The Twink made a duck face.
“I warned you.”
Rory shoved Chad mid-sway and he lost his balance. At the same time, the Twink reached over his man’s shoulder and slapped Chad. It would have hit him in the cheek but on account of his stumble the man missed almost entirely.
Only the last two fingers on his hand made contact, and weak contact, at that.
The problem was that they struck Chad directly on the forehead and scraped across it like someone applying war paint.
Chad screamed and his entire body went numb. It was as if he’d slept with a lump beneath every limb and had awoken with zero blood circulation to his extremities. He fell hard, landing on his ass and then spreading out like a starfish. Although he didn’t feel it, Chad suspected that one of his arms had knocked into the underage girls because he heard a glass fall to the ground and smash.
People were shouting and someone was screaming, which didn’t make sense to Chad. After all, this was a fucking club. People got wasted, got into fights, slipped, fucking OD’d all the time.
Why was this such a big deal?
“I warned you,” Twink’s sing-song voice filtered down to him.
Chad tried to rise but was still paralyzed.
“You gotta go,” someone new ordered.
Even if he wanted to obey, he couldn’t.
“Get the fuck up.”
Strong arms wrenched him to his feet.
His first thought was that it was the Bear, but that man was still standing in front of him.
“Walk. Walk!”
It was the fucking bouncer; Chad had regained enough movement to turn his head and look at the man still pulling him toward the door.
“I… I… I can’t…”
“Hey, Travis, how much did you serve this guy?” the bouncer yelled.
“Just one drink… guy doesn’t have any fucking money,” the bartender replied.
Whether it was the comment or just that enough time had passed, Chad felt his strength start to return.
He bucked free of the bouncer and then whipped around. When he aimed his finger it wasn’t at Rory, who had pushed him, or the Twink who had slapped him.
Or even the bouncer.
He was pointing at the bartender.
“See! I knew you remembered me!” Chad laughed. Even when the bouncer roughly guided him backward toward the door, he kept on laughing. “I knew it!” and then, to everybody in the club, he shouted, “You will all know me! You’ll see! You will know me, and you’ll never forget me! Neverrrrrrrr!”
Chapter 40
Drake’s anger at himself for being so easily manipulated faded when he saw the expression on Patty Sheer’s face. He’d barely gotten out of his car before she was on him.
“I think I found him, Drake,” the woman said. Her eyes were red and her complexion pale.
“Where?” his eyes drifted to the SPCA shelter behind Patty. “Is he hurt?”
When Patty didn’t reply, he returned his gaze to her. She was holding her cell phone out to him.
“Take it, I can’t watch it again.”
Confused, Drake accepted the cell phone. His first instinct was to put it to his ear—was this a ransom of some sort?—but there was no caller ID on the screen. Instead, he was greeted by a video. Drake pressed play and watched, his stomach clenching with every second that passed.
There was no audio, for which he was grateful: the video was brutal and vicious enough without hearing the poor animal’s death cry.
When it was done, he swallowed hard and handed the phone back to Patty.
“Fucking disgusting,” he whispered.
Patty nodded.
“I can’t be sure it’s Cosmo,” she said softly, her chin to her chest. “But it’s a ginger Tabby. And a big one. I tried to zoom in to the collar, but the quality wasn’t good enough to read anything.”
In his mind, Drake pictured Ms. Schmidt, unconsciously stroking the cat that wasn’t lying on her lap.
If it is Cosmo and she finds out about this… it will ruin her.
“Shit.”
Cosmo had a red collar—he remembered seeing it in many of the photos around the old woman’s house—as did the poor cat in the video.
“Where’d you find the video?”
Patty sighed and finally looked up.
“I didn’t—one of my employees did. Found the link on Instagram, which redirected to 8chan. It was posted just a few days ago, right around the time that you told me Cosmo went missing.”
Drake barely heard Patty; he was busy thinking about how he could possibly show the video to Ms. Schmidt for her to identify her cat.
It didn’t take long before he concluded that he simply couldn’t do it. As much as it would pain the woman to never know what happened to Cosmo, seeing this? This vile video? Even if he got Screech to crop and cut it… if Ms. Schmidt were ever inclined to look for the original on the Internet or ask her police officer nephew to find it for her… that was worse than not knowing.
“Drake?”
“Yeah, sorry. What’s—what’s 8chan?”
“An anonymous image hosting site. Doesn’t show up in normal Google searches.”
Drake thought about this for a moment.
“I thought you said it was posted on Instagram.”
“Yeah, there was a link from Instagram to 8chan.”
He suddenly wished that Screech was here with him; this was far from Drake’s domain, and he didn’t want to come across like a Luddite.
“Can we trace it?”
Patty shook her head.
“I don’t think so. I mean, if somebody’s going to post a video like this, then I highly doubt that they’d just list their name and address in the credits. Besides, it looks like security footage of some sort.”
“But someone posted it.”
“Yeah, but look at the title: Asshole Savagely Strangles Defenseless Cat. Doesn’t seem like someone gloating to me.”
Drake rubbed his chin. His stubble was getting so long now that it more caressed than scratched his palm.
“But they did post it. Why not go to the cops? Report it? Why post it to an anonymous site?”
While he wasn’t positive that whoever had posted the video hadn’t also reported it to the cops, Drake found this highly unlikely. He suspected that if someone had, Ms. Schmidt’s nephew would have been informed. Eventually, this news would come back to Drake via other channels and not through Patty.
“I dunno. I mean, this is New York, and judging by the alley, it doesn’t look like an upscale neighborhood. Maybe they’re dealing drugs or something and don’t want the police wandering around asking questions. Maybe they just wanted to pass the buck, make it someone else’s problem. Alleviate some of their guilt.”
Drake stared at Patty’s pale blue eyes.
“You sure you’re not a detective?”
Patty’s cheeks reddened a little and an awkward silence ensued.
Are you flirting with her? Why would you flirt with someone after what you’ve both seen?
Drake shook his head.
“What about the asshole who posted the link to Instagram?”
Patty looked down at her phone, swiped a few times, and then held it up for Drake to see.
“Chad,” she said.
Drake squinted at the man’s photo.
“Wait—that’s the same guy! The same guy from the video… same hat, same everything.”
“I mean, whoever Chad is, he made a profile picture from the video. Doesn’t mean it’s him, though.”
Drake instantly felt stupid.
“Of course, yeah. Still, though, anybody that sick to post the video… any idea where he’s from?”
“Says New York, but you can type whatever you want as your location.”
You’re way out of your league, Drake.
“You mind sending me both links?” he asked, as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “One of my guys—” —your people— “partne
rs is pretty good with computers.”
Patty took down his number and then immediately sent him a text. Drake then forwarded the information to Screech, with a disclaimer. He was about to put his phone away and continue the conversation with Patty when a reply came.
It happened so fast that Drake suspected Screech was just waiting with his message already written.
What the hell happened with Mackenzie Hart? You wanna go back to prison, Drake? Leroy said he had to save your ass.
Drake frowned and put his phone on silent before putting it away.
Patty was looking at him strangely, and he realized that this whole situation must have been overwhelming for her.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
Patty started to nod, before changing her mind and shaking her head.
“No, not really.”
The video had disturbed Drake, who had seen worse things done to human beings. He couldn’t imagine what affect it had on an animal-loving civilian like Patty. He looked beyond the woman and at the SPCA behind her. Despite the late hour, the lights were on.
“You still working?”
“No. I’m done… finished a while ago, actually. Sometimes I just like to come here and think.”
As if in response to her words, a dog barked from inside the facility. Drake raised an eyebrow and Patty laughed.
“I’m used to it—besides, I’d rather listen to Chester bark than have a conversation with young kids these days. Or, god forbid, watch the news.”
Drake nodded. He couldn’t agree more. Yet, despite her smile, he could tell that, deep down, she was still disturbed by what she’d seen.
“I feel the same way. Do you want to call someone to come get you? If you don’t feel comfortable driving? Or I can give you a lift somewhere?”
Patty seemed to think about this before shaking her head again.
“No—I don’t—I don’t really want to go home.”
“You going to be okay here by yourself?”
Drake realized that he was coming off as paternal but couldn’t help it.
“I don’t want to be alone either.”
Patty met his eyes.
“Uhhh…”
She chuckled.
“You wanna go for a drink?”
This time, Drake didn’t stumble over his words or overthink things.
“Yes. Sure.”
They stared at one another for a few more seconds.
“Know of anywhere close?”
“I know a couple of places. Just let me lock up,” Patty replied.
As she made her way back to the shelter, Drake said, “I’ll try to be more entertaining than Chester but no promises.”
***
Drake couldn’t remember the last time he had a drink with a friend, let alone a near stranger. But he was surprised that after a few sips of his scotch, the conversation came easily. It helped that Patty, despite still being a little shaken by the video, was easy to talk to.
“So, you mean to tell me that you were once an NYPD detective, but now you’re PI? Seems like a natural career progression… for someone who already has their pension. What are you, thirty-five?”
Drake was taken aback by this. It had been years since someone had underestimated his age. When he left for the Virgin Gorda, he felt fifty and looked sixty. Now, he felt forty and looked… thirty-five?
Could be worse, he supposed.
“Close enough. Let’s just say that me and the NYPD didn’t get along so well.”
Patty waited for him to expound, but Drake resisted the urge. Things were going well, and he didn’t want to drag the woman down into the swamp with him. Besides, she seemed like a genuinely good person.
He didn’t want to spoil that.
“Okay, okay, I’m not one to pry. But if you don’t start opening up, I swear I’m going to go back to Chester.”
“What about you?” Drake asked, flipping the script. “What got you into animals?”
Patty laughed and Drake smiled.
“Got me ‘into animals’? Sounds… creepy. Well, I wish I had a really interesting story about how I was raised by wolves or something, but the truth is, I had a dog growing up. My parents worked long hours, so I mostly spent time with him. When Rufus died, I got another dog. And then another one. And then, during university, the SPCA came to one of the events and asked for volunteers. I did that for a few years and then when I graduated, I got a full-time gig. Been working there ever since.”
“Wait—wait, Rufus? Your first dog’s name was Rufus?”
Patty laughed again.
“Gimme a break. I was six years old. Rufus seemed like a great name, and it suited him.”
“Oh, now that you mention age for the second time, how old are you, exactly?”
“Old enough—but the animals keep me young.” Patty suddenly became serious. “You work a lot of animal cases?”
Drake shook his head.
“This is the first one. Like I told you before, the owner really loved her cat.”
“It’s going to be tough to tell her the news,” Patty said softly.
Drake nodded and kept the fact that he’d already decided not to tell Ms. Schmidt about Cosmo’s fate to himself. While it seemed dishonest, it was also the right thing to do. He’d give Ms. Schmidt her retainer back and promise to keep looking. Hopefully, she never found out what really happened to her cat.
Drake finished his drink and raised his arm to signal the bartender.
“You want to get out of here?” Patty asked suddenly.
Drake turned his attention to her pretty face.
“Yeah, let’s get out of here,” he replied without hesitation.
Chapter 41
Still laughing, Chad stumbled out of the club. He hadn’t succeeded in finding Caine, but that didn’t matter. He didn’t get any blow either and didn’t get blown, but neither of these things held any weight. What mattered was that his cat video was holding onto the top spot on 8chan and his more recent squirrel video had climbed to number eight.
Even better, people had linked the two. And the comments…
Chad giggled.
The comments were asking for his head on a spike.
As he wandered through the streets, Chad tried and failed, to log into his IG account.
They had shut him down. But rather than be upset by this, Chad was enthused. He expected it, and the fact that it happened as quickly as it had just went to show how much traction he was getting.
Making sure that he was logged into his VPN on his phone, Chad created another IG profile. He was going to add a string of random numbers after his name but then an idea occurred to him.
“Yes, that’s fucking brilliant.”
Another laugh.
Chad42819 was soon online. And his first post was to tag Anon42819: I’m back, bitches. And I’m just getting started.
His second was to link both of his videos on 8chan. After he pulled his head out of his phone, Chad realized that while he had been walking aimlessly, he’d arrived at a familiar destination: the building that he’d auditioned for Savage Money in.
“Of course, of course. Perfect.”
Chad put his cellphone away and then pounded on the door with both fists. It was Déjà vu.
“I’m back! I’m fucking back! And you want me… you need me!”
Chad lowered his chin to his chest and kept on knocking.
“I’m back! I’m baaaaack!”
“Can I… can I help you with something?” a female voice asked.
Chad whipped around so quickly that he nearly stumbled.
He was startled at first, but then he started to grin.
He couldn’t believe his luck. Jan Dewalter was standing eight feet from him, a small box in her hands. She appeared confused and a little frightened.
“Jan,” he gasped, taking a step forward. Jan took a corresponding step back. “I’m here for my audition. I’m here!”
“E-e-excuse me? I-I think you might�
��”
“Savage Money! C’mon, Jan, I’m here for my audition. My forehead is nice and flat now… look, look.” As he said this, Chad pushed his bandanna up a little. It was stuck and when he applied more pressure, he got lightheaded. Fearing that he was going to lose control of his body he immediately stopped.
“I’m sorry, but we’ve already finished casting for that show. If you want, I can—wait, Lucas? Lucas Lionell? Is that you?”
Chad threw his head back and laughed.
“No, not Lucas. Lucas is dead. I’m Chad… I’m Chad.”
Jan Dewalter’s face twisted and she retreated a little further. Her grip on the box was tenuous now as if she were preparing to drop it and run at any moment.
“Well, I’m sorry, Chad,” she said hesitantly, making another move toward the curb. “As I said, we’ve already cast Savage Money. I would be more than happy to—”
Chad didn’t even think. His arm just shot out and he tried to grab the front of her shirt. Jan was ready, though, and she dropped the box and moved out of reach.
Still, he would’ve grabbed her… if it hadn’t been for his foot slipping off the curb.
Jan cried out, which drew the attention of several other people who were walking by.
“Lady, you okay?” A burly man asked as he started toward them.
“Yeah, n-no, this guy, he-he…” Janice stuttered. “He won’t leave me alone.”
Chad took one look at the man and decided then his next video would have to wait.
“You’re going to be sorry,” he threatened. Then Chad turned and started to run before anyone got a good look at his face. He was laughing so hard that breathing had become difficult. “You’re going to be sorrrryyyy, I’m famous… I don’t need you… you need me!”
Chapter 42
They didn’t even make it to the car.
Just before Drake opened the door for Patty, she swiveled around and kissed him on the lips. Drake was surprised, but this didn’t stop him from kissing her back.
He knew that this was a bad idea. Not only was Patty in a highly fragile state, but he had his own complicated relationship issues. But Patty was pretty, they were both a little buzzed, and it had been a long time since he’d been with a woman.
Almost Infamous (Detective Damien Drake Book 9) Page 15
