Page 257 of Dark Love

She wraps her arms around me.

“—but I’m still going to kill him,” I whisper in her ear. “No one ever threatens you. No one hurts you ever.” Now I need to know if that means the end of us. I pull back and stare into her eyes, waiting for a final judgment.

Losing her will hurt, but even that won’t stop me from killing the man who made this phone call.

“You’ll be careful? He might try to hurt you.”

That’s it. “You can have one quilt, but it needs to fit in that cabinet over there.” I point to one of the built-ins along the wall.

“Huh?”

She’ll figure it out later. I stand up. “Shock, tell me you have an address for this guy.”

“Texting it to you now.”

“Thanks.” I turn to Dahlia. “Are you up to walking, or should I carry you to Payne’s office?”

“Why are we going there?”

“Because you’re going to visit with Imogene, so she isn’t alone while Payne and I go out.”

“Oh.” Her lips freeze in a little ‘o’.

They’re all too kissable. If Shock wasn’t there, I’d let her distract me for a few minutes.

“I can walk.” She takes the hand I hold out immediately.

“Um, one more thing…” Shock stops me. “He lives in his mother’s basement.”

How charming? Mommy dearest needs to go so we can do the deed. A surprise vacation might be just what she needs. “Thanks again.”

Shock nods.

That doesn’t mean I won’t kill him if he walks in without knocking again.

***

“Well, smarts aren’t a family trait.” Payne sets down his phone. “The mother just stepped onto a plane to enjoy the vacation she won from a sweepstakes she never entered.”

“Gotta love trusting people.” I slide out of the car parked down the street from our new friend’s house. He also conveniently lives on a dead-end in the middle of the woods just outside of Urbium.

Our little friend knows how to use a VPN and other fun tech stuff.

“Do you think we’re going to find holes at this one?”

My gut says no, but you just never know. “Let’s scout it out before heading in to introduce ourselves.”

“It’s always fun meeting new people.” Payne takes the left.

Because of our little friend’s skills, we’re both carrying scramblers to ensure we don’t leave any evidence. But there’s nothing in the backyard except some junker cars that were left to rot, the saddest rusted swing set, and grass that hasn’t been mowed in a decade or more.

No one walks out the back of that house.

“All clear,” Payne says as we meet up on the side of the house. “Does this guy do anything?”

“Other than harass 911 operators and mooch off his mother, I don’t think so.” According to Shock, he makes hundreds of calls a week in varying lengths of time. Not one of the people has been reported missing or having any issues.

The stench as we walk in takes your breath away. Cleaning inside doesn’t seem to be one of their habits either. Flies swarm around an overflowing trash can.

---