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“The incinerators going, we may as well put these two in there, and then we need to check to make sure there’s no one else here. He said that she was the last one, but he obviously wasn’t in his right mind, so who knows how many people could be left? Someone might even be injured and needing help,” Mason points out.
“Good point. Let’s do this then,” Rip replies. Moving to the edge of the room and putting a heavy apron thing on and matching elbow-length gloves to protect his clothes. “Help yourselves. There’s no point getting blood and whatever else is on them on us.”
Rome moves over to do the same, as do Mal and Mason. Together they hoist the two bodies into the roaring heat of the fire, and Rip slams and tightens the door behind them. They then put the aprons and gloves in a different area of the room to where they got them from, and I’m assuming that’s because they’ve been used before we all head back out of the room and into the fresh air.
“We’ll clear the house first,” Rome orders as we head in the direction of a huge log cabin. “We’re going to need to warn the grandparents where the blood is in the house, from where he killed them.”
“Assuming they were killed in the house,” I add.
“He was one of my Mom’s men,” Rip clarifies, although we’d, or at least I’d already assumed as much.
“Yeah, I figured,” Mase replies grimly.
We fall silent then since we’re getting closer to the house, and we all share a look as we see that the front door has been left open. I’m hoping that’s because he didn’t bother to pause to shut it while dragging the body of the woman out and not that it’s because someone else is in here and has a problem with us. I can tell how uncomfortable being here is making Rip, and I want to get out as quickly as possible.
The whole place is trashed, either from where they took Rip’s mom or the ensuing hunt that happened when the guy from the incinerator lost his shit and went after all of the other staff members.
“I think the likelihood of anyone being alive is fairly fucking slim, so let’s split up and just make sure so that we can get this done quicker. Stay alert,” Rome orders, and we all split up, Mal coming with me.
We head upstairs while the others disappear into their own areas to search, and it’s in just as much disarray up here as it was downstairs, except upstairs, there are blood smears on the wall and a stain on the flooring in the hallway. It looks like a horror show, if I’m honest, and I have no idea how they’re going to get the blood out of the flooring.
It doesn’t take us very long to clear the entire upstairs, and the only space that seems to be affected by the fight that went on here is the hallway. From the looks of where the blood is, I’d have to assume that whoever it is was struck and then tried to escape before succumbing to their injuries or being struck again.
Since it’s clear up here, I ask, “Do you think Rip’s going to be okay?”
“I think so, as long as we can get out of here pretty quickly. None of us like coming back to these estates; they hold a lot of bad memories for us.” Mal replies thoughtfully, concern shadowing his features.
“That’s understandable.” I reply as we head back down the wide staircase, “Let’s go and hope that the others haven’t found anything that we need to deal with.”
“Everything up there clear?” Rip asks Rome next to him as we get to the bottom of the staircase.
“Yeah, all good. Well, apart from the blood all over the landing. There wasn’t enough for there to be more than one victim, but there was enough for the person to have died up there,” I explain and then ask as I look around, “I take it you and Rome didn’t find anything? Wait, where’s Ace and Mason?”
“We’re here,” Mason says, the first to appear from the corridor to the left. “And we have an issue.”
“What kind of . . .” I begin to ask and then close my mouth as the reason becomes evident, and Ace walks out of the same hallway carrying a child that can be no older than two.
My heart breaks as he appears to be covered in blood, although none of it is his from what I can tell from my quick and urgent scan of him. He’s talking away to Ace quite animatedly as Ace nods in agreement and makes the right sorts of sounds even though he doesn’t seem to be able to speak in full sentences yet, and some of his words are slightly hard to understand. He’s got dark curly hair, round chubby cheeks, and he’s absolutely adorable.
As soon as he sees us he snaps his mouth closed and watches us with wide and scared eyes.
“Shit,” Rome mutters.
I glare at him, “Watch your language.”
“Sh-ugar. Sorry,” Rome winces.
Ace rolls his eyes, looking amused, as he says, “Guy’s, this is Harry. We found him hiding in a cupboard in the kitchen, scared out of his little mind.”
“Hey baby,” I smile, moving toward him and quickly putting my gun away, he looks at me cautiously before he holds his little arms out to me, and I take him from Ace, his face burying into my neck as he holds onto me tightly. I share a look with the guys, who all suddenly look inscrutable, but I don’t have the time to deal with the reason why right now.
“Are we assuming his mom is er,” Rip struggles to find the right word, “Not here?”
Ace nods, “From the way the woman in the incinerator was dressed and the bloodstain where I found him, I’m guessing she was his mom. Her body was pressed up against the cupboard we found him in, protecting him even in death.”
“Oh no,” I mutter, emotions trying to rise in me, but as Harry pulls his head from my neck and looks up at me with his big blue eyes, I smile; he’s been through far too much to deal with some strange woman crying at him. “It’s going to be okay. You’re okay. You’re safe now.”
He nods, seeming to understand me as he snuggles back into me.
