Rat’s Place, Augusta, Georgia:
It was late in the afternoon when Kelli arrived at Rat’s Townhouse. She had driven Kat’s Jeep and hit the kill switch. She gets out and looks at the brick townhouse in front of her. She could hear club music coming from inside. She also spotted a hidden camera looking towards her.
She walks up to the storm door and notices Rat has one of those new Ring doorbells. She presses the silver button and waits for him to answer. She noticed the neighborhood he lived in had neatly trimmed lawns and cars that very from midsize to trucks and SUVs.
Rat gets a notification on his computer screen letting him know someone was at his front door. He clicks on the alert and spots a young woman with shoulder-length light brown hair standing outside his front door. He compares the video to the picture that Kat sent him. It matches the picture. He pauses the search he was doing and heads towards the front door.
Kelli breathes in and listens to the club music playing behind the door. After a few seconds, the door opened, and standing on the other side was a young man around her and Kat’s age. He had unkempt grey hair and pink color eyes.
“You must be Rat, I’m Kelli.” Kelli holds her hand out to shake.
Rat looked at the young woman and saw that she had hazel eyes. A cute face and a nice body. He reaches out and shakes her hand. “How do you know Kat?”
“I work for her cousins.” Kelli figures honesty is the best policy.
“Come in.” Rat knew Kat’s cousins and had done jobs for them off and on, including doing DJ jobs at some of their other clubs.
“Thanks.” Kelli walks into the townhouse and waits for Rat.
Rat shuts the door and leads Kelli into his private office. He had used the remote to turn down the music playing in the house.
“How is she?” Rat was a close friend and Kat meant a lot to him.
“She’s recovering. She’s going to be in the hospital for a few days.” Kelli looks around as they pass a few rooms and notices the house is kept extremely clean. She figures Rat must suffer from OCD.
“Kat speaks very highly of you. How long have the two of you known each other?” Kelli was curious about Kat’s and Rat’s relationship.
“Since we met at one of her cousins’ clubs. I was DJing the music there.” Rat ushers towards a seat in what was to be the den, but was filled with all sorts of computerized equipment.
“She never said that you were a DJ.” Kelli noticed all the equipment in the room. She sits down in a chair near Rat’s desk.
“She doesn’t always tell everything. However, what she had me look into goes back to a case I worked with her on.”
“Oh?” Kelli was surprised.
“Yes, the person who has taken a contract out on her is Ventusky Ricci.” Rat found the information after reaching out to a friend who also had a black site.
“Okay, so if he put a contract out on Kat. Who put the contract out on her husband?” Kelli was curious.
“There’s been chatter on the dark web about hits against a group of truckers.” Rat had found a couple of offers to kill certain truckers.
“Do you know why and who was posting the request/offer?” Kelli was curious.
“No, but I am hunting them down right now. Whoever they are, they have some serious computer training.” Rat taps a few keys on his keyboard.
“So, the person who came after Kat was hired by Ventusky Ricci. And the person who killed Kat’s husband and the other truck driver was hired
by someone else. Now, that brings up the question of why?” Kelli wanted to know who had a grudge against Kat’s husband and the other truck drivers.
“You might want to see if Kat might know.” Rat turns and looks at Kelli.
“I think you're right.” Kelli stands up and looks at Rat.
“Do you mind if I stay in contact with you during this investigation and afterwards?”
“I don’t mind. I’ll keep digging to find out who is going after truckers.” Rat wasn’t going to give up.
“Okay, thanks. I might know someone who might be able to help as well.” Kelli had a few contacts among the different truck stops and repair shops in the state.
Kelli lets herself out and walks towards Kat’s Jeep. She gets in and drives towards the nearest truck repair shop that she had a contact at.