Chapter 47 THE MAN ON THE TAPE 2
“You do know that he’s just using us to solve this case, right?” Linda said, already at my desk, practically fuming.
“I know. Honestly, from the start I had this feeling he was up to something. But if he’s taking advantage of us, we might as well do the same to him, okay?” I replied, watching her carefully as she let out a heavy, frustrated sigh.
“Fine. But I’m only doing this because of you. I’ll call Anna and Jacob and let them know we’re pulling another night shift,” she said, already turning away.
I nodded in response as she left, but the image of Mia from the footage—her body being shoved into that truck—refused to leave my mind. It replayed over and over again, vivid and cruel, until I felt my legs go weak beneath me.
“You haven’t eaten anything all day, right?” Linda asked, pausing at the door.
I nodded again, too tired to argue.
“I’ll just order us some pizza,” she added before leaving the room, shutting the door behind her and leaving me alone with my thoughts—thoughts that felt heavy, loud, and impossible to escape.
Jaxon’s POV
I woke up to the reflection of sunlight hitting my face. My eyes felt heavy, and my head throbbed dully, like it had been struck by a bolt of lightning and left behind the ache. It took a moment for my vision to adjust as I looked around the unfamiliar room I was still struggling to get used to.
“You stayed up all night, didn’t you?” Troy’s voice came from the bathroom as he peeked his head out. I hadn’t even noticed the sound of the running shower.
“What are you doing?” I asked, confused, especially when I realized he was standing in front of my bathroom door wearing nothing but pants—bare chest exposed—with an apron tied around his waist like some overly committed husband about to serve breakfast in bed.
“Well, I’m giving your dog a bath. Excuse me for being useful,” he replied casually.
I blinked, certain I was still half-asleep.
“You. Troy. Giving Alba a bath?” I said slowly. “I think I need to wake up from this dream,” I added dryly as I reached for the smart glass remote on the bedside table and switched the bathroom glass from frosted to transparent.
Alba was in the bathtub, soaked and shaking violently, water splashing everywhere.
I let out a long, frustrated sigh as I stared at Troy, waiting—demanding—for an explanation.
“Don’t blame me. He wouldn’t let me wash through his thick fur. I mean, take a closer look at me—I’m covered in dog fur, and I smell like a wet dog.” Troy complained, now looking like a child about to be punished by his mother… or more like a husband being scolded by his wife.
I already knew Troy bathing Alba was bound to end in disaster. I simply looked from him to Alba, who was already attempting to climb his way out of the bathtub, water splashing everywhere.
“I made breakfast,” he added quickly. I didn’t need him to say more—I already knew he was searching for a way out of this.
“Troy, just go.”
“Okay. I’ll see you at the dining table,” he said with obvious relief and barely contained excitement before hurrying out of the room.
I made my way over to Alba, who greeted me with unmistakable excitement, his tail thumping weakly against the tub.
“Hey, buddy. Let’s finish this, shall we?” Unlike Troy’s rant about not being able to wash through Alba’s thick fur because he wouldn’t sit still, Alba was nothing but obedient—from the moment I started until we finished blow-drying him.
I was brushing through his fur when a message popped up on my phone. It was from my most trusted security contact at Brentmere. According to him, a CCTV footage from earlier on the day of the party hadn’t been among the files forwarded to the boss.
Once I made sure Alba was settled, I returned to my laptop and accessed the video. At the beginning, there was practically nothing—just guests arriving, one after another.
I ran a hand through my hair, scrubbing at my scalp as I searched through what felt like emptiness. There was nothing strange. Nothing out of place. It looked like every other surveillance footage from every other hotel in existence.
But the clip Miss Carter had shown me wasn’t here at all—and that made everything far more suspicious. Either Miss Carter was being fed false information, or someone had deliberately erased the part involving Ravyn Vale.
The realization tightened something in my chest. This was becoming overwhelming, and I could already feel a dull tremor of pain building behind my eyes. If I was going to keep pushing, I needed my medication.
I immediately grabbed the prescription bottle sitting on my bedside stand, shook two pills into my palm, and swallowed them dry before washing them down with the bottled water beside it.
Another beep from my phone had me rushing back to the laptop, hope surging briefly that it might be more information on Ravyn Vale. Instead, I was met with an entirely different surprise—one that had me putting Troy on the line almost instantly.
As I stared at the new site displayed across my screen, Troy’s voice came through the other end of the call.
“Food is ready. You can come down now.”
“To my room. Now!”
Nancy’s POV
“What are we going to do next? We found the guy, but how do we bring him in? We don’t just need the judge to sign the warrant—we also need permission from the sheriff of Brentmere before we can arrest a suspect for a kidnapping in his town. Even if the judge eventually issues the warrant…” Linda said, her voice tight with frustration.
We had all been up all night again, making it two consecutive nights without proper rest. We looked terrible—exhausted, worn down, and barely holding ourselves together. Though we had successfully identified the man from the footage and requested a warrant from the judge—which we still hadn’t heard back from—there was no way we could arrest him without official approval. Not without the warrant, and certainly not without the sheriff of Brentmere’s permission, since the case involved his jurisdiction and his town.
“Jacob, any news from the sheriff of Brentmere or the judge?” I asked, clinging to a shred of hope. Our efforts couldn’t be for nothing. They just couldn’t.
“Nothing,” he replied, releasing a heavy sigh that mirrored how we all felt.
“Then I’ll go to him,” I said firmly. “If by the end of the day we don’t hear anything from either side, I’m going to Brentmere to meet their sheriff myself.”
They all stared at me, uncertainty clear in their eyes.
“Is that even a good idea?” Linda asked, worry etched deep into her expression. “What if you’re risking your safety by going there alone?”
“Guys, I’ll be fine,” I said, forcing confidence into my voice as I looked at each of their faces, one after the other.
“Now, we all need to check out. We don’t just need a proper meal—we need a proper bath and some rest. We’ll meet back here this evening, okay?” I added.
All I got in response were silent nods.
Jacob and Anna were the first to leave, their footsteps dragging as exhaustion finally caught up to them. Linda and I were the last ones left in the office.
“So what are you planning?” Linda asked as we stepped out onto the road. “Are you going to confront Mr. Lennox about the video?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted quietly. “But something is telling me I should—before we make any other moves. I need to know whether he’s with me… or against me.”
My gaze stayed fixed outside the window as my thoughts spiraled, chaos raging inside my head. I didn’t want to worry Linda, so I kept the rest to myself. But my decision was already made.
I’m paying Jaxon a visit once I manage to wash two nights’ worth of stress off my skin.