't show her actually being taken. Andrew is the one we're looking for, but since we can't use the hacked information as evidence, we need to wait for the judge to clear the search."

"And that's where I come in," Maxim says as he puts the iPad in his backpack. That's when I see the guns. He winks at me before zipping up the bag and putting it on. "I'll call you when I find her."

He goes to stand up, but I'm out of my chair just as fast. "You're not going anywhere without me."

"It's not a good idea," Webb interjects as she stands up with us. "You could get emotional and compromise the recovery. You'd be putting Karmen at risk."

"If you think for one second I'm going to sit idly by while that motherfucker has my girl, then you've both made a mistake in telling me where to look."

"Listen, I understand—" Webb starts, but I've had enough.

"No you don't!" I snap, and the coffee shop around us goes quiet.

"He's coming with me," Maxim says before glancing at Webb. "I know what it's like to have the woman you love in danger. He needs to do this."

"Fine, but I don't know about any of this. Are we clear?" We both nod at her, and she sighs. "Keep me updated. I'm meeting with the judge in an hour."

"Will do," Maxim says and then turns to me. "Let's go for a drive."

"Lead the way," I tell him as we run out into the storm.