AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I called Corey and he told me to meet him at the fried chicken place close to our house. Rick didn’t want me calling Corey. Kept telling me not to tell Corey about the email.”
“The one you couldn’t read,” André said, and Jace nodded.
“That’s when I figured Rick had lied. He made me think Corey had told him to do it. I didn’t know what he was going to do until he told me to stop the van and gave me a mask.”
“Why did you put on the mask?” Kaj asked.
“Rick said Corey would be mad if I didn’t. I don’t make Corey mad. Not on purpose.”
“Why?” André asked.
Jace looked down. “He hits, sir. And kicks. You can see for yourself.”
André gently lifted the hem of Jace’s T-shirt, displaying a large black bruise.
It was a boot print, Val realized. Her heart squeezed painfully. Aw, honey.
Elijah made a distressed noise. Val ran a hand over his hair, hoping that he never grew jaded, that he’d always be able to feel compassion like this.
Kaj exhaled. “Are there more like that one?”
Jace only nodded, his cheeks growing red with shame.
“We’ll take photos of your bruises,” André said gently, “as evidence against Corey.”
“Yessir,” Jace whispered. “Rick has them, too.”
“I know, son,” André said soberly. “What happened when you met Corey?”
“He was with his friend Bobby. Corey gave us bottles of water. The next thing I knew, I woke up in Corey’s camp in the bayou and it was almost sunup. Rick was still asleep. I guess it hit him harder because he’s not as big as me.”
Val frowned. Bobby. She’d seen that name in the background check files that Antoine had sent her. She pulled her phone from her pocket and skimmed Antoine’s email.
Kaj’s brows had lifted. “Corey drugged you?” he asked.
“Yessir. He hadn’t never done that before. I wasn’t expecting it.”
“Why would you?” André asked kindly.
Ah. Found it. Three Vets Construction was co-owned by Corey Gates, Ed Bartholomew, and Bobby Landry. There was a lot of information on Bobby in particular.
Val opened a text window to Burke. Bobby Landry was a cop. He left NOPD under “mysterious circumstances.”
I remember him was Burke’s reply. A real psycho. Good job. Then he slid his phone to André, who looked grim as he read it before passing it to Kaj, who paled but said nothing.
Thank goodness Rick didn’t get his hands on Elijah, Val thought. The very idea of the sweet boy in the hands of psychos like Corey and Bobby was too horrible to consider.
“What?” Jace asked, looking at the men around the table. “What is it?”
“What happened when you woke up?” André asked, ignoring Jace’s question.
“Corey wasn’t there, but Bobby was. Bobby... well, he likes to scare us. He had his gun holstered on his chest. It was a Raging Judge.”
“What’s a Raging Judge?” Elijah whispered.
“A frickin’ big gun,” Val whispered back. “Fourteen inches from hilt to barrel.”
Elijah’s eyes grew wide. “Whoa,” he mouthed.
