Behind Her Smile

Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty Four: Tracking a Phone

Dex had kissed him. He couldn’t believed that she had kissed him. Even now, Ro is half convinced he dreamt it up.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Sofia asks him in amusement and confusion. Ro hadn’t told anyone that Dex had kissed it. He wanted to keep it to himself.

"Sorry." Ro mumbles as he tries to stop his facial muscles from smiling again. He hadn’t realized he was doing it so much.

He wanted- no needed- to talk to Dex.

She hadn’t answered any of his calls and Kit had told her that she is staying with Rosie, so he knew she is avoiding him. He hasn’t even seen her in class. He was worried, but he decides to give her the space that she needs.

To be honest, he needed his space, too.

Dex had practically refused to tell him anything she is hiding after she yelled at him for not telling her about Sofia. She wouldn't tell him why. Instead she ends up kissing him, then runs away.

He is so confused. Why is this so complicated?

"Did something happen between you and Dex?" Sofia asks curiously.

Ro avoids making eye contact, instead looking at his fries. "No. Nothing happened." He lied. Nothing happened except DEX KISSED HIM!!!

He manages not to say those words out loud.

"Are you sure? You’re blushing." Rosie leans her head on the table to meet his eye.

Darn him and his pale skin that hides nothing. He had to leave now before he ends up spilling his guts. Ro stands up quickly and grabs his bag. "I’ve got to go. Bye."

Sofia looks at him in confusion. "Wait, Ro! What about lunch?"

Ro literally runs to the exit doors. "You can have my fries!"

Just as he turns around, Ro slams into somebody else. His glasses gets knocked off his face as he lands on his rump. "Ow! That seriously hurt."

"Sorry, Ro. I didn't see you there. Are you okay?"

"Kit?"

Ro blinks and he sees the blurry figure of someone leaning over him. He squints. Yeah that’s definitely Kit.

"My ego is a bit bruised, but I’m okay."

Kit snorts. "Here." Kit must have picked up his glasses because Ro feels it being dropped in his open palms.

He puts it on quickly. Much better.

Realizing he is still on the floor, Ro stands up. He finally sees Kit who looks distressed.

"What’s wrong?" Ro asks. Surely it wasn't for bumping Ro to the floor.

Kit looks like he is debating to say anything. "It's probably nothing."

He is tired of people not being honest. "If its nothing, then tell me." Ro presses.

Kit eyes dart around as he doesn’t make eye contact. "I just a call from the landlord and she said that she heard loud yelling coming from our apartment a few nights ago. The same night as the dance."

Ro frowns. That was unusual, but not enough to warrant a strong reaction. "Did Dex and your sister have a fight?"

Kit shakes his head. "That what I thought, but she heard a man's voice yelling and she said the fight was physical."

"Have you called your sister?"

Kit shakes his head again. "She isn’t answering her phone."

The same as Dex.

Ro suddenly felt like something was very wrong.

"We have to check on them." Ro says with sudden urgency.

He could very well be overreacting, but something in his gut told him he should find Dex.

Kit doesn’t argue. He had the same idea when he got the phone call. "Ill drive."

Together they run to Ro's car and drive to Rosie's house.

............


When they came to the apartment it is a mess.

Ro looks at Kit who is looking like he doesn’t know where to step. And this is coming from the messiest guy Ro has ever met, so he knew it wasn't just his overactive OCD imagination.

There is clothes strewn on the floor, including both Rosie's and Dex's dresses from the dance. All the furniture is turned on the side for some reason Ro couldn’t guess.  And there is a knife on the floor that thankfully didn't have any blood (Kit checked because Ro couldn’t).

"How can you be studying to be a doctor and still faint at the sight of blood?" Kit asks him with a raised eyebrow as he dumps the knife in the sink.

Ro still had a hand covering his eyes so he couldn’t glare at Kit. "Psychology is not a science where you cut people up. I do that emotionally, not physically. There is a big difference!"

Kit just snorts. "Uh-huh."

Ro moves his hand to give Kit a dirty look.

The most obvious mishap is that there is a dent in the wall that wasn't there before and Ro couldn’t help but wonder who had body slammed into it. Is Dex or Rosie hurt? The thought makes him feel physically sick to his stomach.

"What in the world happened?" Ro asks aloud. He couldn’t believe it she is gone. Where is Dex?

Kit shrugs, but he too looked uneasy. "Maybe they had a huge party." He didn't even seem to believe the words he had said.

Ro doesn’t bother telling him how unlikely that was.

He takes out his phone and begins capturing photos of the place from all angles. "This doesn’t look good. We need to call the police."

"No police!" Ro turns to look at Kit with wide eyes. Kit coughs and then says more calmly, "We shouldn’t call the police."

Ro frowns at him. Why is he acting so strange? "Why not?! My...Dex and Rosie are missing for over two days and your apartment has been ransacked! They were kidnapped...or adult-napped...whatever you call this!" He yells at Kit who has an increasingly conflicted expression on his face as he hears Ro's words.

"Ro, I can't tell you. I promised Dex!"

That piques Ro's interest. He runs over to Kit and looks him right into her eyes. "What did you say? Dex told you to not call the police? Why the heck would she do that?!" kit honestly looks like he is about to piss his pants in front of an angry Ro.

Later he would feel bad for screaming at Kit, but right now he had no idea where Dex is and how much danger she is in. Her safety took priority over a few hurt feelings.

Kit averts his eyes. "Ro...I..." He stammers.

Without really thinking, just reacting to the mix of fear, anger, and concern for Dex, he reaches a hand out and balls the front of Kit's t-shirt until all Kit could look at is his dark eyes and volatile face. "Tell.Me." Ro bites out.

Kit's eye widen. He had never seen Ro like this. He already knew he was going to have to break his promise to Dex.

He sighs. "She told me to track a number for her for a stalker that had given her a few strange text messages and even a phone call. She also told me not to call the police."

Ro's eyes narrow. "And you didn't think to tell me about this."

Kit recognizes Ro is about to explode, so he backs up with arms raised. "I wanted to, believe me, but Dex also made me promise not to tell you."

"She told you not to tell me?" Ro asks just to make sure he heard correctly.

Kit nods. Still looking at him warily.

Why was he surprised anymore? Why did it still hurt that she turns to others, before turning to him. "Of course she did." Ro mutters to himself bitterly.

But he pushes all his feeling to the back burner. Once he had Dex safe and sound in front of him, then he would find a corner to cry in peace.

Just kidding. Kind of.

"Did you find anything? When you tracked the phone."

Kit shakes his head no and Ro is disappointed, but not surprised. It is never that easy.

"What about cameras?"

Kit straightens up at that suggestion. "Actually that is a good idea. All I need is my computer."

Ro was pretty sure that was illegal. "Computer? Don't you need to get your landlord or something?"

Kit shakes his head as he ruffles through his bag to get his laptop. After looking around for a place to sit, Kit just decides to sit on a space on the floor that wasn't touched by trash or clothes. He opens the laptop and starts typing really fast without looking at the keys. "No. This complex doesn’t have cameras, but fortunately, I have installed my own security cameras. So I'll just have to access the video and see what happened."

Ro had to admit he was impressed by Kit. And really glad to have a lead. "You have your own security cameras?"

Kit nods without looking up or pausing from typing. "Rosie likes to sleep eat, so I have motion cameras that alert me when she is moving around the apartment in the middle of the night."

Now that is a little weird. "Sleep eat?"

Kit shrugs. "Its like sleep walking, but with the extra danger of choking or eating raw food."

Before Ro could ask more, Kit turns his computer so Ro could see. Ro sits on the floor so he wasn't crouching over uncomfortably.

"Here is what happened." Kit then presses play.

The video is black and white and had no sound, but it was viewable. "There she is!" Ro points to the screen at Dex as if it wasn't obvious to Kit. He watches as Dex opens the door and tries to run away but the other man grabs her from behind. He couldn’t see a good look at his face, but he could see Dex's fearful face as she tries to fight him off. She was almost able to do it, too, until the other guy slams her into the wall.

Ro's fist clench as he sees that.

They fall to the floor and Dex manages to get away from him. She grabs the knife, but then one other man holds Rosie at Kit.

Ro looks at Kit who looks pale.

Dex drops her knife and the first guy comes to Dex, while the other releases Rosie and hands Rosie a gun.

Both Kit and Ro exchange a look. That is weird. Who would give a captive a gun? Ro eyes widen as he considers what that could mean. He could see Kit looking green.

"Is Rosie a part-"

"Dont." Kit stops him, his voice shaky. "Don't finish that sentence."

Ro bites his lip.

They watch as Dex is injected with a needle that has her collapsing. The first man grabs her before she fell to the ground.

"Did they just drug her?!" Ro nearly screams in outrage. How dare they!

Dex and the first guy leave with Rosie following and the other four men start tearing up the place. Throwing clothes out of drawers, trash out of the garbage, knocking over dishes in the cupboards, you get the picture.

"What are they doing?"

"I think they are trying to make it look like a robbery instead of a kidnapping." Kit says quietly as he pauses the video.

Ro thinks he is in shock. They bother were.

"Do you have another camera?" Ro asks hopefully.

Kit nods. "I do." He types something else on his computer and then the screen switches to an outside view. Unfortunately it didn't show any face, just the backs of heads (all were varying shades of grays because of the black and white camera) and clothing (also gray). So that wasn't helpful until Kit got the part where they went to a car.

"Pause it!"

Kit startles, but he pauses it. "What is it?"

"Can you get the plate number?" Ro asks in excitement. The picture was a little blurry and the angle made it hard to see the first three numbers, but he is hopeful.

Kit frowns. "Wait a sec." He begins typing again and to try to get a clearer picture. When that didn't work, Kit fast-forward it to a few seconds, when the car is driving away and that made it easier to make out the whole plate number.

"You mean this?" Kit looks a little too smug for Ro's tastes.

Ro smiles anyway. They had their first real clue.

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