Filed to story: The LORDS Series Free PDF by Shantel Tessier
“She was also raped. By the bruising, I’d say multiple times over the course of when she went missing and when she was found.”
“DNA?” I wonder and look up at him.
He shakes his head. “Must have used a condom every time, but none were found anywhere near or around where the body was recovered.”
I look down at the picture that shows the girl naked in a shallow grave. What’s left of her body is covered in dirt, dried blood, and God knows what else.
“She had been dead no more than twenty-four hours when they found her.”
“So he kept her alive for two weeks.” Why? What were they trying to get out of her?”
“Her wrists and ankles were both tied with what they can only guess to be barbwire.”
“Guess?” I look at him, my heart skipping a beat.
“They said due to the cuts, it appears her wrists were crossed over one another and then the barbwire was wrapped around both of them, that way when she fought the restraints, it wouldn’t dig into her radial artery, resulting in her bleeding out and dying before he wanted her to. It also appears that it was wrapped around her head. Used as a gag to keep her mouth open by the looks of the marks embedded in her cheeks and mouth.”
I drop my head and run my hands through my hair, letting out a long breath.
“What is it?” he asks, noticing the change in my mood.
I look up at him and he’s now walking over to my desk and sits down in the chair across from it. “You know who did this.” It’s not a question.
I lean back in my chair. “My freshman year at Barrington, twenty girls went missing over about five months. Five of those twenty were found raped and murdered. The bodies were recovered from different locations, but autopsies concluded barbwire was used as restraints.”
“So what? The guy who did this is out of prison now and doing it again?”
I stand, shaking my head, needing to walk around. “He was never caught. The Lords assumed it was one of us.”
He frowns. “What made them think that?”
“I don’t know. That information was never given. My sophomore year initiation was to go to a house and remove a Lord. We were to deliver him to the Cathedral for confessional.” The Lords take their confessional very seriously. They string you up in front of the congregation and force you to tell them everything. The less you speak, the more they torture you. I’ve seen some hold out, but every single one of them ends up spilling their secrets. Then they finish you off and toss you in a grave in the cemetery behind the Cathedral.
“So you know who this is.” He points at the photos.
Again, I shake my head. “No. We never collected him.”
He frowns. “But it was part of your initiation. How did you pass if you didn’t deliver?”
“We were instructed to do whatever was necessary,” I correct him.
“Meaning?”
“We killed two guards to gain entry to the property. There was a mother and a daughter inside. Word among the Lords was that the mother was helping her son lure these girls in so he could kidnap and torture them. If we did not get the Lord, we were to terminate everyone inside of the house. They figured if we killed those who helped him, it would put a halt to what he was doing.” I begin to pace behind my desk. “I killed the mother.”
“And the daughter?”
“Got rid of her as well,” I answer vaguely.
“This guy is either the original killer or a copycat.”
“Why her, though?” I ask, knowing he can’t answer that. “The Lord back then did not choose girls old enough to be chosens, let alone Ladies. His victims were locals and didn’t attend Barrington. The girls didn’t even know Lords exist. This has to be personal. No one goes to that much trouble to torture and hide the identity of a body, and it not be for a personal reason.”
“Her father is a Lord.” He shrugs.
“I’m not sure that matters here. I mean, Lords have had their daughters kidnapped over the years and killed. But I’ve never seen one tortured to this extent.” I start digging through the stack of papers. “What about drugs?”
“The toxicology results can take up to six weeks, but she was known to do cocaine and smoke weed. What did Lake have to say about her? Did she see anything?”
“Nothing. I told her she was missing, and that was that.”
He arches a brow.
I roll my eyes. “The less she knows, the better.” Plus, I didn’t want to give her any reason to speak to Collin. “Who has the body?” I continue.
“Parents wanted it to be hush-hush. She was cremated early this morning.”
I stiffen at his words, clear my throat, and ask, “Why are they stopping the investigation?”
“Word has it, the Lords have taken it over.”
“Good luck with that.” I shove the pictures back into the envelope. They didn’t find him last time, so I doubt they’ll have any luck this time. “What was the cause of death?”
“Exsanguination,” he answers.
“So he wanted her to suffer until he got bored, and then let her bleed to death,” I say. “What about the boyfriend?” I saw on the cameras that she left with the same guy she arrived with.
“He’s been very cooperative with the police. He was cleared after a Ring camera showed him taking her home and dropping her off.”
“She was taken from her home?” I ask. If so, that’s new. Because the others weren’t. They were taken while out and about. By themselves. Their cars later found abandoned.
He shakes his head. “It showed her leaving fifteen minutes afterward. They seem to think she was seeing someone other than him. Phone records came up clean, though.”
My cell rings, and I pick it up. “Hey, man, I’m a little busy …”
“Tyson, I’ll keep this quick,” A guy I know by the name of Marlin rushes out.
“What’s up?” I wonder why he’s calling me. We haven’t spoken in over a year. He runs one of the Lamborghini dealerships in town. He used to sell drugs in my club.
“I’ve got a Laikyn Minson here wanting to purchase a Urus. But your name is on the card she’s using. Do I need to call the cops?”
“That’s my wife,” I inform him, pulling my wallet out of my back pocket to see which card is missing. He’s silent for a long second making me think we got disconnected. “Marlin?” I ask.
“Sorry, man, but damn. She’s your wife?” He whistles. “Good job.”
“Is that all, Marlin?” I growl.
“Yeah. I’ll run the card. Hey, we should get together. Have a guys’ night-“
I hang up and sit back in my seat. Ryat starts to speak as it rings again.
“This is Tyson,” I answer, knowing who’s calling me.
“Hello, Mr. Crawford. We’re calling you in regard to your AMEX card. We have suspicious activity at a Westwood Lamborghini in the amount of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. We’re calling to confirm you’ve made this transaction.”
“You can accept the charge,” I say and hang up, smirking.