Page 109 of Unhinged Kallie

“And he will. He can’t stay hidden with both you and your dad looking for him. No one is safe from that duo.” I gave him a half-hearted smirk, but he wasn’t wrong. “I know it’s not the same, but I’ll be there with you.”

A wide smile spread across my face as I thought about the looks we would get as Carter and I walked in together. They still thought we were brother and sister, and I couldn’t wait to make them faint.

“Now that is a smile I know and love. Why don’t you grab the binder you made, and we can continue searching for clues while we eat?”

“Food and research, are you trying to seduce me?”

Carter laughed. “Only if it’s working.”

“Oh, it’s definitely working.”

“I think dinner needs to happen in bed,” he said, grabbing the thick binder and looping his arm through mine.

I stopped him when we got to the door, looked back at my dad’s killing room, and switched off the light.

I would get him.

Chapter Forty-Two

KALLIE

Who would have thought my dad would go full paparazzi? Most of the time, I took pictures for birthdays or holidays. He just didn’t care the way I did, but tonight, he was everywhere.

He insisted that we get pictures: inside on the stairs, outside on the porch, Carter putting the corsage on my wrist, the two of us kissing. It felt like we were doing a photoshoot for some prom dress magazine.

It almost made me feel bad for what I was planning later. As I read over the binder last night, something Sara-Lee mumbled before she died triggered a memory. My dad had transcribed every word she said, and she kept repeating, no more poop, no more poop, and fucker coop. He looked into every possible combination of fucker, poop, and coop for names, and it was a dead end, but that was when it hit me.

There was a dilapidated, weather-worn sign painted with a giant chicken head and the name Rutledge Cluckers Coop about forty-five minutes from here. We had passed it on our way to a field trip once. I remembered it because it was massive, like a highway billboard. The closed gates said repossessed, and you could just make out the abandoned buildings. Even four years ago, it made me shiver.

That had to be the place Sara-Lee mentioned, it would be the perfect spot for someone to hideout. With a quick internet search, I zoomed in on the property and printed an aerial view to memorize. A farmhouse at the back wasn’t visible from the road. It was supposedly abandoned, but a pickup truck was in the driveway.

I almost told Carter what I found but decided to keep quiet. He would only try to stop me or want me to take my dad, and I wanted to do this on my own.

Not only did I want to show my dad I could do it and take down someone he’d been after for years, I wanted to prove it to myself. I always felt my mom’s presence, and if she watched us from some ghost world, I wanted her to be proud of me.

“You sure you have everything,” Aspen asked us again for the millionth time. There was a choir of yeses. I don’t know how she could see to take photos because she hadn’t stopped crying the entire time. Some of the tears were happy, and the rest were sad for Troy.

It was strange, the four of us here without him. We may not have been super close, but we always did things as a family. I saw him every day, and whether I realized it or not, he was a big part of my life. I’d spent too much of that time loathing him for how similar he was to my dad. I rubbed the T on the charm bracelet Carter gave me as a graduation gift. Troy taught me to see myself through a different lens, and I would always be grateful to him for that.

I looked down at the pretty piece of jewelry. Carter had added charms for me: a little knife, everyone’s initials, and a small ring with a black stone. He said he would get me a real one, but this was a promise to marry me. I also figured he promised to track me. The clasp was a little larger than a normal one. It could’ve just been the style, but I knew him, and he knew me, which meant he had a good idea of what I planned. There was no way I was letting him get involved, though. This battle was mine and I couldn’t let him get hurt.

I insisted we take a car rather than pile into the limo with Bo and Talon. When Carter asked why, I told him I couldn’t handle watching Talon cry anymore. I didn’t blame her, but it was me she grabbed every time. Tonight, she would have to use Bo. He wanted her to use him. The guy salivated for any scrap of attention he got from her.

“Are you okay,” Carter asked after he helped me get into the car and hopped in beside me.

I smiled wide. “Why wouldn’t I be?” I could feel the weight of my knives and what I planned to do under the dress.

“You just don’t seem yourself. Like you don’t really want to go tonight,” Carter said as we pulled out of the driveway just ahead of the limo.

I looked out the window at the trees passing by and shrugged. “I hate that Troy isn’t here and that I spent most of my life annoyed or hating him.”

It was true, just not the whole truth. I hated lying to Carter. I knew he would follow me into the bowels of hell and back, but if he died because of me…that was something I wouldn’t let happen. That would kill me.

He grabbed my hand and brought it to his mouth. “Have I told you how beautiful you are?” I smoothed the dark blue fabric that matched my eyes. “And this new hairstyle is sexy.” He wiggled in his seat, making my mouth curl up.

“Your pants are looking a little tighter.”

“Oh they feel tighter.”