Page 70 of Abel

When I arrive at what used to be the pawn shop, I can’t believe my eyes.

The place is torched. Not to the ground, but close enough.

It smells like gas and… Something else.

Death.

That image of Emily, nailed to the wall, dead, will forever be engraved in my head.

Walking around, kicking debris out of my way, I head to the other side… The Gym.

That’s where Peter and Knuckles found her, beaten, apparently raped, and strangled.

The words ‘She is ours’ outlining her body, made my fucking blood boil. “Oh, Emily. I’m so fucking sorry.”

Thank God they’d taken her down before I got here, but not before Capone saw her.

Speaking of Capone, walking deeper into the room, I meet his wild, rage-filled eyes. “Abel, I swear to fuck I’m going to kill whoever did this to her.” He sniffs. “This is fucked man, fucked!” He screams.

“Save that rage for when we find the mother fucker that did this. Does anybody have any leads?” I yell.

“I don’t know how stragglers could have slipped through the cracks like this. Keeping a low profile is how I get the information I need to pass on to you, Abel, but whoever did this had to have known her.” Peter says, walking up beside me.

“She’s never been here a day in her life.” Capone shouts.

“I know that, trust me I do. This was done while the streets were quiet and people were tucked safely in their beds. No witnesses and no way for her to call for help,” He says, clearing his throat. “She didn’t deserve this, Abel.”

“You’re fucking right she didn’t. She deserved so much more. God, Abel, she’s really gone?” Capone yelps.

I don’t have the words he needs to hear right now. The only thing on my mind is not leaving any stones unturned. We need to find who did this and fast. “Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Peter, get the camera footage. I had a security camera installed around the building, inside the shop, gym, and the tattoo place. They torched the shop because they saw the cameras, but there’s no way they could have seen the others because they’re hidden, but in plain sight.

“Yes, sir.” Peter says, ready to catch the fuckers that did this. “What are you gonna do with the information you find?”

“I’m going to give them what they gave Emily.” I promise. “Capone, go back to The Sandlot, get the guys, and some heavy artillery… We’re going hunting.” I say, taking off after Peter to go watch the camera footage.

An hour or so later, we’re all sitting in the office of the gym… Fuming. I see the two punks from The Underground the first night I met Ivy. Emily was there with Capone, so I’m not sure why they picked her.

Watching closely, I see them attempting to drag her inside the pawn shop as she puts up one helluva fight. Finally, after about ten minutes of her fighting for dear life, Buzz punches her so hard in the face, her head whips back, and the blow knocks her out. Once inside, they don’t come out for about two hours, with a very dead Emily. Her clothes were disheveled, skirt hiked high above her waist which leads me to believe she was raped.

They take her on the other side of the building, which is The Gym, and string her up. The end of the footage is of them standing outside, lighting a gas-soaked towel and tossing it inside my pawn shop. I don’t know how the whole strip didn’t go up in flames, but I’m thankful it didn’t, otherwise… We wouldn’t have Emily’s body to give her a proper funeral.

“They’re dead. Find them!” Peter scurries out of the office with his task. I pull out my phone and call Tark.

“Whaddup?”

“Hurry up and get here, I know who killed Capone’s girl. I ain’t asking no questions, I don’t want any of their forgiveness, I want their fuckingheads. So do not ask me to think twice about going into Scavengers’ territory because I will not.”

“Nah, man, I wasn’t gonna question you on this at all. Capone is a fucking mess over here.”

“He doesn’t need to come, we can handle this on our own.”

“The fuck I’m not gonna be there. She was my girl.Mygirl! And I’ll kill all those mother fuckers until I get to them.” Capone shouts in the background.

“Then it’s settled. Peter has gone to find them because I know they aren’t fucking stupid enough to go back to their hangout. If they did, he’ll know and get the information to me” I think, but anything’s fucking possible. They were stupid enough to fuck with one of our own, so. “Saxon, Capone, you know where their spot is, go check it out with Peter, keep an eye on him and make sure he’s okay.”

“We out.” Saxon says.

Time passes by faster than I imagined, and I’m starting to think Pete’s never gonna call me, until my phone begins burning a hole in my pocket. “Yeah?”

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