Page 76 of Vicious Hearts

"I sent every unit I could find to his apartment, and they smashed their way in. It's pristine, nothing out of place. They're already at Always Home, too, searching the joint. Found a few things that need a good look-over, but no Buckley."

Apartment?He doesn't have his own house?

I swallow the lump in my throat. "I think he has Roxy. She's not picking up her phone. The last anyone knew she went to see Oliver at the hospital. Moira Coffey picked her up."

"Shit," Hillard says. "I assumed Roxy was with you. I'll get someone to swing by her place and Moira’s too, see if we can find them. Keep it together, buddy, and don't get involved in this now. You have to keep your hands clean, so your girl can come back to you."

"Fuck you," I say, my chest tightening with rage. "I'll kill him."

"Benedikt, steady." Hillard's tone is stern. "I get it, I really do. But I'm fucked here. The best I can do is see this asshole caught, and, God willing, we find Roxy alive and well. If you start pulling your lawless Bratva vigilante shit, you'll get arrested, and my word ain't gonna be worth a damn when my superiors find out what I've done. Don't bring yourself down to Buckley's level."

"I’m promising nothing.”

"The Farradays are staying together at the hospital for safety. I'm leaving now. Go find Detective Landon at Buckley’s apartment, he’ll keep you informed. I'll catch you up." He relays Oliver's address and rings off.

I sit still for a minute, trying to think.

There'sstillsomething I'm not seeing.

Roxy is missing. Oliver is missing. Moira Coffey is missing. Her little son too.

Roxy is probably already dead. I can't save her.

I'm a wretched creature. I wasbeforeI loved her, but now I've lost her again?

Fuck it.

I swore I'd find the person who hurt her and fucking kill him, and Iwill. I don't care what Hillard or anyone else thinks. Even if sheisalive, she doesn't love me, but that doesn't mean I won't happily die for her.

I hear a bang and see a gate blowing in the wind.

The Farraday's old house is now derelict. A large property in its own plot, with a garden on three sides. Wooden board over the windows, but not the door.

The only thing Farraday had in common with my profile was the right kind of house. High hedges, privacy. Almost certainly a basement.

Oliver Buckley doesn'thavea house. He couldn't have committed his crimes in an apartment—people would have heard things, seen him coming and going.

The little fuckersaidsomething to me. At his office, before he suspended Roxy from her job.

I’m always looking for new premises,he said. I desperately need space to keep things safe.

I open the driver's door.

Farraday is innocent. The cops know he's innocent. He didn't kill anyone. Very little evidence was found here back then, but it's the last place anyone would look now.

I shut the door again, shaking my head.This is ridiculous.I need to get hold of Leo and call in some support. I put the key in the ignition.

Then I hear it. A short, high scream carried on the wind. It cuts out in half a second, but it's enough.

I retrieve my gun from the glove box and run up the path toward the house.

28

Roxy

Oliver holds a bottle out to me, pinching the straw between his fingertips and putting it to my lips. I look at it dubiously.

"It's water, dear. I wouldn't go to all this trouble to poison you, although I'll admit I should have done that in the first place."

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