“Let’s start with the car that was following you a few weeks back. The name it’s registered in, I don’t suppose you connected the dots as to who that is?”

“Only today … unfortunately.” I glare at Jesse, narrowing my eyes.

“My apologies,” Stanley states, shock lingering in his voice. Jesse and I always thoroughly communicate all the information Stanley provides us with, and a lot of the time we connect the dots before even he does; yet this time, that wasn’t the case. “I’ll be sure to call back as soon as I have made any connections in the future, in case you haven’t done so yourselves. Moving on, I did a full check of him, and the reason he has slipped through our radar is because he requested bail for a second time, which was granted in April.”

I gasp, “Wait, Lance has been out for almost three months and we are only finding this out now?”

“I know this isn’t ideal, Kin—”

“Let’s just refocus,” Jesse cuts in. “Please go on, Stanley.”

He clears his throat before continuing, “Once I knew he was out of jail, I searched for any other vehicles, properties or businesses in his name. These were the hits I got —”

I scribble down the following as Stanley reels them off, but then zone out as Jesse wraps up the conversation with him.

• The blacked-out SUV, we already knew of
• A warehouse located, 45 minutes out of Melbourne
• A white van & small truck
• Freight and cartage — One can only assume a cover-up business

Looking over the notepad in front of me, I stand and grab Jesse’s keys. I need to go home and find everything that we already know about Lance and I also still need to know Jesse’s point of view regarding the last journal entry from Kyle.

Jesse looks at me puzzled, with one brow raised he asks, “Are you going somewhere?”

I toss the keys to him. “We are going somewhere. You can ask questions later. Let’s go.”

Jesse runs his hand through his hair aggressively, leading the way out the door. Once he’s sitting in the car he turns to face me. “Where to, Meadow? And please try to be smart with your choices right now, I don’t want to deal with Tanner when he finds out I’ve allowed you to get us into some kind of trouble.”

“Trouble? Me? Don’t be ridiculous.” I laugh and he huffs. “Take me to my place, Jesse. Seeing as though you and Tanner have been keeping tabs on me through the security cameras, I’m sure he will find out anyway.”

Sure enough, only minutes after we arrive back at the apartment, my phone dings with a message from Tanner.

Tanner - Forget something at home, Pip?

Me - I’m still processing whether I should be flattered or insulted that you’re pretty much stalking me