Guilty By Association

Chapter 11 - First Encounter

Her eyes fluttered down to her screen again, her eyes widening when she saw Alex was calling. “Hello?” She quickly answered it.

“You called?” Alex asked, curiously from the other end of the line.

“Three times.” Kelsey told him, quietly. “I called you three times. Why didn’t you answer?”

“I’m sorry.” Alex apologized. “I was on the phone with someone.” That sparked Kelsey’s attention. Who was Alex talking to, that he ignored her calls.

“I don’t care what you do in your spare time, not when my life is on the line.” Kelsey reprimanded him. “I think I know where Caleb Rocha is.”

“What?” Alex’s voice was suddenly urgent. “Where are you? I’m sending someone over right now. Hell, I’m sending a whole team.” His voice was strained. “What are you doing?”

“I followed Kara.” Kelsey told him. Alex groaned.

“Why’d you do that? You should have called me right away.”

“I did.” Kelsey responded, flatly. “Three times.”

“Hold on.” Alex ordered from the other end of the line. “Dylan and Erik are coming. I’m informing LAPD, right now, too. Damn it, Kelsey. Listen to me. Whatever you do, don’t move from where you are, okay?”

“I have a bad feeling, Alex.” Kelsey said, slowly. “Kara went inside all by herself.”

“Don’t worry about her.” Alex snapped. “She’s involved with him. Don’t you see?”

“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have called you.” Kelsey tautly responded. “Please hurry, Alex. If he’s really here, you need to catch him before he gets away or before Kara leaves. This might be a temporary location.”

“Calm down, Kelsey. Stay calm. I’ve got LAPD on their way right now. Dylan and Erik are coming.” Then, Alex paused. “I’m coming for you, okay? Just…stay calm and stay where you are.”

Kelsey didn’t say anything. Alex was taking such drastic measures to help her and save her. He was pulling in all of his forces all because she asked him to. Kelsey hoped she wasn’t rushing into this. What if Kara wasn’t here to see Caleb? What if she was here to see someone else? If that happened, then Kelsey didn’t know how she’d be able to face Alex. She wouldn’t be able to face Kara. She hadn’t thought this through.

She couldn’t just stand here and wait for authorities. She had to do something. She had to at least go check. No, Kelsey knew what happened to curious girls in movies. They either got kidnapped or killed.

Kelsey undid her bun, hoping that maybe if she looked more like Kara, she could easily get inside. She was frustrated. She had no idea what she was doing. All she knew was that she needed to do something.

Instead of wasting time with a roadside assistance operator, she should have called 911. If nothing happened, she could have at least banged her head on a wall and pretended to be unconscious when the authorities came. But she’d been foolish. She shouldn’t have followed Kara in the first place. She should have left her to do what she wanted and Kelsey would have gone down her own path.

God, she was such an idiot.

With only her foolishness in mind, she decided that she’d had enough. She could faintly hear police sirens at a distance. Though, she supposed, police sirens were not such an unnatural sound in a neighborhood like this one, Kelsey knew that they were coming for her.

And that’s where she got her motivation.

Determined, she casually walked down the street, approaching the house Kara had snuck into. Her car was still parked outside and loud music was booming out of the house. Kelsey gulped. Nearing one of the windows, Kelsey peeked into the building and was startled by the amount of men inside the building.