Page 143 of Unseen Danger

“Will someone tell me what’s going on? Who took Nevaeh?” Branson let his frustration strengthen his tone. “Peter’s still in custody, right?”

“As far as we know, yes.” Bristol’s answer did little to ease the knot forming in his gut.

“I’m afraid I have bad news.” Cora’s tight voice cinched the knot even more.

Bristol leaned forward and looked down at the phone. “Did Peter get released?”

“No.”

Branson breathed again.

“But he confessed he wasn’t making the threats against D-Chop for himself.”

“What do you mean?” Jazz stepped toward the coffee table from the opposite side.

“He says he didn’t attack the gate guard or start the fire at the PowerSource Center. And the threatening notes and fireworks were not his idea. Peter was forging checks when he was working for D-Chop.”

“Let me guess, someone found out and blackmailed him?” Bristol leaned toward the phone.

“Exactly. And the blackmailer who required Peter to threaten D-Chop as payment for his silence is Walter Johnson.”

“No.” The one word sounded strangled as it escaped Jazz’s mouth. She rounded the table, stepping in front of the sofa where Branson sat, and stared down at the phone. “Are you positive?”

“It’s what Peter said in his confession. He also claims Johnson was behind the kidnapping. He wanted to scare D-Chop by faking a kidnapping attempt on his children.”

“Faking?” Disbelief clenched Branson’s insides.

“Yes.” Emotion thickened Cora’s voice. “According to Peter, Johnson’s real target was Nevaeh. He told the men to capture her.”

Jazz dropped to the table as if she didn’t have the strength to keep standing. “No. This can’t be happening.”

Bristol reached over the phone between them to put her hand on Jazz’s shoulder.

Dread curdled in Branson’s stomach. “Walter Johnson. Is that the man who—”

“Tried to kill Nevaeh?” Jazz’s head jerked up, her gaze slamming into Branson’s as anger sparked in her eyes. “Yeah. That’s the one.”

Branson’s mind tried to absorb what she’d just said. “Nevaeh told me she was attacked. What do you mean he tried to kill her?”

“The monster tried to beat her to death. And he almost succeeded.”

“He wanted to kill her? Why?”

“Because she wouldn’t give him her car keys.” Bitterness edged Jazz’s voice. “He wanted her to help him escape and give him her keys. Idiot didn’t believe her when she told him the COs couldn’t keep their keys with them in the prison.”

“That made him want to kill her?”

Jazz gripped the table edge with her hands on either side of her knees. “She begged him to stop, begged for her life. But he kept going. He would’ve killed her if it hadn’t been for the other inmates.”

“The other inmates?”

A ding pulled Jazz’s gaze to Bristol.

The brunette pulled a phone from her back pocket and looked at the screen. “Rem picked up Toby and is on his way here.”

“We’re only a few minutes away now.” Cora’s voice floated up from the phone on the table.

But Branson barely heard her or the other women’s voices as they continued talking.

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