Chapter 12
When Angela got up to the loft she locked the door behind her and then she dead bolted it. That would give her plenty of warning if Thomas showed up. She didn’t want him to catch her going through his things. If she found what she thought she might, there would be plenty of time for confrontation later. If she found what she was thinking she might, there would also be a legal confrontation. If he was drugging her and raping her…she shuddered to think it possible. Even Joanne and Steve who had both thought there was something off about him hadn’t gone there. She hoped…no, she prayed that she was wrong…but according to what she found out at the doctor’s office, she was afraid that she wasn’t.
She went straight into his bedroom. He was military neat; he even made his bed perfect before he left for work. Everything was lined up on his dressers and nightstands at perfect angles and even his curtains were opened just the same amount on each side. It was kind of creepy in and of itself. That much organization bordered on mental illness. She went over to his dresser first and slid open the top drawer. There was nothing there but neatly folded socks and underwear. She checked each successive drawer, slowly going through the contents to make sure she didn’t miss anything. She found that his t-shirts and jeans were perfectly creased and folded, but other than that further evidence of his O.C.D., the four drawers of the dresser were all clear of anything. She checked his nightstands next. They each had one little drawer at the top. There was a lamp on one and a clock radio on the other. They were completely devoid of dust. She found some lube and a vibrator which she thought was weird…a few condoms and some cards for escort services. She took them out, glanced at them, and then as she was about to toss those back in when one of the girls caught her eye. She pulled the card back out and looked more closely at it. The picture of the girl looked so much like her that at a distance they could be mistaken for twins…or in a photograph…she flipped the card over and saw the girls name had been scratched out with a black sharpie. A vein of terror ran through her and her blood ran cold when she saw what Thomas had written above it….Angela.
Shaking all over, she threw the card down on the bed. She had to run into the bathroom and splash cold water on her face. She looked up at herself in the mirror. Her skin was completely pale…she was feeling almost like she was in shock. This was unreal…Why? She dried her face and then braced herself against the counter for a bit until she felt steady enough to go on. Even her knees were weak. How could Thomas do that to her? What would his motive be for taking those lewd pictures and then making it look like it was her…and jeopardizing her job no less? Her stomach rolled again, but she ignored it. She didn’t have time to get sick. She moved to the other nightstand. She didn’t find anything significant there. She was about to check the closet when she noticed there were drawers underneath his bed. She moved the comforter which had almost completely covered them and she pulled one open. She gasped when she saw the handgun lying there on a velvet pad with two boxes of bullets sitting next to it. What the hell would Thomas need a gun for? She closed that drawer and checked the two others on that side nearest the door. There was nothing at all in either of them.
She moved to the other side of the bed then. One drawer was empty and the other was filled with hunting knives and pocket knives. What the hell? Her hands were shaking so hard now. She told herself she needed to try and calm down until she figured this out. She didn’t want to call the police or Steve yet. She needed proof and so far she didn’t have anything.
She closed the drawer and decided to look in the closet first. The police would need a warrant…she didn’t. She went inside and looked around. Again, everything was so neat and organized that it looked like no one lived here. She checked the shelves behind the clothes on one wall and found nothing. She turned and knocked over a walking stick that was propped up behind her. When she did that, the bricks in the wall to her right popped open and there was a tiny door behind it.
She reached for the handle and actually jumped when it turned. Pulling it open she looked into a dark tunnel. She reached up and pulled on the closet light and looked again. This must be the attic above the loft. You can see it from the building outside when you look up, but she’d never really thought anything of it. She reached for the string that dangled over her head and pulled it. A set of narrow stairs fell down at her feet. With legs that felt like they could barely hold her up, hands shaking so hard that she could barely hold on and a stomach that was rolling and on the verge of emptying right there, she made her way up the steps. It was dark at the top too and the only sound she could hear was her own breathing.
She popped her in and tried to look around in the dark when she heard a loud knock coming from the hallway. Shit! Suddenly Angela realized that she needed to get out of there. She’d left her phone downstairs on his bed. She started descending the stairs and it was when her foot hit the last one that the knocking became that much louder and that Thomas was trying to get into the loft.