Page 71 of Jacob

Storming back to his seat, he snarls, his lips moving as he chants inaudible words through a tight jaw. “Go back to the other camera,” I say, pointing at the tiles of footage on the screen.

We watch as Jules throws himself back into his chair; fist clenched, he clicks his neck.

Walter zooms in on Jules and we watch as he pulls something out from his jacket pocket, leans over, and with what looks like a small white pill placed between his chubby fingers, he drops it into Skye’s coffee cup.

“He drugged her?” My heart splits open.

Walter stays quiet, watching everything while the footage keeps playing.

Jules picks up his phone, furiously scrolling, waiting for Skye to come back.

“Can you zoom in on just his phone screen?” I ask.

Walter taps a few buttons making the camera angle change again, where we witness him deleting his social media account.

“You’ve got yourself an obsessive stalker. Did you see his whole mood change when he saw you two together? You triggered him.”

The horror of Walter’s words whips through me in a flash.If he hadn’t seen us in the bathroom, would Skye be here, safe with me?

“I think I might be sick.”

“Not in my truck, please,” Walter says calmly. I swallow down the fear and guilt currently trying to break free from my body as I watch the camera zoom in on Jules’ face. At the click of a button, Walter runs it through a piece of software that automatically begins zooming through data at lightning speed. He then hits play on a different video. This time, it’s from the street outside. The one we’re currently parked on.

Barely keeping one foot in front of the other, Skye is being held up by Jules. Further down the street, he ushers her up the alleyway. The one we are sitting at the end of.

I look up out of the front car window. The CCTV is right above us.

Walter is smart as fuck and shit-hot with tech. I didn’t think hacking into the town’s security footage would be so easy.

I can barely look at the screen when Jules lifts her lifeless body into the back of his car.

“He’s a stupid motherfucker,” Walter mumbles.

“Why? I would say the opposite. He’s organized and seems to know what he’s doing.”

Without lifting his head, Walter points at the CCTV pole in front of us and then back at the screen, as if I’ve missed something obvious. “His number plate is right there. He’s an amateur and I can tell you now, this was unplanned. He’s considered it, planning it in the background for some time in the future, but he had no intention of taking her last night. He saw you with her, got jealous, panicked, and he didn’t want you tohave her. He wanted her all to himself. He saw an opportunity and took it. All signs point to him never having done this before. That’s a good sign.”

“But he had drugs with him.”

“Practice run. Bringing a few things with him would make him feel prepared. He wanted to feel powerful, but he had no intention of using them. Knowing hecouldwas enough. Seeing her with you made him escalate. But he wasn’t ready, and that’s making him sloppy.”

He looks me dead in the eye. “We’re going to get your girl back.”

“What, now?” I ask, not feeling as confident as Walter appears to be.

“Now I rally my team together. I’ll meet them at the office as soon as I leave here. We trace every step he made. There are CCTV cameras everywhere from here, right into the city, and all along the highways. My team is extremely experienced. We’ve got you covered, Jacob. I will make sure I do everything to get her back.”

“Quicker than the police?”

“You should have called me first. The whole context and circumstance of Skye’s disappearance tell us that she is the victim of a crime. Fucking twenty-four hours, my ass. I’ll find her. You have my word.”

All the hope that left my body earlier floods my skin. A huge wave of emotion hits me, making my eyes go blurry.

I shake my head to dry up my damp eyes, wiping my nose with the back of my shirt sleeve.

“Sorry,” I mumble.

“Don’t be.” He squeezes my shoulder. Hard. Then he pulls his hands away and slams his laptop shut. “Now, we get to work. I’m running his photo through advanced facial recognition software as we speak. I’ll pick that up when I get to the office. My right-hand man, Tim, is coordinating with the team.When, notif, but when, we locate this guy, we’ll move in at night. It’s the only way. Don’t tell her parents I’m looking. Let them keep searching for her. When he sees them on the television, he will think he’s winning. He’ll probably get off on the attention. All his focus will be on the press and social media. He won’t expect what’s coming.” His grin takes an evil twist. “Me.”

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