Page 79 of All the Missing Pieces

RIDLEY

I watchedthe thoughts and emotions play across Colt’s face like a movie on one of those drive-in screens. He didn’t hide a thing, not this time. He let me see as he put the pieces together in his mind, as he realized whatcould havehappened to his sister. In some dark part of his mind, he already knew. But this made it more real.

“Twenty-three? You’re sure?” The questions didn’t feel like a challenge, but rather that Colt didn’t want them to be true.

I nodded. “That’s what I’ve been able to find anyway. I don’t have access to any of those handy databases you law enforcement types have, so it takes me longer to research?—”

“How?” Colt cut in before I could nervously ramble anymore.

“How did I research?”

“How do you know they’re connected?”

I finally released my hold on the plastic fork. Little lines were carved into my fingers and palm from how tightly I’d been holding the thing. This was it. Where I laid out my case and told him everything. Where I hoped like hell he’d believe me, unlike the law enforcement I’d tried to convince before.

Taking a deep breath, I did the only thing I could. I began. “All of the victims were blond. Ages sixteen to twenty-four.”

Colt’s dark eyes cut to me. He didn’t voice his doubts or tell me that wasn’t enough, but I could feel them. So I pressed on. “All athletes, but not just any athletes—the stars. Ones who won state championships or received awards.”

Colt leaned forward, setting his takeout containers on the edge of the deck railing. The hook had caught hold. He was really listening now.

“They were all incredibly good students, recipients of scholarships, on every kind of honor roll.”

“All high achievers,” Colt said, pulling the strands together.

I nodded. “Every single one was a member of the National Honor Society.”

That had him jerking straight. “Have you?—”

“Looked at every person at that organization who might have access to those kinds of records?”

Colt’s brows twitched. Not in amusement exactly but maybe surprised admiration.

“Yes,” I went on. “I can’t be one hundred percent sure, but as far as I can tell from deep-diving their social media and getting a little help from a hacker friend?—”

My words cut off as Colt scowled. “You know anything that hacker gives you is fruit from the poisonous tree.”

I scowled right back. “My contact is a good dude. A white hat. He’s just trying to help.”

“It doesn’t matter if he’s agood dude. It’s not anything we can use.”

“Well, we don’t have to, because what he found cleared all three of the people still on my list.”

Colt sighed, sitting back in his chair and staring out at the water.

I’d already laid a heavy load on his shoulders, but I knew I had to keep going. Colt needed to know everything. “Every victim was taken from somewhere near a school campus orpractice facilities. I’ve watched him evolve. He started with kidnapping and sexual assault, leaving his victims with fuzzy memories in places they didn’t recognize.”

Colt’s jaw went so hard I could see the bone pressing against his skin, just trying to break free.

“Then he started to hurt them even more.”

Colt’s fingers latched on to the arms of his chair, knuckles bleaching white.

“He discovered he had a taste for it. The pain and torture.” My stomach roiled, and I tried to detach myself from the words I was saying. But I couldn’t quite get there. “Then he started ending their lives altogether.”

Colt turned to face me, and his dark eyes would be burned into my mind forever. So much pain in those fathomless depths. So much need to make things right. “They never found your sister.”

“No,” I croaked. “There are victims on my list they never found. But there are more they have. Survivors and bodies. Enough to put the pieces together. But no one would listen.”

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