King Maker (King Maker 3)

“Griff?”

“Yeah.”

“I need you to have someone pick up Lizzy from the airport. She’s back in town.”

“Are you serious about setting her up at Connor’s?”

“He doesn’t stay there. Our father got it for him years ago and he doesn’t use it. When his birthday passes, it will be cleared for him to sell it to me outside his trust.”

He was giving it to me for a song as a fuck you to our father. That was why I couldn’t believe he was behind all of this.

“The keys are in my office as we discussed,” I said.

“Are you going to tell him?”

I hadn’t planned on it. “He’s never there. That’s why he gave me the keys to check it out.”

He’d gotten it before I’d come back to America. And he hadn’t lived there the entire time, which was why I’d never seen the place until recently.

“Okay,” he said.

Unceremoniously, I clicked the phone off and headed through the stalks edging the most likely path Bailey had been taken through.

Time was not in our favor. It was more like quicksand. I decided not to waste any of it finding Turner. I had to brief the team and get them started fast to ensure we found her alive.

Two

I took command of the mobile team that showed up, which was equipped to rival any crime scene unit. They’d parked it several yards away from the evidence.

One of the team members stepped from the back with a camera, filming everything as he went.

Rulers were set on the ground to measure both the length and width positions of the tire tread before high quality photos were taken to replace the crude shots I’d gotten with my phone.

Matt stood next to me watching the security team work after I told him what we found and showed him the disturbance in the stalks.

They were as tall as those seen in horror movies. “This is where we believe he, or whoever it was, came through,” I said, pointing to the area.

The cop moved forward, back in investigation mode. I followed Matt down the disturbed path to end up back behind Violet’s house.

“Whose place is this?” Matt asked.

“Violet’s, Bailey’s older sister. She shares it with her husband.”

He walked back toward the direction of the road.

“What do you need me for?” he asked as we retraced our steps.

“I need to make sure everything is above board. You’re the perfect point person to oversee things to ensure it stands up in court if need be.”

He stared at me with cop eyes I couldn’t read. “I can’t do anything more than the local authorities. And we both know that an adult person isn’t treated as missing unless forty-eight hours have passed since they were last seen,” he said, watching me as if he could read my thoughts.

“Which is why you’re here. We’re launching our own investigation.”

“I get that. But if you want to do it by the book, we’ll have to wait the mandatory forty-eight hours before we can get a subpoena to get access to any potential video surveillance.”

I understood that. Which was why Griffin was working to hack any potential online video feeds once we narrowed down the type of car we should be looking for.

“We aren’t waiting,” I said.

“Can we just ask?”

Matt and I swung around to the speaker to see Turner emerge through the stalks a few feet away.

“You must be—” Matt began.

“Turner,” he answered, holding out his hand.

Matt nodded. “Bailey’s Turner.”

I’ll be damned if he’s Bailey’s anything, I thought as a growl rumbled in the back of my throat.

“You have a good idea,” Matt said to him.

“People are pretty nice around here. I’m sure they’d be willing to help,” Turner added.

Matt pointed at him. “Which is exactly why you need to be there.”

“Say it isn’t true. Bailey isn’t really missing?” Steven asked, strolling over. When Turner nodded, Steven said, “I thought this place was safe.”

I had many questions for the man, but Matt beat me to it.

“Who are you, and where were you last night?” Matt asked in true cop fashion.

“Violet’s husband. Last night, I came home late and saw Bailey with him by the fire.”

Both Matt’s and Steven’s eyes bounced between Turner and me.

“Who?” Matt asked for clarification because Steven hadn’t pointed at either of us.

I glared at the man and so must have Turner as Steven raised his hands in surrender. “Look, it’s none of my business. For all I know, they were just sharing a blanket by the fire. It was pretty cold last night.”

Matt turned an irritated stare on us. “Would either of you have something to share?” When neither of us spoke, he said, “Bailey chose—”

“Me,” Turner and I said in unison as I turned angry eyes on Bailey’s former love.

Matt shook his head. “Now is not the time for this.”

Steven picked up on Matt’s interest and asked, “You like her too?” as if that was the most amusing thing ever.