Page 14 of The Madman's Nightmare
Elise reached out to me, and when I saw a man walk up behind us with a gun trained on me, I felt my head gripping into the armrests of the chair. The man fired a round at me as someone stepped behind Elise and snatched her off the ground. I couldn’t see his face, but I could see the man who shot me stepover me, saying something to Elise as she was dragged out of the frame.
Lucian stopped the video and turned to face me. “I couldn’t find an image of the man who took her, but I was able to run the man who shot you through your system. It’s still working on a comparison, but . . .” He paused and looked at James for guidance.
Lucian might be my brother by blood, but James was my brother by choice. He knew me better, and he knew how to speak when I was being unreasonable.
James explained where Lucian left off. “Lucian, Rhys, and I have been talking and none of us think this is syndicate business. We—and I mean I—believe this is Kendra and Bradon’s little production.”
“How can you be sure?” I asked my brother.
“Because of what the man who shot you said to Elise.” I gave him a confused look since I didn’t hear him say anything. James explained, “Freddie can read lips, and he said something about the madman. The Syndicate wouldn’t refer to you in that way, but those two definitely would.”
“And that gets us where?” I asked. “We still don’t know who they are or where they took her.”
I felt like we were going in circles and were powerless to stop it. The siblings were always an enigma to James and me, and that’s why I felt like we were missing the key pieces to locate them and where they took Elise.
It was Rhys who spoke first. “What do we know about Kendra and Bradon Mills?”
James answered, “Nothing, and that’s always bothered me.”
“What do you mean nothing?” Lucian asked and looked at me. “I thought they worked for you after you dealt with Marco.” I nodded, so he asked, “So, who are they?”
“Honestly, I’ve never known where they came from or who they are. They showed up one day, looking for jobs, and I was stupid to let them into our inner circle. But back then, I was fighting for every ounce of power and respect I could get, and they gave it freely.”
“Then we need to start with them,” Rhys stated and asked, “Do either of you have a photo of them? That will give us a place to start.”
“I have a small box of pictures upstairs in my office drawer,” I said and looked at James. “I can’t go up there without . . . can you ask Amaya to grab it for me? It’s a brass and mahogany box in my bottom left drawer near the back.”
He stood and pulled out his phone, typing into it before he lifted his eyes. “She’ll be down in a few minutes.”
A knock sounded into the room, and James opened the door before stepping to the side, allowing those who’d left back inside. Without speaking, they retook their seats, and everyone got back to work. James placed a laptop in front of me and with some pain pulling in my shoulder and chest from the gunshot, I started working through my system, looking for a trace of who took Elise.
“Found him,” Skid exclaimed, typing away as his computer overtook the large screen.
A grainy still shot from the video showing the man stepping over my body filled half the screen, and when he pressed a button, another image appeared alongside it. It was a mug shot from the Memphis Police Department dated two years ago.
I stood, feeling the first glimmer of hope since I’d awoken in the hospital room. “Who the fuck is Timothy Bartlett?”
The sound of furious typing filled the room as another knock sounded. James opened the door, and when he closed it again, he was holding the case I’d asked his wife to grab for us. Hehanded it to me, and I placed it down, focusing on the mugshot on the screen.
“He’s a low-level pickpocket and conman from Memphis. He’s been in prison twice for a year each time and has a mile-long list of petty crimes on his record,” Regan answered.
“He was registered for college in Knoxville six years ago, but it looks like he never attended” Freddie added.
“Timothy was in an accident three weeks before he was supposed to leave for college. He broke his left leg, and from all indications, he got hooked on pain killers, which caused the rest of his problems,” Skid reasoned.
“Where the fuck is he now?” I asked and heard more typing.
Regan answered, “His last known address was in east Memphis.”
“How did they get Elise out of there without being seen?” Rhys inquired.
That was a good question. Carrying an unconscious woman out of the park over your shoulder should have drawn attention, even in the evening. So, how did they get her out?
“I think I have something,” Aubrey interjected, pointing at her screen. Skid leaned over, looked at her monitor, and nodded. She sent her image to the large screen, and a rental contract appeared on the monitor. “It looks like his license was used to rent a truck from Nashville the day before yesterday. He has to return it to the dealership by noon tomorrow.”
Her eyes lifted to me, and I looked at James. “We’ll get someone over there to sit on the dealership.”
“I’ve got an idea,” Aubrey stated and pulled out her phone. She dialed a number and put the call on speaker.
