My phone has been buzzing constantly for almost an hour and on my one day off. I sat up on my king bed and looked blankly over my bachelor pad before slapping the sleep from my face. Picking it up the phone with an annoyed look plastered on my face. I answered the phone. My sister's voice blazes through the other end.
"Cliff! Why haven't you answered? I've been trying to call you." Her voice caught as she spoke. It was clear she's been crying.
"Lisa, what happened?" I get straight to the point.
She has never been one to cry unless something really bad has happened. Even in high school, when she was bullied constantly. All she did was shrug her shoulders and move on like it never happened. She cried when Granddad passed away a few years ago but laughed off her first boyfriend when he dumped her. If I had to guess right now, I would say someone had died.
"It's the father." She paused before continuing "He was at the amusement park last night." She burst into tears, sobbing as she finished what she was saying "There was an accident… he's dead." I didn't know how to respond before her husband, James, took the phone.
"Cliff, can you come to the office? The others are on the way. We need to talk about this." He said.
I could hear the rage in his voice as he spoke. I know what that means; this wasn't an accident. I cleared my throat and tried to sound as neutral as I could before responding.
"I'm on my way; see you in ten minutes," I said, hanging up the phone and throwing a jacket over my nightshirt.
Within moments, I was out the door and, in the car, I was still wearing my pyjama pants as I pulled out of my driveway. My brain was running miles a minute. I have never really gotten along with my father, but we were family, and there's a rule in our family. You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us. I can still remember the last time someone was messing around with Lisa's husband. It was shortly after they were married in the summer some low-grade bookie came after him. He broke his hand and messed up his face badly. It only took my little cousin a day to find the guy and I rolled up on his place that same night. I'm the one the family calls when a lesson needs to be taught. And I do very much enjoy doing all the fiscal stuff alone. I do wish I could do this job all by myself instead of involving other family members but I am truly awful with computers. My cousin helps out with all the tech nonsense. I didn't know exactly what I was going to do to him at the time. When I got in his house all I saw was red when he started laughing at what he did to James. I broke his legs and bashed his face in so bad no one could recognize him after I was done. It sent a message to other groups and families around here to know that the Ranger family was not to be messed with.
My mind Is flooded with questions. Who would want to harm my father? Was he in the wrong place at the wrong time? It doesn't matter whoever did this is going to pay with their life if I have anything to say about it.
James was waiting for me outside when I pulled up to my father's house. We always go to my father's house when we need to meet and he made it so the house can't be taped or recorded by outsiders. It's the only safe place for us to discuss our business. I parked my 2003 Rolls-Royce Phantom and hopped out in one fluid motion, locking the doors as we walked inside. I was the last to arrive; I could see my little cousins, James and Marsh. Detective Marsh has been our inside man for two years now and he has connections to other police stations.
"Where's everyone else?" I asked James before taking a seat on the couch.
"Everyone in this room is all that's needed for this job." He said flatly, I could hear the anger behind his voice.
He was much closer to my father than I was; I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to take care of this dude himself. He can't risk going on jobs anymore after marrying my sister. If someone was to recognize him it could put her in danger.
"Listen up I don't have much time," Marsh announced. The room went silent as he stood from the doorway he was leaning on.
"A young man by the name of Josh Bush supposedly loosened some bolts on the tracks of the roller-coaster, which sent it flying off the tracks; your father happened to be standing in the wrong place and got crushed." I could feel my blood boiling with every word he spoke. I swear the others could hear my teeth grinding as my jaw tightened.
"We brought him into the station for questioning, but we couldn't find any evidence to tie him to the crime other than an anonymous eye witness, and we were forced to let him go." He spoke.
He looked over at my little cousin who was staring at his tablet the entire conversation. He glared up at Marsh with the full force of a teenage attitude before opening an encrypted website. We use this website to share information secretly. According to my cousin, even if the police found our messages, the software was impossible to break, and they would never find out who was talking. He passed it over to me and huffed out an impatient sigh before rapidly tapping his foot.
"Eye witness?" I asked while looking at the message.
His name is Josh Bush; he works at Climb Time Financing as a mail boy; he lives at 1468 North Grove Street. Would you like to know what he ate for breakfast too? I smirked at the last line.
Running a hand through my short light brown hair that was tangled slightly, I realized I was still rocking a bedhead. I fluffed my hair before slicking it back the best I could with just my hands. My brain went blank after reading the screen and my brain never actually obtained the information. My jaw tightened as I reread the screen, making sure to pay attention to every word this time.
"That's not all." Marsh posed before continuing "He threatened the girl who sent me that. There's no doubt in my mind that he will go after her, she went to the park with him and as far as I can tell she was the only one who saw what he did. I was able to find her after interviewing this Josh fella." He said with a sign.
My head shot toward him. Nothing pisses me off more than some rotten little worm trying to harm a woman for any reason.
"Her name?" I said standing from my seat.
"Cyber Star… I couldn't find her exact location, only that she lives in one of the apartments on the west side." He said, walking toward the door "Got to go." Just like that, he was gone.
"Georgie, find me this Cyber Star," I said before turning to James. "Go back to my sister; she's going to need you; I'll take care of this Josh fella." He slowly nodded his head.
I could see he didn't want to but he is a good husband and will do anything for her. The moment he was out the door I walked over to the kitchen and pulled a soda out of the fridge. Georgie followed behind me taking a seat at the table, his fingers flying rapidly over the screen. I swear he does that just for show; who am I to judge? He glared up at me, only then did I realize I was staring at him. I didn't care if I was staring or not; every minute that passed just made me more impatient. He glanced up at me one last time before opening his mouth.
"He forgot to mention that James Bush disappeared shortly after his release." He mentions in a quiet breath.
I didn't respond, didn't know what to say other than I expected that because Marsh rarely comes to talk in person. I bowed my head impatiently as I played with flexing my bicep muscles.
"So… Why am I looking for this girl?" He asked, raising his voice just a little as if I couldn't hear him the first time he spoke.
Sighing under my breath, I replied, "Because he will be hunting her… and I am hunting him." He, nodded as he pointed the tablet toward me. I started reading the screen.
Cyber Star worked at Climb Time Financing as a computer analyst hired by the head of the company. She left the company the day after the amusement park accident. She lives in an apartment building on West Cory Street, number 12. She hasn't been home, and the landlord put the apartment up for rent.
He has never been all that good at talking and likes to write things down. He gave me a look that told me to keep reading and I reluctantly obeyed after shaking my head.
She has been spotted on traffic cameras pacing through the south of town heading toward the ghost town just past the woods. I found that she owns a house out there and has gotten a temp job at the newly built library.
"Okay, I'll be going now, then," I said, leaving a small dust cloud behind me as I hurried to my car.
Driving down the street I got a text from Georgie with her home address and the name of the library she works at. Thank God for Georgie, if it wasn't for him, I would be knocking on every door in that small town.