Elias pulled their rental into the driveway of Charles and Elizabeth’s Tudor mansion. The curtains were about to be pulled back for all to see how rotten certain high society darlings truly were. Cruisers were fanning out in front and behind him. Some carried on down the street to addresses in the community, while forces blanketed the city for the rest. The list had been specific. No one was being left out of this sweep.
However, all he cared about was the man sitting in the passenger seat beside him. Fletch had been quiet since leaving his brother at the hospital. Brick, Shaw, and Spence were watching over Kyle while they followed Detective Ray to settle some unfinished business.
The doctors were still cataloging Kyle’s injuries when they left, but he was in no danger of dying. That was the biggest takeaway from all the information being thrown at Fletch, and Elias was sure that’s what his lover was clinging to after seeing what they’d done to Kyle’s legs.
Both had been broken in multiple places, along with several fractures in his ankles and feet. They’d made sure if Kyle had somehow gotten free, he wouldn’t have been able to run away. The bastards had then tied his legs together as tightly as possible and left him in that damn chair. The rope burns had cut to his bones, and infection had started to set in.
Their father had even used his two hands to administer some of the beatings. As it turns out, when Kyle had gone to his parents’ house that night before he disappeared, he never left. At first, Charles and Elizabeth had him tied up in the house, trying to get the location of the information out of Kyle. That’s the likely cause of the blood Fletch had found on the armrest.
Kyle couldn’t remember being moved to the cottage and was likely unconscious when that occurred. According to his family doctor’s health records, he’d lost over thirty pounds and suffered from dehydration.
Fletch’s brother had paid a horrible price for trying to do the right thing. Now, they would make sure the bastards who’d caused him so much pain paid handsomely.
Ray and a second police cruiser pulled to a stop outside the house, and Elias pulled up behind them. He placed the SUV in park and turned off the ignition before turning to face Fletch.
“Are you sure you want to be here for this?” He had to make sure. This whole situation was extreme.
“For every second,” Fletch stated as he watched one of the officers going around back to make sure his parents didn’t try to escape. “This is their day of reckoning.”
Fletch opened his door and jumped out, looking like a man on a mission, and Elias was quick to follow.
Side by side, no matter what happened.
They were a team, and he’d be there until his dying day.
***
Fletch could feel an uneasy calm come over him the nearer he got to the front door. When Ray pounded on the thick wood, the sound vibrated through his body. This was the day his parents were knocked off their sanctimonious perch, and he wanted to be there for the fall. He didn’t know if that made him a bad person, and right now, he didn’t care.
He could hear the locks being opened, and with every click, his heart raced faster. When the door finally opened, it was only by a crack as his mother peered out from behind one of the chain locks.
“We told you to go through our lawyer,” Elizabeth sneered. “If you don’t leave now, I’ll have all of you arrested for trespassing.”
“Mrs. Elizabeth Daniels, it’s you who is being placed under arrest,” Ray announced. “Open the door.”
“No, this can’t be right,” she cried. “I want to speak to my lawyer.”
“You’re going to want to step back,” Fletch warned as he prepared to kick the door open. “Or stay. Either way, this door is coming down.”
“What?” Elizabeth’s face paled. “You wouldn’t dare.”
Fletch grinned, “Oh yes the fuck I would.” He stepped back and let his steel-toed boot fly.
The door crashed open, and Ray and the other officers stormed in, leaving Elias and Fletch standing outside while his mother was cuffed.
“You’ll pay for that,” Elizabeth threatened.
Fletch walked in, the glass from the broken sidelight crunching under their feet. “It’ll be you who’s paying.” He walked over and stood directly in front of her. The woman who’d given him life only to turn that life into a living hell until he’d managed to get away when he didn’t live up to her exacting expectations. Well, today was payday. “We found Kyle.”
Her eyes widened, and her mouth fell open.
“Surprise, mommy dearest. I told you I’d find him,” Fletch growled, unable to control his anger, thinking about the shape they’d found Kyle in. “The information you’ve been trying to beat out of him is now in the hands of law enforcement officials. The ones not on the take. It’s over for you and your friends. Don’t worry, though. I’m sure you’ll make new friends with the other women in prison, many of whom have been victims of human trafficking. Your standing and reputation will mean nothing. In fact, it might attract even more attention, but it won’t be the kind you want. You disgust me, and I will see you pay for everything you did to those women, and to Kyle. Your son, you heartless bitch.”
Fletch knew the victims of these crimes all too often ended up on the streets desperate to survive any way they could, even having to break the law. While people like Elizabeth sat in their large houses complaining about how the gardener trimmed her rose bush. No lie, the gardener never worked around the community again.
“There’s no one else here,” an officer reported as he walked into the living room. “We’ve searched everywhere, and no one went out the back.”
“Where is your husband, Elizabeth?” Ray asked.
She looked confused but answered anyway. “He received a call early this morning and had to leave. I don’t know when he’ll be back.”
Fletch couldn’t help the laugh the broke free. “The bastard left you here to take the blame while he got away. He got a call warning him, and instead of telling you, he left you here to rot. Fitting for a rat trying to scurry off a sinking ship. There’s no loyalty between criminals these days, Ma.”
His mother’s face filled with rage, but she said nothing. Her eyes narrowed, no doubt weighing her options. He figured it wouldn’t be long before she rolled over on her codefendants for a lesser sentence.
“Don’t worry. We’re rounding up the rest of your group so that you won’t be alone for long,” Fletch said.
“Let’s get you booked. You won’t have to call your lawyer. He’ll be in a cell alongside you,” Ray said, and Fletch didn’t miss the grin on his face.
The detective led Elizabeth out the door to the waiting cruiser while he and Elias went to his father’s study.
Elias had been silent throughout the confrontation, giving Fletch his quiet support when he needed it. He felt his world was shattering apart at times, but it never lasted long with his partner around. Kyle was alive, he would heal, and while he did, he and the team would be there to help him.
“Is this your father’s study?” Elias asked as they walked through the doors. “Holy shit, he liked wood.”
“Yeah,” Fletch answered. “He loved to lock himself in here away from the rest of us.”
“He may be on the run for now, but he won’t last long. Either the police will find him or the cartel. He better hope it’s us,” Elias said as he stared at the paneling to one side of his father’s desk.
“What is it?” Fletch could feel Elias’s confusion.
“They don’t match,” he said.
“What doesn’t match?” Fletch asked as Ray joined them in the room.
“Elizabeth is off to booking and jail,” Ray said. “What’s going on?”
“The paneling doesn’t match, and its grain is going the opposite direction,” Elias said as he walked over behind the desk. “You see here?” Fletch looked closely at the four-foot by two-foot panel. “And compared to this one.” Elias pointed to the panel beside it.
The match was close but not exact, as well as the position was off. The wood grain was slightly larger than all the other panels in the room. “There’s got to be something behind it.”
Fletch took out his pocketknife and began prying the panel off the wall. When he got a quarter of the way down, he stopped, pulled out his flashlight, and looked inside.
“What the hell do we have here?” Fletch asked as he tilted the light to get a better look. “I think they’re cassette and videotapes.” He stood back and let the other two have a look inside.
“Damn, there have to be dozens of them,” Elias said. “Let’s get this open and see what we’ve got.”
Fletch went ahead and continued to pry the paneling until there was enough exposed that he could rip the rest from the wall. A cascade of VHS, audio cassettes, Hi8 videotapes, recordable DVDs, and flash drives poured from their hiding spot in the wall. He was positive his father had an easier way to access the hiding spot, but his way had also been effective.
Elias reached down and picked up one VHS videotape and read what was written on the front label. “Salvador 2010.”
“The real estate agent,” Fletch stated.
“He’s being brought in for questioning,” Ray said.
“Maybe you guys should have a look at these before questioning him,” Elias suggested.
“We will,” Ray agreed before calling in one of the officers to collect the evidence.
Fletch was tired, and he wanted to return to his brother. “I’d like to go back to the hospital now.”
Elias reached out and took hold of his hand. “I’ll take you anywhere you need to go.”
“Thanks,” Fletch said while pulling Elias closer. “And I mean for everything you’ve done since the beginning of this mess.”
He honestly didn’t know how things would have turned out without Elias. Bringing in Detective Ray Sommers, an old friend and an honest cop, to take over the case had been crucial. As it turned out, the previous detective was dirty and on the cartel’s payroll.
Elias’s quiet strength and support were invaluable after days filled with stress and fear for Fletch’s brother to the many sleepless nights. His man had been invaluable. As for the case, he’d provided insights all along the way and noticed the difference in the paneling. Who knows what they would find on those tapes?
“This is the beginning of our story, Fletch, and there’s no place I’d rather be.”
“The next few months are going to be critical. We need to get Kyle back to the lake house where he’s safe and can heal.”
“As soon as the doctors give us the okay, we’re out of here. Of course, we’ll have to come back for the trial, but until then, it’s best to stay clear of Seattle.”
“Agreed,” Fletch said as they walked out of the thick wooden doors of the study, and for the first time in his life, he didn’t cringe.
In fact, after years of dreading setting foot in that place, Fletch felt nothing. No fear, panic, or anxiety.
The place was dead to him now, and it would stay that way.