Page 69 of Because of Liam

Chapter Forty-Three

I havean eagle’s eye view of everything. The twelve camera feeds are split among the three screens in front of me. One for the living room, one for the kitchen and one for the hall and the guest bedroom.

People are mingling around, but he’s not here yet. I can see Logan and Liam talking to people, and the beer is flowing as the number of red cups in people’s hands indicates there’s free alcohol in the place. I can see Skye in the kitchen, a red cup in her hand, but I know there’s no alcohol in it. There have to be about thirty people around the house. The stairs going up to the second floor have been closed off with ‘do not cross’ tape. Logan says it can be bought in any novelty store or online, so it will not raise any suspicions, but it’s a clever way to keep people downstairs for now. I know it won’t stop Jon if he shows up. I’m watching Logan and Liam when they both rub their necks.

We have a set of agreed upon hand gestures. If either Logan or Liam rub the back of their necks, this means Jon is here. I find him a moment later. He’s standing by the front door. My insides contract and my stomach drops. It feels like I’m on a never- ending roller coaster, but I know it’s only the shock of seeing him for the first time after knowing what he did to me. I shake off the feeling and tell myself to stop it. He can’t hurt me anymore. I zoom in on his face. For anyone else, it may just look like he’s casually looking around. But I can tell his eyes are searching. I watch on the next monitor as Skye leaves the kitchen and walks into the living room. Logan must have texted her. That’s another thing we are doing. Texting each other, keeping everyone in the loop. My phone vibrates.

Liam: Are you okay?

Me: Yes. I’m good. Let’s get the bastard.

Liam: We will.

As I watch, Jon takes a few steps into the room and starts talking to people. He makes his way to the kitchen and gets a cup but does not fill it to the top. He is keeping his wits about him. He’s watching Skye. He is not approaching her as I expected him to. He’s keeping his distance and watching her from afar.

And for over an hour that’s all he does. Skye has made several trips to the kitchen, and every time she comes back with what he thinks is a new beer cup he smirks a little and it dawns on me what his MO is. If he never approaches his victims until the last moment, no one in the party will be able to say he was with them. And by the time he does approach them, most people are drunk or at the very least buzzed and not able to recall Jon ever being near his victims.

Skye is tittering a little to the side. She fake trips on someone and hands come up to steady her, holding both her arms. Jon’s hands. He wormed his way next to her and he’s talking to her now. Skye’s head tilts to the side, and she looks like she’s trying to concentrate on what he’s saying. Somebody give my sister an Oscar right now. If I didn’t know for a fact she hasn’t actually consumed any real alcohol, I would swear she’s drunk.

I can see Liam a couple of feet behind them. He’s keeping track of the cup in Skye’s hand. If we are right about this, Jon will try to sneak something into it soon.

He talks to her for a couple of minutes. I zoom the camera on them, I’m trying to read his lips, but I can’t. His right hand goes to his jeans pocket and a moment later, it’s out and he’s holding it at his side. Something is in his hand. He leans into Skye and whispers something in her ear, which makes her turn and lower her head. His hand comes up to the cup and drops something in it. Bingo!

The next moment, Liam bumps into Jon’s back and he turns to Liam. Skye dumps the contents of the cup on a potted plant behind her. When Jon turns back, Skye’s tilting the cup up as if she just finished her drink, and I can see Jon’s satisfied smile. After about ten or fifteen minutes, she starts leaning to the side—this timing is important. We researched this and for most cases, the effects start to show in twenty to thirty minutes after ingesting the roofies, which was the drug found in the girls we believe are Jon’s victims. Jon puts an arm around her waist and starts guiding her to the back of the room and toward the stairs. I can see Logan tense and start to follow them. Liam steps in front of him and whispers something in Logan’s ear. Whatever Liam said stops Logan from screwing up our plan. We need more than drugs in a cup. We need him to try to hurt Skye, so we can get it on video. We need intent.

Watching it all unfold through the camera lenses is surreal. Jon worms his way to the back of the room while keeping a firm hold on Skye at his side. She’s still holding the now empty cup, and he takes it from her hand and chucks it into the trash bin Liam set up by the kitchen. He looks around over her head, but no one is watching him. People are drinking, making out, dancing to the loud music I can hear filtering up to the second floor. He makes his way to the stairs and removes the tape from one side of the wall before taking the first step and then placing the ‘do not cross’ police tape back in place. I lose them for a few seconds until they show up on the camera in the hallway again.

I know the door is locked, but my heart still speeds up when I hear him trying the door for the room I’m in. All doors are locked, except for the guest bedroom we set up with the cameras, but this time those cameras will also have a sound feed, so we can hear anything he says.

I watch as he tries both the bathroom and Logan’s door and then the last door in the hall. The smile on his face when it eases open is sickening. A moment later, there’s a knock on my door. I get up to let Logan and Liam in and we rush to the desk to watch the monitors. I realize I’m shaking when Liam’s hands cover mine and his arms go around me. He kisses me on the forehead and pulls me close to him. Tension radiates from Logan in waves. He’s a tsunami in the making.

Jon wastes no time dragging Skye to the bed. Logan’s fists ball next to me and Liam takes one hand off me and squeezes Logan’s shoulder.

“We need him to try to do something. Just hold on one more minute.”

“I know, but this isn’t fucking easy.”

Sweat beads on Logan’s creased brow, despite the chilled air-conditioned room. Sounds come through the computer and we can hear Jon speaking.

“I almost wish you could remember this tomorrow. But you won’t. Your sister didn’t either. She never knew what hit her. Feisty little bitch she was. Even half unconscious she put up a fight. But my special mix guaranties that no one remembers what happens. Not before, not after, and especially not during it. None of them remember and I’ve done this dozens of times.”

He goes up on the mattress and pulls Skye to the middle of the queen-sized bed.

“What? What are you talking about? What mix?” Skye’s voice is drowsy, her words slurred.

“You switched the cups, right?” I ask Logan even though I saw him do it on the video.

“Yes. She’s acting.”

“She’s doing one hell of a job,” Liam says.

“Oh, I have my own little recipe. Rohypnol, and a few other drugs. They work together quite nicely. And the beauty of all this is that you won’t remember a fucking thing. Nothing at all.” He laughs.

Shoes off, he starts to unzip his jeans and looks at her, taking in what she’s wearing for the first time. This is something we planned. Having Skye wear clothes that would be difficult to remove. She’s wearing skin-tight jeans, a tucked in T-shirt, and chocolate brown knee-high boots. The boots are riding boots, with a stretch band on the inside and no zippers. And they are a pain to put on and take off.

“Why are you always so difficult? Couldn’t you just wear a skirt like River did? Make my job easier? Now I have to rip these boots and jeans off you before I can get my dick in that cunt of yours. And that pisses me off. I was going to be nice to you for old times’ sake, but I’m not going to be nice anymore. I’m going to make you bleed like I did your bitchy little sister. I’m going to leave my mark on you.”

Jon’s jeans come off, but his underwear is still on and thankfully for us, he loves to hear himself talk.

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