Chapter 376

I made it outside in time to see Victor catch up to the boy and tackle him, bringing him to the sidewalk face down.

“Let me up,” the boy yelled.

“Not until the police get here,” Victor growled. “You just held a knife to a woman’s throat to try to rob a restaurant. Did you think you were going to walk away?”

“I’m sorry, but I needed money,” the boy said. “I need a fix. It’s been almost a day since I had some, and my dealer won’t give me any unless I pay for what he already fronted me.”

“A fix of what?” Victor asked, although we knew the answer.

“Ice,” the boy answered. “Please let me go. I won’t go back into that fancy restaurant. I’ll find the money somewhere else.”

“I’m not letting you go so you can rob another business,” Victor growled. “Needing drugs isn’t a good reason for stealing and threatening people with a knife.”

“You don’t know what it’s like, dude,” the boy said. “When you don’t have any, it’s all you can think about. Wanting more chews at your soul.”

“What other places have you robbed to get money for your habit?” I asked. “I work for the Public Defender’s Office. Tell me what you've done, and I’ll try to help you.”

Victor jumped at the sound of my voice. “Daisy, what are you doing out here?”

I put a hand up to silence him.

“Lady, help me,” the boy pleaded. “He’s hurting me.”

I knelt next to him. “What’s your name?”

“Georgie,” he replied. “Please, Lady, I just wanna go home.”

“Georgie,” I pushed the hair out of his eyes. “How old are you?”

“Sixteen.” He struggled under Victor’s much more muscular form. “I wouldn’t be doing the bad stuff I’ve done if I didn’t need Ice so much.”

“What bad things have you done, Georgie?” I asked. “Tell me, and I’ll help you.”

“I robbed a convenience store the other night,” he admitted. “And I think I killed a girl a couple of weeks ago.”

His casually confessing to murder chilled me. “What girl?” I pulled out my phone and recorded everything he said.

“I followed a couple leaving an Alpha party,” he said. “I thought they had some and would share it with me.”

Georgie blinked hard and continued to confess. “But the girl started yelling at me when I walked into their apartment. So I stabbed her a couple times until she stopped screaming.”

“Who was she?” I asked.

“I dunno, but the guy with her called her Sally,” Georgie replied. “But he was too whacked on Ice to do anything to me. When I realized what I did, I dropped the knife and ran.”

He had to be talking about Kyle Rinna and his girlfriend, who he was accused of murdering. Even though he didn’t remember, Kyle was innocent.

“Now let me up,” Georgie begged.

“Sure,” I said as the cops pulled up to the curb.

After the police took Georgie away, Victor and I returned to Gilded and had our meal.

We ate silently, both of us thinking about Georgie and how Ice ruined another life.

After eating, we returned to the mansion and went to bed.

I turned into Victor’s strong arms. “Just hold me tonight. I need to be close to you.”

He pulled me closer until my head rested on his chest, and our bodies were pressed together.

As much as this male turned me on, there were times when lying quietly together felt even more intimate than sex. I could sense how much he loved me, and he knew his love was returned in full.

I ran a hand over his bulging bicep and shoulder before letting my body relax, and I drifted off to sleep.

The next day, after Victor left for work, I called Allen to tell him I had found Sally’s real killer.

“It’s a sixteen-year-old boy named Georgie Freese,” I revealed. “I recorded his confession with my phone.”

“I don’t know how you do it, Daisy,” he said after listening to Georgie’s confession. “You saved another innocent person from life in prison.”

“It was a lucky break,” I said. “But I’m glad to help.”

“I’ll file a motion to dismiss based on the confession,” Allen said. “I’ll need your testimony in court, and then Kyle should be released.”

“I’d be glad to testify, but I’m still fed up with the drug situation,” I said. “Victor and Alex are assembling a task force to deal with it, yet I can’t sit back and wait.”

“Let me know if I can help,” Allen offered, and we disconnected.

After asking Anna to accompany me, I drove back to the two-lane highway where I’d lost the white van. Where had it disappeared to?

I drove past the curve and found a small lumberyard and a plant nursery. There was no way either was being used to distribute illegal drugs.

Further down the road, there were new housing developments and a strip mall. Anna and I spotted nothing suspicious.

“Let’s drive past the abandoned factory again,” Anna suggested. “There may be a building further down the road.”

I drove back to the gravel road past the abandoned factory.

“There’s no visible activity,” I said. “But it’s eerie.”

“Was that gray panel truck there yesterday?” Anna asked.

I hit my brakes and stopped outside the factory gate. “Where?”

“Its nose is sticking out from behind the factory on the left,” she replied.

“I don’t remember,” I said. “But that truck looks new compared to the factory.”

“I’ll take a photo for the whiteboard,” Anna offered and got out her phone.

After she took several photos of the factory from different angles, we drove to the college to check for the van around the Reed Building.

It wasn’t there either, but the window Anna and I used to escape the day before was now closed. Rocky must know someone was in the room with the drugs.

“Let’s go back and work on the whiteboard,” I said. “It helps clarify my thinking.”

We returned to the mansion and went straight to my library.

Anna printed the new photos, and we hung them on the board, adding our thoughts beneath each.

Anna pointed to one of the photos of the factory. “Are those tire tracks in the mud beside the factory?”

“I think so,” I agreed. “How long do tracks like that last?”

“I’m not sure,” she said. “But look at that panel truck. It’s newer than I thought.”

“There could be a dozen reasons why it’s parked there,” I reasoned. “Hey, I know.” I grabbed a magnifying glass from a bookshelf and read the license plate number. “I’ll ask Allen if he can find out whose name is on the truck’s registration.”

I texted Allen, and he promised to get back to me.

“I’m starved, Miss,” Anna said after brainstorming for another hour.

“It is almost one o’clock,” I said. “Let’s go for a burger and see if that panel truck has moved yet.”

We piled into the truck, and I drove us to a place for fast-food burgers and fries. We ate in the parking lot under a tree.

Anna swallowed the last of her burger. “What will you do with all the evidence we are collecting and putting together on the whiteboard?”

“I’m handing it over to a task force Victor is putting together,” I replied. “After they take down the drug ring, I’ll write an article for the newspapers.”

“This drug, Ice, where does it come from?” Anna asked before popping a fry into her mouth.

“We think it’s being processed from local plants in a country called Virople,” I said. “But they add chemicals to it to make it more potent and extremely addictive.”

I ate my last fry and slurped down the rest of my milkshake. “Let’s drive by the factory one more time.”

I returned to the gravel road outside the abandoned factory and stopped before the gate. It wasn’t discreet, but I wanted a good look around.

Anna pointed to the side of the factory. “Daisy, the panel truck is gone!”

Before I could answer, my cell vibrated. It was a text from Allen.

I read the text and hurried to back away from the factory gate.

“We have to get out of here!” I exclaimed.

Daisy, what’s wrong?” Anna asked.

“The panel truck is registered to John Cameron’s wife,” I replied. “The factory must be their headquarters. We must get away from here and tell Victor.”

I felt less nervous when I came to the stop sign on the highway. We were far enough away from the factory to be safe.

But suddenly, something came through the truck’s rear window, and the cab began to fill up with thick, white smoke.

“Daisy, open your window,” Anna said a moment before we both lost consciousness.