Just Keep Breathing, GS Rhodes [best book club books for discussion TXT] 📗

Kidd opened his mouth to reply, but any words that he might have had for Zoe died on his tongue. He knew in his heart of hearts that she was right. Craig surely would have come back if he’d needed him, if he’d still loved him. Though he did still wonder what it was that was keeping him away. It had to be pretty bad.

“You gonna be okay?” she asked, reaching across to put a hand on his forearm, giving him a little squeeze.

“I’m going to have to be,” he replied. “Like you said, we have a job to do.”

They got out of the car and headed into the station, greeting Diane on their way past and heading straight back to the Incident Room. He marched over to his computer and booted it up, returning to Sarah’s website.

Kidd moved to the next post down, more things about D. There were phrases that kept coming up, about secrets he held, about the things he had done to her, shouting abuse, sending aggressive messages. She didn’t seem to hold a lot of affection for him, which was precisely the opposite of what each set of parents had indicated.

Kidd stared at the screen. He shouted DS Sanchez over.

“Look at this,” he said. “Does this sound like the same relationship that their parents were talking about?”

“Christ, ‘D has been yelling at me again today. I don’t know what he wants but I guess it isn’t me. Maybe I should just disappear.’ That’s a bit heavy,” DS Sanchez said. “You don’t think—?”

“We don’t have a body, just a missing person,” Kidd interrupted. “If a body shows up, maybe we’ll consider it.”

“But we can’t deny the fact that she was vulnerable,” she said, grabbing the mouse and scrolling down. “‘Everyone has secrets but D’s hurts more than most. Everything about my life is a lie.’ This is all so dark, did none of her friends know about this? Her parents?”

“Every other social media platform is happy-clappy all the time,” he said. “It’s what you said. It’s a highlight reel, all perfectly filtered, perfectly placed, nothing is wrong, but this…this is worrying.”

He continued to scroll down to the next post.

Secrets ruin people’s lives. I am proof of that today, aren’t I? Everything about me and J is out. But what about D? What about all of D’s secrets? I know enough secrets to tear D’s world apart. He has no idea what’s coming for him when I let rip. Or maybe he does? Guess we’ll find out.

“Shit,” DS Sanchez said. “What do we do?”

“We need to find Dexter Black,” Kidd said. “And we need to find him now.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The world swayed in and out of focus.

How long had she been here? How long had she been out?

It was hard to say.

When she opened her eyes, she could see a small amount of light. Was it coming through a window? The only window she could see was blocked off, boards up against it.

Where was she?

She knew this place. Didn’t she?

She’d been here before.

Hadn’t she?

She didn’t know. She couldn’t tell.

“Oh, you’re waking up?” The voice was familiar. Deep. Gruff. She shook her head and tried to turn her head to see where the voice was coming from but she couldn’t move.

Her wrists were tied, her ankles too. There was something around her neck.

“Can’t have you waking up now,” the voice said, getting closer. She recognised it, but she couldn’t place it. She was so tired. So, so tired.

They were approaching her, whoever it was.

“I’ll be gone for a little while,” it said, softer this time, creeping in her ear. “Don’t you go doing anything stupid now.”

There was a sharp stab in her arm. She winced. She wanted to scream but she couldn’t bring herself to. Because here came the dark again, taking her away. She couldn’t escape, she was stuck here with the last words of her captor echoing in her mind.

“Goodnight, Sarah,” it said. “Sleep tight.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Finding Dexter Black was something that would have to wait until the following morning. DCs Powell, Ravel, and Campbell had already gone home, and without any idea where he could possibly be, going out and looking for a teenager that matched his description was pretty much out of the question.

“I thought you wanted this solved?” DI Kidd barked at DCI Weaver when he told him to go home. “You’re saying you’ve got the Super breathing down your neck, I’m working my arse off trying to get it done, and you won’t send people out to look?”

“The Super has calmed down after the press conference this afternoon. Well done again, by the way,” Weaver said. “But you are absolutely no use to me whatsoever if you stay up all night looking all over town for a potential suspect. We’ve put a shout out on social media and the news, so people are looking for him. You don’t want to hear this, but Laura has put something out too, so there’s a whole community, if you can even call it that, of people trying to find Dexter Black.”

He’s in so much trouble when they find him, Kidd thought. If they find him.

“Tomorrow with fresh eyes, that’s when we will get to the bottom of this,” Weaver said. “Get out of here.”

DI Kidd was about to retort but DCI Weaver had already walked out the door, his jacket on, ready for a night at home with his family. It made him burn. One minute DCI Weaver wanted him on this like never before, the next he wants Kidd to drop it.

Though he was still sort of on duty tonight at the reunion.

He went home, took a quick shower, and pulled on a fresh shirt and a pair of jeans. It was still cold, so he grabbed his denim jacket from his wardrobe and put it on. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone out. There were dates with John, but