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Restricted, which meant it was him. Wonder if he’d use a voice changer still, or if he’d use his normal voice, now that his secret and the truth was out in the open.
“Hello, Charlie.” It was Tyler’s normal voice now, and I’d like to say it was less creepy, far less eerie than that mechanical voice he’d used in the past, but it wasn’t. If anything, hearing him say my name so calmly was even creepier. “I hope I didn’t wake you.”
Like I could fall asleep at a time like this. I opened my mouth to respond, but in the end I didn’t say a word. My heart hammered so fast in my chest I knew if I tried to speak, it wouldn’t be coherent.
“First, let’s talk about Brett. I want you to call him off. Don’t think I don’t notice him sitting in his car outside, in the parking lot. I want him gone.”
“And if he doesn’t agree to leave?” I broke my silence, biting my bottom lip in what I could only call anticipation. Dread and anticipation.
“Let’s just say it’d be in your sister’s best interest for Brett to leave. She sleeps quite soundly, you know. It wouldn’t take much at all from me to kill her.” Spoken so easily, as if the act of murdering my sister, the woman he’d been with for years, was like throwing out a piece of trash.
My voice came out quiet, “I didn’t know you were a killer, Tyler.”
“Turns out, you don’t know a lot of things about me. Anyway, the second thing I need is for you to grab a pen and some paper. I’m going to give you an address, and you’re going to write it down. After you call off your fake boyfriend, you’re going to get in your car and drive straight there—without waking up your parents and telling them where you’re going, of course. Brett should be in the dark about it, too. I hope I don’t need to elaborate on what’ll happen if you do tell him.”
No, Tyler had already made that perfectly clear.
I swallowed. “I won’t tell.” I wandered over to my desk and grabbed a pen and a notebook from my backpack, flipping it open to the first blank page. “Where do you want me to go?” Going anywhere to meet Tyler was stupid, but at this point, I couldn’t think of anything else to do.
For Claire. For Brett. For me.
It was time to finish this, one way or another.
Tyler rattled off an address, and after I had it written down, he repeated, “Remember to come alone. I’ll know if you don’t, and the first thing I’ll do is end that naive sister of yours, and then I’ll tell the world all about Brett Banks and where he’s been hiding.”
He didn’t need to elaborate beyond that. I knew exactly what would happen if law enforcement found out Brett had been hiding out here. I’d get arrested. Hell, probably my whole family would get arrested for aiding and abetting a wanted criminal. It wouldn’t end well for any of us. Tyler had me there, and we both knew it.
“Come immediately.” After that Tyler hung up, leaving me standing in the dark with a pounding heart and an icky feeling in my gut.
I had to do this. First thing’s first. I dialed Brett’s number, and the man picked up on the second ring: “Charlie,” his deep voice was a welcome change after hearing Tyler’s. “What is it?”
“I need you to get out of there,” I told him, and I could hear him suck in a hard breath at that. He was probably wondering what the hell I was going on about, why I’d want him to abandon his stakeout.
“What’s this about?”
“Tyler just called me. If you don’t leave, he’ll hurt Claire. He said he’d kill her, Brett.” I didn’t have to say how much I did not want that to happen; Brett knew. I loved my sister. It wasn’t her fault she was so damned perfect and our parents had always wanted me to be just like her.
He grumbled, “Well, at least I know where he lives. The first moment he’s alone—”
“No,” I said quickly. “He wants me to meet him somewhere tonight. He gave me an address. I’m going, and you can’t be there with me. If you are, he won’t stop with Claire. He’ll go public with you, and my entire family will get caught in the fallout.”
Brett was silent for a few moments, and then he asked, “So, you want me to let you walk head-first into danger with no backup? Come the fuck on, Charlie. You should know me better than that by now. I’m not going to let it happen.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Goddamn it. And what makes you think he won’t hurt you once he has you alone?”
“He’s waited all this time for me. He wouldn’t make a move now if he plans on killing me and being done with it. I imagine he wants to bring me somewhere else.”
“A secondary location?” Brett sounded incredulous. “Didn’t you ever learn that you never go to a secondary location with anyone? Charlie, this is—”
Nothing Brett could say would change my mind. I tore out the page with the address and stuffed it into the back pocket of my shorts. “Leave their place,” I said. “Once I’m at the address Tyler gave me, I’ll ping you. As long as he doesn’t see you there, he should come.”
“And what about if he takes you somewhere else, Charlie? What if you leave your phone? Your stupid fucking ping isn’t going to help me much then—”
He was right. If Tyler took me to a secondary location before Brett could get there, I’d be fucked… but maybe I didn’t have to be. “I have an idea,” I said, and I said nothing more as I carefully slipped out of my room and headed down the stairs. I turned into the kitchen and switched on my phone’s flashlight.
I could hear Brett’s voice; he must’ve asked me a question, and I was ignoring him because the phone wasn’t against my ear. My legs drew me to the leftmost drawer in the kitchen, and I pulled it open to find a drawer full of junk. After a little rummaging, I found what I was looking for.
