- APRIL -
With my heart hammering in my chest, I put my guitar down on the ground as quietly and as quickly as I could – not an easy feat considering how badly my hands were shaking – and grabbed my cell phone. I backed out of the living room, hearing a guy guffawing in the back yard and another cursing rapidly.
I ran down the hall and hit the panic button that Dad had installed inside the house when we’d moved in. It set off an alarm that requested assistance from the local police, and it was a whole lot quicker than calling them.
The button locked into place – letting me know that a signal had been sent.
I ran towards the front door, and cursed when I remembered that I’d locked the door earlier on in the evening. The keys were on a hook in the hallway. I grabbed them, fumbling for the right one. There were dozens of keys on the damn keyring.
I felt exposed, standing there in the hallway, and fought the urge to run upstairs and hide under my bed. I needed to get out of the house. Now.
I knew immediately when they were inside. The sound of glass breaking stopped. I could only assume that they’d shattered enough of the French doors to get through. I wanted to kick myself. Sure, they were pretty, but doors made out of glass? No wonder Dad had intended to replace them. He’d always been very security and safety conscious. I’d thought it a shame to replace the pretty doors with something more safe and practical.
I found what I thought was the right key, but my hands were shaking so badly that I ended up dropping the whole bunch of them on the floor. I quickly snatched them up, but froze, my breath completely leaving me, when I heard two pairs of strong footsteps approaching.
They’d catch me standing right across from them in the hallway, and with that terrifying thought at the front of my mind, I half stumbled into the closet across from Dad’s study. It had some shoes and coats in there, but the door had hardly been opened since we’d moved in and dust assaulted my nose as soon as I got in. I pulled the door closer, but stopped shy of completely closing it when I heard the footsteps make their way straight into Dad’s study… almost as though they’d known exactly where to go.
I held my breath, wondering if they’d seen the door move. After waiting a moment, I deduced that they hadn’t. The door was still slightly ajar, but I was too afraid to close it in case it made a noise.
I heard rustling coming from the other room. One guy was cursing, and the other one seemed to be instructing him on what to do.
I still had my phone in my hand and the house keys too. Careful not to rustle the keys, I typed out a text to Kellan with unsteady hands – letting him know that there were intruders in the house and that I was currently in the closet.
I could just imagine his reaction to getting that text.
God, why hadn’t I just gone to Axel’s like I’d told him I would? And how long would the police take to get here? How long ago had I pressed the panic button? Twenty seconds? A minute? I couldn’t tell.
My breath coming out in short pants, I felt like I’d pass out at any second. I was terrified of being discovered.
“We need to hurry the fuck up, Slade, and find the flash drive. You made enough noise to wake the whole neighborhood back there,” one of the guys said, his voice harsh.
Flash drive?
I heard some banging and some more rustling and realized that they were going through Dad’s files.
Moisture broke out on my forehead as I grasped that this wasn’t just a random break-in. They weren’t ordinary burglars, looking for valuables. They were looking for something specific. A flash drive. Did they have something to do with Dad’s disappearance?
Bracing myself, I risked a peek through the gap in the door, and stopped breathing altogether when the door creaked slightly as I accidently opened it an inch further. It was a small noise, but it sounded as loud as a truck horn to me just then. I prayed that it would go unnoticed.
“What the fuck was that?” the other guy, Slade, said. I watched him turn around sharply, but dark as it was, I couldn’t make out his face at all. They hadn’t turned on the light in the study and were using flashlights. I could barely make out his profile; bulky and a fair bit shorter than the other man beside him.
“It was probably nothing. The little bitch is out of town, and the house is empty,” the taller guy said. Little bitch? I didn’t need two guesses to figure out who they were talking about, and ice slid down my spine. How had they known that I’d planned to go out of town tonight?
I was becoming more and more convinced by the minute that this had something to do with Dad.
I looked out again, determined to learn as much as possible, and could make out Slade’s figure rummaging through drawers in Dad’s desk.
The other guy, who was closer to the study door, went back to Dad’s filing cabinets, pulling out random files and throwing them on the floor as he felt around at the bottom of each drawer.
“I’ve found it!” he suddenly said. Pulling his arm out of the large drawer, he held up something that was small, silver, and the size of his thumb.
“I wonder what’s on it,” Slade said, having abandoned his search of Dad’s desk. His words made me pause. They were searching for a flash drive, but had no idea what was on it?
That didn’t make any sense.
“We’ll never find out. Tony will have our heads if he even suspects we’ve looked at what’s on it,” the taller guy said, turning the flash drive round and round in his hands.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Slade said, making his way out from behind the desk. He bumped into a painting on the wall as he got out, revealing the small safe built into the wall behind it. Of all the rotten luck. I closed my eyes. I didn’t know exactly what was in the safe, but I knew that whatever Dad kept in there was extremely important. “Hell, yeah. Now that’s what I’m talking about!”
The other guy put the flash drive on top of the filing cabinet and moved towards the safe, his movements quick and eager. “What do you think is in there?”
“Dunno.” Slade bent over and peered closer at it. “Tony doesn’t pay us enough for this shit, man. He wouldn’t care if we helped ourselves while we were here.”
The way they talked… it sounded very much like they had a boss. A boss that had hired them to retrieve that flash drive.
Where the fuck were the police? I wondered with mounting impatience.
My whole body ached from how still and tense I’d remained this whole time, and my heart continued to race. It had been several minutes since I’d first heard the shattering glass, but it felt like hours had gone by while I’d been stuck in the closet.
Both of the men had their backs towards me as they examined the safe. Slade had a crowbar, and was using it to try and pull the safe out of the wall.
Would they stop there? Or would they search the rest of the house and find my hiding spot before the police got here?
Making up my mind, and grateful for the noise they were making, I stepped out of the closet. And then I did something so completely stupid that I later wondered what on earth had possessed me to do it.
Instead of moving towards the front door, I moved quickly, without thought, towards the open door of the study.
The filing cabinet was just on the left of the door. Without even stepping into the room, I grabbed the flash drive on top of it before hurrying towards the front door.
My hands still trembling, I shoved the right key into the lock. And just as the lock turned, I heard the blessed, beautiful sound of police sirens close by.
I didn’t stick around to see what the men behind me would do. I ran as hard and as fast as I could out the door.
* * *
The police came and immediately went into the house after asking about any weapons I may have seen. I told them I hadn’t noticed any, aside from the crowbar.
An elderly neighbor that I’d never even spoken to before came over and hustled me across the street onto her front yard where a plastic picnic table lay on the grass. She sat me down on it and disappeared through her front door to get me a cup of coffee.
Another police officer stood beside me, his eyes darting down the street and around the side of the house. I glanced around uneasily, too, though I was sure that the guys had probably long scarpered through the French doors in the kitchen and out the back yard.
Mary Smith, as she’d introduced herself, came back out of the house with a cup of coffee in hand and a large sweater to keep me warm. I pulled the sweater on, thanking her profusely. It enveloped me completely, coming to a stop a few inches above my knees. I’d run out of the house in my pajamas – short-shorts and a tank-top – and was grateful for something warmer to wear.
We watched the house and waited for the other cops to come back out. I wasn’t sure if Kellan had gotten my first text, but texted him again to let him know that I was fine and that the police were here.
The phone rang immediately.
“Are you okay?” Kellan asked when I answered, something I’d never heard before in his voice. Fear.
“I’m fine,” I reassured him. “The police are here. They’re searching the house.”
“Good. I’ll be there in twenty.” He hung up. Twenty? They were closer than I’d thought. I wasn’t sure why, but I stared at the phone for a full minute. There would be hell to pay when he got here. I just knew it.
The cops came out after a bit to let me know that there was no one inside the house. I wasn’t surprised. The intruders would have scarpered as soon as they heard the police sirens.
They let me back indoors, and Mary, bless her, came along, too, for moral support.
They wanted me to see if any valuables had been taken. Being careful not to touch anything while they dusted for fingerprints, I stepped into the study.
It had been messy before – Dad had never gotten round to fully unpacking – but it was completely ramshackle now. Furniture had been tipped over, boxes and drawers emptied onto the floor. The intruders hadn’t managed to pry the safe loose, and it was thankfully still lodged firmly into the wall.
It didn’t look like they’d taken anything. The flash drive was nestled safely in the back pocket of my shorts.
The cops asked for descriptions of the intruders, and there were other questions too, about whether I recognized them, if I knew anyone who might want to break into Dad’s office… they even asked about Dad’s disappearance. I told them almost everything I knew.
All the while, the flash drive burned a hole in my pocket. I wasn’t sure why I didn’t mention it to the cops, except that I had a feeling it contained clues about Dad’s disappearance.
One thing I knew for sure was that Kellan would be a hell of a lot more efficient than the police. He didn’t have rules and regulations to adhere to, and he bent the law on a regular basis in his line of work. He’d be far quicker at securing information out of the flash drive and then doing something about it.
So I kept my mouth shut and didn’t say anything. After all, I could always turn it in after Kellan and I had made a copy of whatever was on it.
Mary excused herself after a while, saying she didn’t want to leave her dogs alone longer. I stood up, thanking her and letting her know that I’d get the sweater back to her as soon as possible.
“Oh, keep it,” she said, waving a hand. “You take care now. I’d better get back to my dogs.”
She left, and the cops moved on to dust for fingerprints in the kitchen and around the broken French doors.
Kellan and Uncle Luke arrived just as the cops were wrapping things up. Uncle Luke addressed them by name and immediately began firing questions left and right. The officers also seemed to recognize him and all but stood to attention.
Kellan pulled me aside, his face tense. There was a storm brewing in his grey eyes, and his jaw was ticking. “What were you doing here alone? I thought you were leaving for the weekend?”
“I’m fine. No broken bones. No permanent trauma from being scared half to death in the middle of the night,” I said, pulling my arm away from him.
Surprisingly, his face softened. “Are you okay?”
My shoulders slumped. “Yeah. I’m honestly fine. But how did you get back here so quick?”
“There was so much traffic that we hadn’t made it very far when I got your text. I turned the car around straight away. I wasn’t sure if your phone was on silent, so I didn’t text back, but Luke called his station to get a patrol car out here stat.”
Uncle Luke stepped away from the cops and came over to us. “You were here all alone, April? I thought you were staying with your friend?”
“I... I changed my mind,” I said, sheepishly.
Weeks had gone by, and nothing had happened. I’d gotten lax, and hadn’t taken Kellan or Uncle Luke’s worry over my safety seriously. In my defense, Archie Chambers hadn’t broken in, which was what they had worried about. None of us had anticipated this. Whatever this was. I hadn’t quite figured it out.
“I dread to think of what could have happened to you, kiddo,” Uncle Luke said, pulling me into a hug. “Lying about where you are doesn’t help us keep you safe.”
I trampled down the protest that rose to my lips. I hadn’t lied. I’d fully intended on going to Axel’s. I kept quiet though, knowing that he was just worried about me.
“What’s the damage?” Kellan asked.
“The French doors in the kitchen need to be replaced, and you’ll need to reset your panic button,” the officer said, looking at his notes. “Apart from that, there’s no other damage, and nothing appears to be taken.”
“Nothing?” Uncle Luke looked surprised.
“Either we got here in time before they found anything of value, or they were looking for something specific,” the officer said, tapping his pen thoughtfully. “It seems the office was the target – or they may have eventually moved through the rest of the house. In any case, we’ll fill in a report, sir.”
Uncle Luke nodded, his face set in a hard frown. He didn’t appear too happy as he showed the cops to the front door, leaving me alone with Kellan.
“Don’t,” I said harshly, before he could start berating me.
I was mentally exhausted by tonight’s events. I couldn’t deal with a furious Kellan on top of everything else.
“Come on,” he said instead, nudging me. “Grab a bag and some of your stuff. We’re staying at my place tonight.”
“What?” I stared at him.
“You can’t stay here – not with the broken doors in the kitchen. It isn’t secure.” He put his hand on my back when I didn’t move, steering me towards the stairs. “I’ll get them fixed first thing in the morning.”
Hearing him as he shut the front door, Uncle Luke agreed, “It’ll be safer for you at Kellan’s. You can stay at my place if you’d prefer, though I won’t be there to keep an eye out. I’m heading back on the road. We can’t ignore this lead on Archie Chambers.”
“Are you sure?” Kellan asked. “I can–“
“I’m sure. You need to sleep, son. I’ll give you a call in the morning.” He clapped Kellan on the back. “I saw some cardboard boxes out back. I’ll flatten them before I go and tape them over the broken windows. It’ll provide at least some sort of barrier.”
“I’ll help,” Kellan offered. Damn.
I wanted to tell him about the flash drive and get his advice on what to do. Uncle Luke was a cop; I knew what he’d say.
Besides, something those guys had said had been bothering me. A lot.
I wracked my brain for something that would get Kellan alone upstairs.
“Actually, Kellan, could you help me get my bag first? It’s on top of my closet and I can’t reach it.”
He nodded, not thinking anything of the request, as he followed me up to my bedroom.
I shut the door once we were inside and turned the lock. Kellan, who’d been heading towards the closet, turned around as he heard the lock click. His eyebrows shot right up, and he looked wary.
“Don’t look so frightened. I’m not about to come on to you,” I said, sarcasm seeping into my voice. “I just needed to show you this.”
I pulled the flash drive out of the pocket of my shorts. Although it wasn’t much bigger than the size of my thumb, my shorts were cotton and the bulge would have been evident if not for the long jumper concealing my shorts.
“What is it?” He took the flash drive from my hand, a frown appearing on his face.
“It’s a silver tiara, Einstein. What does it look like?” I said, rolling my eyes.
He wasn’t amused. “You know what I meant.”
“It’s what those guys came here for tonight,” I told him, filling him in on everything I’d heard. He listened quietly and intently, only speaking once to call me an idiot for risking being seen when I’d grabbed the flash drive.
“And you’re sure that they said you were out of town?” Kellan pressed.
“Positive,” I confirmed.
“Did you tell anyone else you were planning on leaving?” he asked me.
“No one.” I shook my head. “I made the decision last minute, and then changed my mind practically straight after I’d made it.”
“So the only ones who knew were you, me, and Luke,” Kellan said after a weighty silence. “How do you know I wasn’t in on this?”
“I know you. At least, I know how much you care about Dad,” I said honestly. “Besides, you’ve been staying here every night for the past two weeks. You could have searched Dad’s office yourself.”
A flash of dry humor passed across his face. “Thanks,” he said wryly.
“They could have… I don’t know. They could have been listening in on our phone calls?” I said uncertainly, not ready to lose someone else in my life. I didn’t want to think that Uncle Luke couldn’t be trusted.
“Maybe.” He didn’t look convinced. His eyes moved towards my door before he straightened, pocketing the flash drive. “Until we know for sure, we’re going to have to be careful around everyone.”
“You think I should have given it to the cops?” I asked him.
He was silent for a long moment. “I’m glad you didn’t. It could be useful to our search – and the cops certainly wouldn’t have shared what was on it with us. We’ll make a copy, and if it’s something useful, then we’ll forward it to the police.”
I nodded, noticing that his thinking was scarily like my own. I hoped that there was some explanation for tonight that didn’t involve Uncle Luke’s betrayal. I wasn’t sure if I could handle that.
Where we went from here and whether we’d tell the police or not, Kellan and I were in this together. And with that thought, I realized that I trusted him. I trusted Kellan Reed.
It was a frightening thought.