Page 108 of A Step You Shouldn't Take

“Why? What happened?”

“Junior’s got issues. His mother died from an overdose when he was thirteen, fourteen, something like that, then his daddy married his mistress. Debra. A real looker. Have you seen a picture?”

“Yeah.” But she wasn’t a patch on Kim.

“They already had a kid together, which was probably what drove the first Mrs. Turner to over-medicate in the first place—a little girl. And when Peter was fifteen, Debra caught him in the kid’s room and refused to have him in the house anymore.”

“What did he do?” I asked, even though I didn’t honestly want to know.

“Nobody ever said. It was all rumour. But whatever he did, it was bad enough that Robert sent him off to boarding school, and he’s been in exile ever since.”

“In exile where?”

“I’ve never cared enough to find out. Peter turns up at functions with his father occasionally, but he keeps his nose clean. No juicy stories, nothing that’ll sell papers.” Oh, if only he knew. “Why do you ask?”

If I told Jacob the truth, unconfirmed gossip would be all over the internet in minutes, but luckily, I’d gotten plenty of practice at fibbing as a PI.

“The name came up in conjunction with a gang selling stolen puppies, but I’m not sure it’s even the same guy. From what you’ve said, probably not. The family doesn’t seem short of a buck or two.”

“You’re not wrong there, and Robert Turner’s the type of man who gives out cash instead of affection. But call me if it comes to anything? I’ll keep your name quiet, and there’ll be a drink in it for ya.”

“Sure. I’ll do that.”

I ended the call, and Wyatt paused his steps long enough to raise an eyebrow. “Well?”

“It’s got to be him. Peter Turner was a deviant even as a teenager.”

A freak who preyed on women weaker than him, be they too young or too drunk to resist. Men like him deserved to be buried alive.

On the other side of the room, Rania was sitting cross-legged on the sofa with her laptop, and now her lips curved into a hesitant smile. Did she have good news?

“I think we might have found him.”

“What? Where?”

Three men were breathing down her neck in an instant, but I took a half step back when I noticed her shrink closer to Will. Something bad had happened in her past, hadn’t it?

“According to RJ, Robert Turner owns three properties in the USA. An apartment in Washington, DC, a beach house in Florida, and a farm near Bluemont, Virginia.”

“The farm? You think it’s the farm?”

“The utility bills are in Peter’s name.”

Holy shit. We had him!

“We need to get over there,” I said.

“I need to call the captain,” Wyatt said at the exact same time.

For fuck’s sake. “Are you serious? The whole Turner family has diplomatic immunity. The cops can do exactly nothing.”

“They can put pressure on the ambassador through the proper channels. And if there’s a patrol car sitting outside Peter’s gates, he’ll know we’re onto him.”

“Precisely. And if Kim and Annie aren’t dead already, that’ll give him plenty of time to get rid of the evidence.”

“All right, Cullen. What doyouthink we should do?”

“Sneak into the farmhouse and find them ourselves.”

---