Page 104 of The Mastermind

“I’m just leaving the hospital now. How’s the renovation going?”

“You need to come back to the garage right now,” he said with a seriousness I hadn’t heard in a while.

“What’s going on, Howard?”

“The repair crew found human remains inside a wall of the garage. The police and CSI are here.”

Human remains? Fuck. I supposed I received my answer quicker than I thought.

“I’m on my way.”

Slash’s voice echoed in my head. Had he known there was a dead body in the garage? Could that body belong to the unidentified man murdered all those years ago?

CHAPTERFIFTY-THREE

REMINGTON

Thank God for Howard.He had worked with the police and the security team to block off the area near the garage, preventing the news reporters from getting close to Starke Vision. It was Saturday morning, so employees weren’t around except security.

“Mr. Starke!” one reporter hollered. “Is it true that there are human remains in the garage? Do you know what happened to him or her? Were you aware a crime had occurred at your company?”

Not in the mood to chat with these reporters, I ignored them. Howard turned and offered a blanket statement.

“We are shocked about this terrible event, just as you are. We’ll update you as soon as we have more information. In the meantime, if you have further questions, the detectives will make a statement shortly. Thank you.”

Apparently, the construction manager and a few workers had swung by Saturday morning to check the wall they had demolished the day before. When they found a shoe, they began breaking down the rest of the wall.

After a brief chat with the CSI, I strode into the building and entered the small conference room on the first floor. Closing the door, I called Slash, but he didn’t pick up the phone. I sent him a text message.

Need to talk. Call me when you can.

Did Slash know who the body belonged to? Were there more bones in other areas of the garage?

Muscles tensed in my back and a headache throbbed in my temple. Nerves wrenched my stomach as though telling me something else was going to happen.

I checked my phone again, but no messages came from Slash. No messages from Audri either. Where was she?

Audri should’ve been back from the fashion show unless she stayed over.

My phone buzzed from an incoming text message. I didn’t recognize the number, but I could sense the despair in it, so I clicked on the text, and my heart dropped. Audri was tied to a chair, gagged, and unconscious.

A second text message appeared with an address.Come alone or she dies.

Wrath and terror slammed into me, consuming me. I couldn’t breathe. My logical mind tried to think, but my emotions pounded like a hurricane, whipping violent and vengeful thoughts around. My body numbed all over as I tried to find the calm within the storm. I had to keep my emotions in check, or I could lose her.

She was the beginning and end of my world. I didn’t know what it felt like to love . . . until her. Without Audri, I was just a skeleton without substance.

My body wanted to collapse, and I could feel my organs shutting down, everything erupting into chaos. Was this what my dad experienced? The slow death of his physical body?

Get yourself together!

Clenching my fists, I willed myself to be strong, and just like that, my mind switched from emotional to logical. Right now, I needed logic. I needed to look at this situation as objectively as possible, like I ran my business.

I called my best friend. “They have Audri. We need to escalate now.”

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Grayson replied. “Is she okay? Do you know where she is? I just got in last night.”

When I had spotted Derek holding hands with Mallory in the shopping center recording, I contacted Grayson about his uncle’s elusive girlfriend. We also discussed Audri’s recollection of Derek’s role on the day of the fire. Grayson had always dealt with his emotions better than me. But the shock and fury he spewed over the phone had matched my own.

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