The Golf Course – Chapter 6

Jack parked his car in the lot of a rundown diner on the outskirts of the city, his nerves buzzing with anticipation. He had barely slept after Jimmy’s cryptic phone call the night before. Jimmy had been unraveling for weeks, and Jack wasn’t sure if what he had found was real or just another fragment of his obsession with Ryan’s disappearance. Either way, Jack had to know.

Inside the diner, Jimmy was already seated at a corner booth, looking worse than Jack had ever seen him. His once-clean appearance had devolved into disheveled clothes, dark circles under his eyes, and a scruffy beard. A half-empty glass of whiskey sat in front of him, despite the fact that it was barely 10 a.m.

“Hey,” Jack said, sliding into the booth across from him. “What did you find?”

Jimmy glanced up at Jack, his eyes bloodshot but clear. There was a strange intensity in his gaze, a quiet determination that Jack hadn’t seen before.

“I’ve been digging through Ryan’s stuff,” Jimmy said, his voice low and gravelly. “Emails, old messages. I even hacked into some of his accounts.”

Jack frowned. “Jimmy, that’s illegal.”

“I don’t care,” Jimmy snapped, his voice rising. “Ryan’s gone, Jack. And no one’s doing anything to find him. The police don’t have a clue, and we’ve been sitting around doing nothing. So, yeah, I hacked his stuff.”

Jack leaned back, letting out a slow breath. “Okay. What did you find?”

Jimmy reached into his jacket and pulled out a crumpled stack of papers. He slid them across the table to Jack, who unfolded them carefully. They were printouts of emails, bank statements, and messages. Jack scanned through them, his heart pounding as he read.

“These emails,” Jimmy said, pointing at one of the pages. “They’re from a few months ago. Ryan was talking to someone about transferring a large sum of money to an offshore account. He was trying to hide it. I think this is why he was paranoid.”

Jack’s pulse quickened. “An offshore account? Why would Ryan need one of those?”

Jimmy nodded, his hands shaking as he took a swig of whiskey. “That’s not all. Look at the messages. They’re from an encrypted chat app. Ryan was talking to someone about Julia’s family.”

Jack’s blood ran cold as he skimmed through the messages. Ryan had been asking questions about Douglas Turner, Julia’s father, and his real estate dealings. The conversations were vague, but it was clear that Ryan had been digging into something dangerous—something that could have put him in harm’s way.

“I think Ryan found something,” Jimmy continued. “Something he wasn’t supposed to know. And that’s why he wanted to disappear.”

Jack’s mind raced as he pieced together what Jimmy was saying. Ryan had been involved with Julia’s family in ways none of them had known. And if he had stumbled upon something that could threaten them, it made sense why he had been paranoid. But why hadn’t Ryan told him? Or Fred? Or even Jimmy?

“What do you think happened to him?” Jack asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Jimmy leaned forward, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial tone. “I think they took him. Julia’s family. Maybe even her old man’s associates. Ryan was a liability. He knew too much.”

Jack’s stomach churned. He didn’t want to believe it, but after everything that had come to light, it was hard to deny the possibility. Julia’s family had a history of shady dealings, and if Ryan had gotten involved with them, it could have ended badly for him.

“Have you told the police?” Jack asked, though he already knew the answer.

Jimmy shook his head, his eyes wild. “I can’t. They’ll just sit on it, or worse, tip off the wrong people. We have to handle this ourselves.”

Jack rubbed his temples, the weight of the situation pressing down on him. “Jimmy, we can’t take this into our own hands. We don’t know what we’re dealing with.”

Jimmy slammed his fist on the table, causing the glass to rattle. “We don’t have a choice, Jack! They’ve already taken Ryan. Who’s next? Me? You? I’m not sitting around waiting for them to come after us.”

Jack didn’t have an answer. He could see the desperation in Jimmy’s eyes, the fear that had been eating away at him. But Jack couldn’t shake the feeling that they were in over their heads.

“I need to talk to Julia again,” Jack said after a long pause. “She might know more than she’s letting on.”

Jimmy snorted, draining the last of his drink. “Good luck. She’s part of the problem.”

Jack stood up, leaving Jimmy hunched over the table, muttering to himself. As Jack left the diner, he couldn’t help but feel like they were standing on the edge of something dangerous—something that could unravel their lives just as it had unraveled Ryan’s.

Later that afternoon, Jack found himself standing outside Julia’s house once again. This time, he knocked on the door with more urgency, his mind buzzing with the information Jimmy had uncovered.

Julia answered, looking even more tired than the last time he had seen her. She didn’t seem surprised to see him.

“You again,” she said, stepping aside to let him in. “What now?”

“I need to ask you something,” Jack said as he followed her into the living room. “About Ryan. And your family.”

Julia stiffened, her back to him as she moved toward the kitchen. “I already told you everything I know, Jack. My family’s a mess, and Ryan got too close to something he shouldn’t have.”

“I think it’s more than that,” Jack pressed. “Ryan was digging into your father’s business. He was looking into offshore accounts, real estate deals that went bad. He was planning to disappear because he was scared. What aren’t you telling me?”

Julia turned to face him, her eyes cold and distant. “You’re playing a dangerous game, Jack. My father’s old business isn’t something you want to get involved in. Ryan made that mistake, and look where it got him.”

Jack stepped closer, his voice hardening. “Did your father’s associates have something to do with Ryan’s disappearance? Is that why he was so paranoid?”

For a moment, Julia’s mask slipped, and Jack saw a flicker of fear in her eyes. But then she shook her head, her expression hardening again.

“I don’t know,” she said quietly. “I really don’t. My father… he’s been out of the game for a while, but his old partners? They’re still around. And if Ryan was asking too many questions, it’s possible they didn’t like that.”

Jack felt a chill run down his spine. “So, you think they might have done something to him?”

Julia didn’t answer, but her silence was enough.

Back at the precinct, Detective Daniels was digging deeper into Ryan’s involvement with Julia’s family. The more she uncovered, the more tangled the web became. Douglas Turner’s name was connected to several shady real estate deals that had fallen apart over the years, many of which had been linked to money laundering and fraud. But what caught Daniels’ attention was a specific deal from five years ago—a development that had gone bankrupt under mysterious circumstances. Ryan had been involved in that project, albeit peripherally, as an advisor.

Daniels sat back in her chair, frowning as she read through the old reports. Ryan had been clean in most of the records, but there were subtle hints that he had been looking into something more. Emails, notes, and communications that hinted at misgivings about the deal’s financial backers. Ryan had known something wasn’t right, but he hadn’t pursued it back then—at least not officially.

Now it seemed that Ryan had gone back to that old case, and it had cost him.

“Could this all be tied to that one failed project?” Daniels muttered to herself, jotting down notes. If Ryan had started poking around in Douglas Turner’s old business, it would explain his paranoia—and potentially his disappearance. But there was still a lot of missing information, and Daniels needed to fill in the gaps before she could make any conclusions.

Her phone buzzed, and she glanced at the screen. Another tip had come in, but this one was strange.

It was Fred.

Fred paced around his apartment, his mind racing. He had been sitting at home when his phone rang earlier, and the call had shaken him to his core. It wasn’t from Ryan—at least, he didn’t think it was. But the voice on the other end had been strange, distorted, almost mechanical. The message was short and cryptic.

“You’re next.”

Fred had tried to call the number back, but it had been disconnected. He had no idea who it was or why they would say something like that, but it felt like a threat. And in light of everything that had been happening, Fred couldn’t ignore it.

He dialed Jack’s number, his hands trembling as he waited for him to pick up.

“Jack, it’s Fred,” he said when Jack answered. “I just got a weird call. Someone said I’m next.”

Jack’s heart sank. First Jimmy’s unraveling, then Julia’s cryptic warnings, and now Fred was getting threatening calls. Whatever was happening, it was closing in on all of them. And Jack couldn’t shake the feeling that they were running out of time to find Ryan—and to protect themselves from whatever was coming next.