Challenging Ryker (Kringle Security #2)

Chapter 29

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“So wait.” Austin shook his head as if to clear it. “You went to high school with Gavin? How is that possible and yet you didn’t recognize his name?”

Ryker was still reeling from the news his mother shared yesterday. This whole time there was a connection and he hadn’t even known it.

“According to my mother, he was only in our school for a couple weeks. It wasn’t long before Sarah’s death, so I’m not surprised I don’t remember him. I tend to block out that time in my life.”

He had done more than just block it out. No one could mention the months leading up to or after Sarah’s death to him. Not without him shutting down.

“Three and a half weeks he was enrolled in the same high school,” Caden stated matter-of-factly from where he was typing away on his laptop. His friend never lifted his head when he delivered the news.

“That was a short time.” Austin stated the obvious. “I wonder what he did that led to the family moving so quickly.”

Caden must’ve wondered the same because it was barely thirty seconds later and he had the answer. “It wasn’t his sister this time. At least nothing was reported and there were no hospital visits I can find. However, there was an article in the newspaper the day before the family unenrolled them. A litter of nine puppies were found fileted. All of the puppies had large chunks taken out of them and the bodies were tossed haphazardly on the side of the road. The veterinarian thinks they were only four weeks old, but he said none of his patients recently gave birth, so he couldn’t be sure.”

Just when Ryker didn’t think it was possible to be surprised by the things Gavin did, he learned something new.

“I don’t remember people talking about that.” But why would he? Stuff that happened in his town never concerned him. He was a typical high school teenager. If it didn’t revolve around him and his activities, it wasn’t important. Looking back on it, he was an asshole kid.

“It was nine months before Sarah’s death. From what I can see, it was quickly brushed under the rug.”

“I still can’t believe Sarah never told me about Gavin.”

His mother had tried to reassure him that Sarah had only mentioned it in passing once but for some reason the name had stuck with his mother. She had planned to speak to the school if it ever came up again, but two days later, the family had moved.

“Do we really think Gavin remembered Sarah after all these years?” Austin didn’t sound like he believed the theory any more than he did.

“Now that Gavin’s dead, his doctor was willing to release his notes to the officers in charge. It turns out Gavin documented every woman he found remotely interesting. He even rated them according to how good he thought they would taste. The book goes all the way back to high school. I didn’t ask if Sarah was in there but my guess she was.”

“So when he realized I was her twin brother and the man who rescued Amelia, he set his sights on me.”

Caden merely lifted a shoulder. “It’s only an assumption but it would fit.”

Since Gavin was dead, they would never know for sure. And good riddance. As much as he was sad for those puppies, they might’ve saved Sarah’s life. Sure, she died months later but he saw first-hand what Gavin did to Amelia; that wasn’t something he would have wanted his twin sister to also have experienced.