Page 73 of Knot Forgotten

“Valentine, Sir, I have them right here.” He holds up a bottle and a small Dixie cup. “It will take a day to get into her system fully.”

His lips twist. “The auction is tonight.”

CHAPTER 38

Cameron

9 hours earlier

My parents’ house comes into view, Rin’s old house standing dark next to it. The whole neighborhood has the silence of the middle of the night hanging in the air. It helps that the engine in the Bronco purrs like a kitten as we pull into my driveway.

If anyone sees anything, we were visiting a house we are known to be at. No ring cameras will catch what we are about to do.

Riley holds out two pairs of gloves he must have found in the backseat. They look like the kind Riley and Blake use on the bikes. Smart.

‘Fingerprints,’ he signs, pressing the tips of his fingers in a wave into his other palm, his lips moving silently with the word. At least we have ASL on our side with this. As long as we can see each other, we can communicate.

After pulling on the gloves, we slip out of the vehicle and head for the back gate. Our backyards have been connected for as long as I’ve lived here, opening up to the small forest behind them.

All of the neighbors have a similar setup. But Erin’s old house has the signs of a home that has lost its meaning. Repair has been cast to the side. Maintenance is almost a dirty word. When I was still in high school, I rarely saw Garrett Walters leave the house. If he did, it was at night while I was sleeping.

I’ve never been so hopeful that the man is in his house before. We move across the backyard and up the back steps. Matt tries the doorknob, like any sane person would do, but it’s locked. Riley checks the window that leads to the kitchen before trying the one that connects to the bathroom. It is considerably smaller, and if anyone would fit into it, it would be Blake.

When it slides up with ease, like it was waiting for us, I look over at Blake expectantly. ‘You’re up. Make sure you unlock the door,’ I sign quickly.

He smirks at me, giving me zero confidence that he won’t be crazy enough to do it on his own. Without us.

“I’ll give you two minutes before I break out a window and announce our arrival,” Matt says in a loud whisper.

Riley lifts Blake, shoving him into the opening. Something falls to the floor, and I hold my breath as he disappears completely into the house.

Tension grips us as we wait. I’m not sure any of us said a word. After the longest thirty seconds of my life, Blake appears in the kitchen. He unlocks the door and swings it open, welcoming us into a house that isn’t ours.

He gestures to the hallway and then signs, ‘Asleep in the main bedroom.’

‘Check the other rooms,’ Matt signs.

We creep down the hall toward the steps that lead to the other two rooms upstairs. The door is open to the main bedroom on the first floor, and Garrett and a woman lay sprawled on the bed. A set of loud and soft snores comes from the dark room, and I know they are both asleep still.

I slowly place my weight on the first step. One of them creaks. I remember from when we were kids. But I don’t know which one. The process is tedious as I repeat the movements with each step. The guys at my back have considerably less patience.

But if we fuck this up, that’s it. Rin is gone. If she is in the house, we can save her. If she isn’t, we have a chance of getting her location out of him, if we have the upper hand, that is, and if he wakes up, we will not have the element of surprise.

The ninth step lets out a creak so loud it sounds like an old man trying to straighten a stiff spine as he stands, moaning and groaning the whole time. We hold our breath, each of us listening for the sound of their snores.

‘Avoid nine,’ I sign quickly before skipping the step for the tenth, the eleventh following quickly. Once on the landing, I head for the first door. Erin’s old bedroom has been changed. It looks like nothing but storage now. Boxes and boxes of stuff. When I come out, Blake is exiting the other room.

“She isn’t here,” he mutters.

‘Basement,’ Riley signs.

He’s right. Garrett would want to keep her somewhere she wouldn’t be heard. Matt leads the way, making quicker progress than we did on the way up. We all skip the loud step and head toward the steps to the basement.

“Move a single muscle and you are dead,” a woman’s voice says from the dark living room. The moonlight shining in from outside catches on the silver of the gun in her hand. Her gaze runs over each of us, pausing on Blake. “I told him you’d come.”

“Just let us leave with Rin, and we won’t hurt you,” Blake says.

She laughs, a short pop of sound that ends like it never existed when she swings the gun to point it at him. “I’m the one with a gun, boy.”

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