My hand shakes as I take the locket, checking it.
The initials CT are engraved on the silver heart.
This is the one.
My gaze flicks from the bed back to the drawer. He keeps them right next to where he sleeps. An uncomfortable shudder wracks my body.
“I will end you, if it’s the last thing I ever do,” I growl, stuffing the locket in my pocket.
I have what I came here for, but I want to keep going. As soon as I finish the bedroom, my phone buzzes, signaling my time is up. Opening the group chat confirms it.
Blair: On the move. 15min ETA.
A second later, Devlin revs the engine outside.
“Damn it.” I cast a glance around the room I was checking.
Connor: 2 mins [sweat smile emoji]
Devlin: Now. Christ, only you would use emojis at a time like this.
Gritting my teeth, I rush into the living room to check the download status. A relieved breath leaves me. It finished. I’ve got it all. Ejecting the thumb drive and closing out of everything, I put his computer to sleep the way I found it.
Once I’m outside, I cut through the shadows and bushes, emerging on the street as if I was there all along. Moving quickly, I slide into the passenger seat of Devlin’s car. He doesn’t wait until my door is fully closed before pulling away, peeling down a side street and shifting gear.
It’s not until we’re five minutes away that he speaks. “Did you find it?”
“Yeah.” I stare out the window, fist covering my mouth. “I’ll show you when we meet up with Blair.”
Devlin scoffs, shaking his head. “Knew he wasn’t right.”
While he drives, I reach in the back and take out my tablet from the backpack on the floor, plugging in the encrypted drive. I push off my hood and drag off the beanie as the thumb drive connects. My throat goes dry and scratchy once I get into Coleman’s files.
It doesn’t take me long to find. She’s right there in a photo on his local drive, along with other girls. Each photo is labeled with a name. Thea, Charlotte, Jen, Alicia…
My nostrils flare before I finish checking all the names. Some are tame, like Thea’s, but others are far less so. I almost throw the tablet out the window, but I control myself. Instead, I put the photos in a folder to separate them from the ones I can stomach, where the girls aren’t baring themselves to this disgusting asshole.
With images like these, he could do anything with them. Start a porn site. Sell them. A sharp pain stabs in my gut as nausea rolls through me.
Steeling myself, I sift through what’s left in the folder.
In Charlotte’s photo, she’s wearing the same locket burning a hole in my pocket. She’s a pretty blond, around the age Thea was in her blog photos, maybe a little younger.
In Thea’s photo, the metadata tells me it’s three years old, from when she was fifteen. She’s in her room, the colorful baking pun posters visible behind her. She’s not nude, but her outfit is revealing and the way she poses is suggestive. I shift uncomfortably in my seat, plagued with the skeeze feeling again.
The thought of Coleman having this photo, and others like it, makes me want to scream and go fucking wild. If I was unleashed on him right now, I’d kill him. No mercy.
It’s no wonder Thea started dressing in less form-fitting clothes after going through however long of dressing like this for an older man she didn’t know on the internet.
In the same folder, there are saved transcripts from conversations. I can’t look at any at the moment, too wired by my anger to face more of Coleman’s depravity poisoning these young girls. Regulating my breath is difficult. Thankfully we’re almost to the abandoned quarry.
Shame there isn’t a fight tonight. Then again, I’m so ready to go off, I might be a danger to myself and others, like Doctor Levitt warned me.
Devlin pulls in, parking behind the rusted old storage building next to the car Blair is leaning against. He cuts the engine and we climb out.
“Did you get it?” Blair asks.
Without a word, I unlock my phone and hand it to her, jaw clenched.
“Shit,” Blair hisses, scrolling through the photos. Devlin leans over her shoulder, scowling. “What a sick dickhead.”
“I’ll kill him.” I stalk away, grabbing one of the broken old pieces of steel littering the ground around the building.
“Bishop,” Devlin calls.
“Just—give me a minute, man. It’s too much. If I don’t get it out, it’ll eat me up.”
He and Blair exchange a glance. They leave me alone as they go through what I found on my phone. Seeing the way Devlin rubs Blair’s arms when a chilly breeze moves through the clearing makes me ache to speed across town to tuck Thea in my arms.
Releasing a harsh yell, I swing the metal with all my might against the ground, leaving a deep dent in the gravel. I lose myself in it for several minutes, pouring the torrent of emotions into destruction. By the time I come back to myself, I’m panting.
“Feel better?” Blair asks lightly as I walk back to them.
“Much.” With a sigh, I toss the busted up piece of steel aside into a patch of scrubby weeds and drag a hand through my hair. “So. Yeah. Coleman.”
“Coleman,” Devlin repeats in a dark tone.
“Dead man fucking walking,” I utter harshly.
“Exactly,” Devlin agrees.
All three of us are pissed off by the pictures I took. I’m glad I have the two of them with me so I don’t have to deal with this alone. Now that the adrenaline and fury are under control, I’m itching to get out of here so I can send proof, get the unsealed files from those hackers, and finally tell Thea what I’ve been keeping from her.
“Did you take the locket?” Blair holds up my phone, showing me the photo of the trophy drawer.
My lip curls. I pull out the necklace by the chain, the pendant dangling in the air.
She leans in to examine it. “What do you think those guys who hacked your computer will do?”
“They seem pretty dangerous.” I shrug. “And they wanted it fast. If they don’t do something by next week, I will.”
“I knew he was a creep, but thinking of sitting through class with him is—ugh.” Blair shakes off her shudder, burrowing into Devlin’s side. He wraps his arms around her. To anyone else it might look like a normal embrace, but Devlin’s knuckles turn white from how tight he clings to her, like he’s preventing her from disappearing on him after he almost lost her. “I’m so grossed out right now.”
Devlin props his chin on Blair’s head and cuts his gaze to me. “Ready to head home?”
“Yes. I have the proof one way or another. Time to do what I do best.”
“You’re a real piece of work when you go into blackmail mode.” Devlin smirks, tossing me a set of keys. “Here, take that one. I’ll pick it up tomorrow.”
“Thanks,” I call to them as Devlin opens the passenger door for Blair. “No one I’d rather commit a crime with than you two.”
Blair snorts, glancing up at Devlin.
“Go be the Batman to your girlfriend.” He nods to me before he gets in the driver’s seat and revs the engine.