Page 91 of Kandie Shoppe

I don’t waver still. “Anyone coming between us is going to find out real quick. I don’t take too kindly to interference.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean, homeboy?” Oz grates over the line. I can see men shifting in my periphery.

Unclipping my Sig, I let my hand rest on the handle and say with coldness etched in my soul, “I’ll kill every motherfucker in here over her ass.”

Amidst grunts of approval, I hear someone say, “That’s one unhinged ass white boy.”

“I am,” I toss out, going over to stand with the other new male members of the family.

“What’s next?” Mathias asks, having just experienced something very similar, where his wife’s life hung in the balance. Time was not on our side.

“My people are running all the CCTVs in the area to see if anything was amiss. Every vehicle anywhere near her bakery will be tagged and surveilled.”

“He’s going to want to rub it in your face. He won’t be able to help himself. He thinks of himself as your competition and in some sick way he feels he’s won.” Kiyoshi ticks off the characteristics of criminal sociopaths like he has vast knowledge of them.

“As hard as it is right now, we can’t do anything but wait until he shows his hand. He will and it will be a mistake.” Angel looks at me, understanding better than anyone my frustration. For nearly a year, we both were without our women and now this. I never judged him for his rage when Easy left him and though Kandie and I just had a fight and anguish eating through me like a school of piranha is no different.

“Sheriff,” one of the dozen or so Love cousins calls. It’s Solomon, one of the firemen. He’s barreling my way with a few others and some El Diablos who are following closely behind him.

My lady Kandiewanted you to know it’s over. I thought, what better way than to make it plain but to burn your house down with you inside. Too bad you’re out looking for someone who couldn’t care less about you. Sorry I missed you. Next time.

Best,

Kandielover

He knows we’re looking,so the element of surprise is gone. In a way, it’s freeing. Now we can have an all out search. Bring the whole community together to rally for her.

Kandie,yes, our Kandie is missing. The person who was harassing her broke into her home after Marlene’s funeral and took her. We are asking for everyone’s help. Please, if you saw anything, please contact the Sheriff’s office. Call in your tips The Shelby County Chronical hotline.

Joi’svast social media reach did the job of getting the word out faster than we expected. We were inundated with so many tips we had to set up a call center in the church, which Assistant Pastor Nathaniel volunteered to spearhead. He was in an accident on his way from the country club, but still managed to show up and volunteer.

“Anything for Kandie and you, Sheriff. You guys do so much for the community and the church. How could we not stand in the gap for y’all?” He patted my shoulder in support before going over to assist an elderly volunteer.

Despite his words of reassurance and that of every volunteer who came up to me to either give condolences for my mom or encouragement for finding Kandie, I knew time was ticking.

Every minute ate at me. Tension rippled through me with every breath I took away from her.

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

Kandie

Dripping water and the smell of dank earth, moss and decay is what I wake up to. I’m on a mattress that has to be as old as me. Head swimming, I sit up and immediately retch. Only nothing comes up. Pain slices through me when my knees hit the crumb-like dirt. It bites into my knees, imbedding little particles.

The dress I had on at Marlene’s funeral is gone. My bra is gone. Even if I wore panties, I think he would have taken them off. I don’t feel any aches and pains in my kittykat, but I know that doesn’t mean anything.

My nose crinkles. I stink. He must have kept drugging me. It’s too dark to see and the side of my neck is sore. He may have been dosing me regularly. The way hunger is eating my insides up and the awful stench coming from my body. He could have had me here for days. My arm is sore too, but it’s too dark to know if he set an I.V.

Rage bursts through me. I’m going to kill this motherfucker. Pretending to be my friend. Searching the surrounding space, I feel for anything coming up with nothing. He’s going for complete deprivation. Placing my hand on the hard mattress, Iease my sore aching body up to sit on the edge of the bed. If he’s been coming every day to keep me dosed something must have kept him away from getting here before it wore off this time.

Sitting there, I realize there are more and more injuries on my body. I feel like I’ve been taking abuse for days. My wrists are sore. Worse than when Deputy Davies put the zip ties too tight when he arrested me.

There is a click and a whirl. A green light comes on. A camera makes a whirling sound. Light fills the room so bright I have to cover my eyes.

I look around the room. Beyond the cot I can see I am in a small cell. My head swivels so fast as I take in everything before me. I know this place or one similar. This is the basement of the youth house that was fixed up. It looks like it’s had a crude upgrade. There are still cells, but the rest of the room is almost clinical, as if it was the lair of a mad scientist.

There is a black bedlike contraption with straps dangling where the legs, arms, head, neck, and torso are supposed to be. On the wall there are all types of what look like torture devices. Many of them are sexual in nature. My tummy drops.

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