Page 77 of Keeping Penny

Penny heard the hysteria in her voice as it rose, but she didn’t care. All her life, she’d been the good girl. The one who didn’t rock the boat. Who did what she was told in the hopes she wouldn’t be kicked out of yet another foster home. But she was done with that. Bowie’s life was at stake, and she couldn’t, wouldn’t, sit around and be a “good girl,” letting everyone else decide her fate.

Screw that. Screw Colvin Jackson, or whatever his name.

She wanted Bowie back. Now. Tonight.

Chaos stared at her for a long moment before reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his phone. He unlocked it, clicked on something, then held it out to her.

It was silent in the room, as if everyone was holding their breath, waiting to see what was going to happen next.

“I pulled up Tex’s number. All you have to do is click Call.”

“Thank you,” Penny said, taking the phone. She went to the small table next to the kitchen and sat. Her legs felt rubbery, as if standing up to Chaos had taken the last of her physical reserves. She put the phone on the table and tapped the screen. Then she put the call on speaker. Chaos had a lot at stake here too, his friend was missing. And Penny had no problem letting the other women hear the conversation. She had no idea what the man on the other end of the phone was going to say, and she had a feeling she might need their support.

The phone rang twice before a man answered.

“I’m a little busy, Chaos,” he said. “What’s up?”

“It’s not Chaos. My name is Penny Burns, and my daughter was kidnapped. I want to know what you’re doing to find her and how I can help.”

To the man’s credit, he didn’t sound irritated or even surprised that she was on the other end of the line. “You know that Pyro’s cell was left behind, right?”

“Yes. And Bowie’s too. It was in her backpack.”

“Yeah. So I’ve been hacking into the security cameras along the route from the playground to the parking lot, where their belongings were found. I’ve found video of them walking on the sidewalk, hand in hand, and nothing seems off about their body language. Unfortunately, I’m still looking for any cameras that show the parking lot of the old taco joint they cut through. I’m hunting down some leads of a few vehicles that were in the area at the time I estimate they went missing, but the quality of the security feeds is shit, so I haven’t been able to get plate numbers. Right now, I’m running a program to find the makes and models of the cars that were caught on video in the area, to see if I can find them that way.”

He took a breath, then said, “I’m glad you called. Talk to me, Penny. Tell me who you think took your daughter.”

“Colvin Jackson,” she said without hesitation. “Or whatever his name is. He told me once when we were in Gabon that if I didn’t pay him the money John owed, he’d take Bowie and sell her.”

“Have you ever seen proof of this supposed debt?”

“No. I asked once, refusing to give his goon the monthly payment. But the next day our place was ransacked and robbed, and I didn’t think it was a coincidence, since Colvin himself showed up the day after that, demanding the payment. That’s when he threatened Bowie. I didn’t ask again.”

“And your husband was killed in the parking lot of a strip club?”

Penny felt shame spread through her. She closed her eyes, regretting putting the call on speaker. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and when she glanced to see who was behind her, found not just one person, but Laryn, Mandy, and Zita. Instead of pity on their faces, all three looked angry on her behalf. Their support gave her the courage to respond to Tex.

“Yeah. He hadn’t been intimate with me in a few years at that point, so I didn’t care. We were basically just cohabitating. I wouldn’t let him touch me after he’d started visiting the strip clubs. I was more than aware that he wasn’t just watching women dance without their clothes on. The police said it was a robbery, but then they gave me his personal belongings, which included his watch, a necklace he always wore, and his wallet. There wasn’t any money in it, but I always wondered what kind of robber would take the time to search someone’s pockets for a wallet, then stand there and go through it instead of simply running away with the whole thing. While also leaving behind a watch and necklace that were in plain sight.”

“I’m wondering the same thing,” Tex told her. “You knew that Pyro had asked me to look into Colvin already, yeah?”

“Yes.”

“The man owned that strip club. And many others like it. He’s made a lot of money, not only in oil but in selling sex, as well. Your husband probably did owe him money, because Colvin’s a shrewd businessman. He knows how to play people, and he probably made John sign a contract when he didn’t have the money to pay for more pussy. Sorry for being crude.”

“I think we’re past worrying about that. What does this have to do with finding Bowie?” Penny asked. She didn’t condone what her husband was doing in the years before his death, but he’d more than paid for his bad decisions.

“You also know the man you knew as Colvin is here in the States.”

“Yes, Pyro told me. Washington.”

“I’ve scrubbed his phone transactions, looked at his bank records, and I can’t find any connection between him and anyone who might be there in Virginia. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. He probably paid, or is planning on paying whoever took Bowie and Pyro, in cash. Money he didn’t actually deposit when he arrived here from the UK. It most certainly wasn’t Colvin himself who snatched your daughter, but his hands are far from clean. I’m sure of it.”

Penny agreed. “What now? How do we find them?”

The silence on the other end of the line was terrifying.

“Tex? You can find them, can’t you?”