“Maybe we could stay on a few more days,” Josh suggested. “Just until we figure out our next moves.”
Bailey stood. “I really need to get my mail and check on my house. Am I okay to make a quick visit? Just a few hours?”
Willow nodded eagerly. “I could use a visit to my place too.”
Peyton raised her hand. “Me three.”
“Just be careful,” Ellis warned. “Look for booby traps or anything out of place. And use the buddy system. No one goes anywhere alone.”
Peyton bumped him with her elbow. “Want to be my buddy?”
Hell, yes.
Peyton wrinkled her nose as she walked through her house. It had been closed up for so long she could see the dust floating in the air where the sun streamed in the windows. It was also stifling hot and she zoomed the thermostat down several degrees to get it close to comfortable while they were here. They wouldn’t be staying long but already her t-shirt was beginning to stick to the skin of her back.
“It could use a good cleaning,” she groaned, dumping the stack of mail on the dining room table. Her neighbor had nicely been collecting it and there was quite a mountain of junk mail. She paid her bills online so there might only be one or two things in it worth the effort of digging them out.
“It’s not that bad.” Ellis stuck his head in the refrigerator. “You’ve got some cold sodas in here. Can I have one?”
“Yes, and I’ll take one too. It’s ninety degrees in this house. I didn’t want to waste electricity cooling the place when I wasn’t here but now I’m rethinking that decision.”
He handed her a can and she immediately placed the cold cylinder on her forehead, sighing in relief. “I’ll drink it eventually.”
Popping his open, he sat down in one of her dining room chairs. “Do you want some help with this? I can probably dig out anything addressed to ‘occupant.’ That should make the job a little easier.”
She settled into a seat and pushed the stack so it was between them. “That would be a huge help, thank you.”
It didn’t take long for them to separate the mail into three piles. Junk. Might be something. Definitely something. The only one that could go through the two piles was herself so Ellis wandered away, exploring the house. He was doing the same thing she would if they were at his place. Checking out the books, the medicine cabinet, and the photographs.
He’d been gone a little too long though. She hadn’t heard a peep out of him for at least fifteen minutes and that worried her. Had he found something truly mortifying and was rethinking their entire relationship? Her mind whizzed through all her possessions and she couldn’t think if anything that would scare him off but maybe she’d forgotten. Was he scornful of her Hootie and the Blowfish t-shirt?
“Ellis,” she called, walking back into the bedroom area. “Are we playing hide and seek?”
“I’m in your spare room,” he answered back. “I found your photo albums.”
Wincing, she hurried to see what he was looking at. There were too many pictures of her with bad hairdos and questionable fashion choices. “Just remember that everyone has an awkward phase. Mine just lasted longer than most.”
She found him on the bedroom floor, photo albums spread out in front of him.
“You were cute as a button, princess. Where were these taken?”
Sitting next to him, she peered over his shoulder. “That was my high school graduation and that’s a local beach. My parents threw me a big party but it rained and we ended up sheltering under the big tent the caterer set up.”
He turned the page. “And these?”
“That was the same summer. We visited a friend of my father’s in New York City and then went on a cruise.”
She’d taken hundreds of pictures that summer. Of the city. Of the islands they’d visited. All over the ship.
“And you took all of these? They’re amazing. You have an eye for composition and color.”
“You’re just saying that because we’re sleeping together.”
The look he gave her made her giggle. Ellis was such a hard ass sometimes.
“I’d say it no matter what. These are good.”
He slowly paged through the album. Most of the pictures she took didn’t have people in them. She liked to photograph buildings, scenery, and beaches. He paused on one of the pages, leaning closer to the picture.
He tapped the page. “Where is this one?”
She had to think for a moment. “Cayman Islands. We went snorkeling there.”
“This house in the picture… Is this where you stayed?”
It was a beautiful home with a wraparound porch and large windows. “We didn’t stay there. We stayed on the ship, but we visited a couple that my father knew.”
“Do you remember their names?”
Was Ellis looking to go on vacation?
“Are you testing my memory after the coma? I have to admit that I don’t remember. Jensen and I played on the beach for the afternoon while the grown-ups visited. Is it important?”
He nodded. “I think it is. Did you see the name of the house?”
Ellingwood.
“Homes are often named in the Caribb–”
Ellingwood.
He was smiling now, a triumphant grin that had her heart pounding and her hands shaking. Finally, a clue. And it had been here all the time.
“Ellingwood,” she repeated, her voice trembling with excitement. “That was one of the streets on that sheet of paper with the three names and addresses Alex kept hidden. It is some sort of puzzle or code.”
“There must be some meaning to them,” Ellis agreed. “Now to figure out what.”
Staring at the photograph, she couldn’t avoid the truth of what this meant. Her stomach lurched and she was glad she’d been too upset to eat breakfast this morning.
Her father had taken them there. Somehow he was more involved with this than she’d ever believed possible.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The group was happy that Peyton and Ellis had found a clue but rightfully horrified when they realized what it meant for her. They had always assumed her father knew more than he was admitting but this evidence ratcheted up his involvement to a whole new level. Charles McMillen might be involved with the rogue faction, not just a simple member of Evandria.
Determined to make progress, everyone was spread through the house working on the two remaining street names while Ellis used his law enforcement contacts to dig up the owners of the house in the Caymans. They’d recommitted themselves to the case and that meant everyone had a job that needed to be done.
Josh was tapping away at his phone as Ellis ended the call with his friend from Homeland Security. The agent had agreed to help find the couple who had owned – or still owned – Ellingwood.
“Any luck?” Ellis asked his friend who was doing searches on the street names.
“It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Josh mumbled. “It could be the name of anything. A house. A park. A building. A lake. It’s a roll of the dice. I have new respect for cops. Your patience with work this boring is admirable.”
That drew a chuckle from Ellis. “Since when have you ever known me to be patient? I bitch about it all the time—you just don’t listen anymore.”
Josh grinned. “That’s true. I’ve been tuning you out for years. Let me know if you say anything important.”
“I’m about to say something now. I’m going to start dinner and you get to choose. Chicken or beef?”
“Chicken,” Josh answered with no hesitation. “What are we having with it?”
“I thought I’d do an oven-fried chicken with scalloped potatoes and asparagus.”
“You’re going to make someone a good wife one day,” Josh smirked. “Do you do windows too?”
Ellis didn’t bother answering instead turning to the task at hand. He needed breadcrumbs to coat the chicken along with eggs and milk. He reached up to open the cabinet and the door almost came off in his
hand. It hung sadly from the bottom hinge, barely holding on and looking like it could go at any minute. This house needed a loving dose of maintenance. The front door stuck, the garage door needed to be replaced, the microwave didn’t work, the kitchen faucet was leaky, and the shower in the bathroom did as well. Nothing huge, just little things that were beginning to wear on Ellis’s already brutalized nerves.
“Son of a bitch.”
Josh looked up from his phone. “We can fix that. It’s easy. All I need is a screwdriver and I can put that hinge back on.”
“I would have fixed it on day one if I had a screwdriver,” Ellis growled. “I looked in all these drawers and the garage too. Came up with nothing.”
“Did you try a butter knife?”
Ellis wasn’t sure how to even answer that question. “No. Do you use a spoon to tune up your car?”
Josh laughed and put down his phone. “Seriously, you can use a butter knife in place of a screwdriver sometimes, although it scratches the hell out of them. I have a better idea. Why don’t you check that shed in the backyard before we mutilate the flatware? Maybe whoever lived here kept their tools there instead of the garage.”
“It’s padlocked shut.”
Not that Ellis cared about those things but this wasn’t his house. He was trying to be respectful of Peyton and her parents.
“You’re a cop. Surely you can figure out a way to get it open. Plus, what could be in there anyway that needs to be secure? A lawnmower from 1972? Pliers from the Summer of Love?”
Josh had a point. Ellis could buy a new padlock if the crown jewels were in there and needed to be protected.
“Want me to get my tire iron?” Josh asked. “We can knock the damn thing off of there.”
“Rookie,” Ellis taunted. “Give me five minutes and meet me out there. No tire iron needed.”
It only took two minutes for Ellis to get what he needed in the kitchen – a flashlight and a paperclip – and Josh was waiting for him at the door of the shed.
“Educate me,” Josh said, stepping back so Ellis could work on the lock.
“Watch and learn.” He held up the paperclip he’d straightened and broken into two pieces. Using the two thin metal rods he had the lock open in seconds.
“I’m impressed.”
Ellis laughed and tucked the pieces into his pocket. “Don’t be. You can learn this on YouTube. I actually learned it from another cop. Basically these padlocks are just for show. They’re not the best way to secure your belongings.”
“But you were avoiding opening this shed.”
“Out of respect, not because I couldn’t get in. This place belongs to Peyton’s mother. No way do I want to go and piss her off. Not about something this stupid, anyway.”
Josh gave him a lopsided grin. “Save it for something big like grandchildren and secret societies. Good plan.”
Ellis didn’t really have a plan to get on the friendly side of Peyton’s parents. They were probably going to hate his guts and think he wasn’t good enough for her. Which he wasn’t. They wouldn’t want her dating a cop even if he was head of detectives.
Pushing the metal sliding doors apart, the smell of dust, dirt, and metal hit his nose, instantly making him sneeze. The bright sunshine filtered in, illuminating an interior that was surprisingly large, about ten by ten. Cabinets lined two walls along with a counter at the back wall. A lone, beat-up wooden chair sat in the middle of the shed. Ellis spied a pair of pliers on the countertop out of the corner of his eye.
Tools. Excellent.
He pushed open the doors all the way to let in as much light as possible. “I think we’re in luck. This must have been some sort of workshop. Where there are pliers there are probably screwdrivers too.”
Now that the entire inside of the shed was exposed, Ellis hesitated to enter. He clicked on the flashlight and ran it over the room as the back of his neck began to tingle with warning.
“What’s wrong?”
That was the problem. Ellis didn’t know. His cop sense was screaming in his ear not to walk in but he didn’t know why.
“Maybe–”
It was then he saw it. He’d been to plenty of crime scenes so it was unmistakable. It explained why his senses were warning him to get out and stay away.
He’d smelled blood. The stench could cling to wood and other materials for years, although from the looks of the puddle under the chair it hadn’t been that long. The puddle was made recently.
“Listen, Josh–”
Ellis didn’t need a civilian tossing his cookies at the sight of blood.
“I see it.” Terse and to the point. “I’m a goddamn vet, Ellis. I know what blood looks and smells like. That’s a blood pool.”
“I think the next question is what is it doing here? Did the owners have a dog that was injured?”
Josh stepped forward, kneeling down next to the pool of dried blood. “It’s looks like about a pint. That’s more than someone would lose with a simple wound, even a head injury.”
“Maybe someone lopped off a finger with a saw.”
Except what would they be doing here to begin with? The house had been empty for years. Squatters? Homeless getting out of the elements? But why put a padlock on it when they were done? It didn’t make sense.
Josh pointed to the other side of the chair. “Shine the light there. I think I see something.”
Ellis moved the beam of light and his stomach twisted. Two teeth. Molars.
“Jesus, can a person bleed that much from losing a couple of teeth?”
Josh shook his head. “I don’t think so but maybe if they’re ripped out of their head. Check the pliers on the counter.”
Stepping gingerly around the bloodstain, Ellis inspected the pliers and the other small tools scattered on the countertop, including one of those picks used by dentists.
“Blood,” he stated. “Was this guy some kind of amateur dentist?”
“Or a sadist?” Josh finished for him. “Look at the wear marks on the chair. Someone might have been tied to it.”
Ellis knelt next to Josh to take a closer look. “Good catch, my friend.”
“I watch too many of those criminal investigation shows.”
“It paid off this time. Keep doing it.”
They both stood, Ellis sweeping the light around the room for more signs of blood. “So let me see if I have this right. From what we see here, someone was tied to this chair while someone else pulled two of his teeth out. Then maybe inflicted more wounds that could account for this volume of blood. Is that what we’re saying?”
Josh nodded. “Do you think this has something to do with Peyton’s father?”
Ellis hoped the hell not. That woman had been through enough to last a lifetime.
“Supposedly, according to Peyton’s mother this house is a secret. Even from her husband.”
Josh pointed to the floor. “Somebody knows about it, and knows that it’s empty all the time. It would be a great place to do something illegal.”
“Why couldn’t it just be a meth lab?”
“What do we do now?” Josh asked, stepping back out into the sunshine. Ellis followed, snapping off the flashlight.
“For now, let’s not touch anything. This could be something sinister or it might be innocent. A couple of vagrants and one has a toothache or some shit like that. We’re paranoid as hell and I don’t want us jumping to conclusions because of it.”
Josh’s brow quirked up. “Do you really believe that?”
“Let’s just say I’m not concerned about the cabinet anymore. We’ve got much bigger problems. This house may not be as safe as we thought.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Peyton couldn’t be shocked anymore. After everything she’d learned in the last month – things she would have never believed were true – learning someone might have been tortured in the shed didn’t even rate in her top ten.
“My mother specifically said that no one knows about this place.”
<
br /> They were all gathered in the living room so that Josh and Ellis could fill them in on their discovery. Ellis was pushing for them to leave the house, having decided that it wasn’t safe after all.
He pulled her into his embrace so her head was resting on his chest. They were sprawled on the olive green couch and Peyton could see the looks of disbelief on the faces of her friends. It had come to the point that no one knew what was true anymore.
“If it makes you feel any better she probably really believed it, but your father may have found out. It’s hard to keep secrets in a marriage from what I’ve observed.”
“The whole thing is creepy,” Willow declared, shuddering. “They pulled out someone’s teeth with pliers.”
“Assuming that they had nefarious purposes,” Ellis replied. “There is the remote possibility that this is all quite innocent but I highly doubt it. People that break into places don’t usually lock up after they leave.”
Bailey’s troubled gaze swept over the room. “Do you think they did things in the house too?”
Peyton had thought about that as well, which was why she wasn’t anxious for dinner. Her stomach was too queasy to even think about putting food in it.
Josh rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s possible. We know that the place was cleaned before Peyton and Ellis got here.”
Ellis’s hold on her tightened. “My vote is that we get out of here. We don’t know if or when these people will come back. I may have felt safe a few hours ago but not any longer.”
Josh nodded in agreement. “I’m with Ellis on this. We don’t know who these people are or what they were doing here but they think this house is empty.”
A quick vote was taken and it was unanimous. They were leaving. Peyton headed into the bedroom to pack the few things she had, Ellis on her heels. That determined expression he was wearing told her he had more to say but it was for her ears only.
“If you ask me if I’m okay, I’m going to scream,” she warned him as he shut the bedroom door. “I feel like I’ve been asked that a million times in the last few weeks and I can’t take it anymore.”
Kiss Midnight Goodbye (Midnight Blue Beach Book 3) Page 16
