Misdirection (Pros and Cons Mysteries #1)

Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

O live and Jason climbed from his SUV, leaving a window cracked for Loki, who still sat in the back seat. The canine didn’t seem to mind, and the car was still warm.

“Stay behind me,” Jason murmured as they walked up the sidewalk to Damon’s place.

Olive felt as if they’d been through this song and dance before. But she stayed behind Jason anyway, mostly because she didn’t want to explain herself and her training.

A couple of neighbors stood outside watching them as they approached Damon’s front door.

Once on the stoop, Jason leaned inside and called, “Hello?”

There was no answer.

“Damon?” Jason continued. “Are you home? It’s Jason.”

Nothing.

Then a scratchy voice from behind them asked, “Can I help you?”

Olive glanced back to see a thin, older woman wearing a dark wool coat leaning on a cane. She appeared as if she could barely stand up.

“We’re looking for Damon,” Olive explained, flipping off her professional persona and turning on her charm. “He didn’t show up for work, and we were worried.”

“He didn’t?” Her wrinkled eyes widened.

“Have you seen him today?” Jason asked before casting one last glance at the townhouse.

Olive still didn’t see any movement inside, but they should remain on guard.

“He left in a hurry this morning. I stopped him for a moment and gave him some homemade biscuits I’d just made. He took them and said thank you, but he didn’t seem to be in the mood to chat.”

Jason turned toward the woman. “What time was that?”

“Probably about 8:30. He jumped in his car and took off. Haven’t seen him since then.”

Olive pointed at his townhouse. “Any reason why his door might be open?”

“Don’t know what happened, but it looks like the wood is splintered on the frame near where the lock latches. I’ve tried to close it for him, but it won’t stay shut because of this wind today. I finally gave up. Figured Damon could fix it when he got back home.”

Olive and Jason exchanged glances.

Then Olive looked back at the woman. “Do you think we could take a look inside his place? Just to make sure everything’s okay?”

The woman observed them as if wanting to say no. But then she shrugged. “I suppose if something’s wrong it’s better to know now so we can help him. You guys aren’t cops or anything are you? Cause Damon’s a good boy. I’ve lived beside him for three years now, and he always helps take care of me. Shovels the snow from my driveway even.”

“We’re not here to get him in trouble,” Jason assured her. “Like we said, we’re just worried.”

She stared at them skeptically for another moment before finally nodding. “Go ahead and take a look. But I’m going to stay out here just in case you’re inside too long and up to no good.”

Olive had to smile. She appreciated the woman’s protectiveness. But she tried to imagine this frail woman trying to stop Jason and Olive from staying inside too long. There was no way the woman had the physical strength to do that. However, she did probably have connections here on the street and could call in backup if needed.

“We won’t be long,” Olive promised. “Thank you for your help.”

Then she and Jason stepped inside.

Olive slowly paced the inside of Damon’s house. The place looked just as unappealing inside as it did outside.

There was garbage everywhere and entirely too much clutter for her liking.

At first, she thought the place had been ransacked. But then she realized that this was most likely how it always looked.

At one point, a stray dog even ran inside behind them, sniffed around, lifted his leg to urinate on the couch, and then ran out.

Under other circumstances, they might have tried to stop the dog. But not now. They had bigger worries to be concerned about.

They continued through the rest of the house. Her skin crawled when she saw more than one roach scrambling across the matted carpet. How could people live like this?

They finally stopped in the master bedroom.

This room was just as cluttered as the rest of the house. Going through it would take hours due to the amount of clothes, boxes, magazines, and trash.

But they looked in Damon’s nightstand, in several drawers, in his bathroom cabinet, and on top of his dresser.

Nothing out of the ordinary caught their eye, nothing that would indicate something was wrong.

Olive hadn’t really expected to find any flamingly obvious evidence in here. The most likely place any answers would be found was on Damon’s phone or his laptop, neither of which had been found.

Jason sighed and turned toward her as they stood in the master bedroom. “I think we can get out of here. We don’t have time to search through everything here.”

“Agreed.” They had other things they needed to focus on instead.

They left Damon’s townhouse, and Jason tried to close the door behind him.

“Told you the latch was broken,” the neighbor muttered as she watched them, still positioned on the sidewalk with her cane.

Olive and Jason studied the latch for any signs of foul play. But it just looked like the wood had rotted, and the metal plate had rusted and broken.

“Thank you for letting us look,” Jason told the woman. “We didn’t find anything, but we’re going to keep looking for Damon.”

“I sure hope my Damon-boy is okay,” the woman murmured, her voice crackly.

“We’ll do whatever we can to find him,” Jason promised her.

With a nod to her, they hurried back to Jason’s Range Rover and climbed inside.

Loki greeted them with long sniffs at their ears.

Olive almost wanted to smile at the dog. But she didn’t let herself.

However, she did quickly reach back and rub his head.

But that was as close as she was going to get to bonding with the creature.

She turned back toward Jason. “What now?”

She really hoped he was thinking the same thing she was thinking.

“I hate to say it, but I think we should go give Alex a visit,” he told her.

Olive tried not to smile. The two of them were on the same page again. Life was so much easier when they were.

“I think that’s a great idea,” she murmured.

Jason punched several things into his phone before he found Alex’s address. Then they took off down the road.

Only ten minutes into their drive, Olive noticed Jason glancing in his rearview mirror. Instantly, she knew something was wrong.

When she looked behind her and saw the headlights of what appeared to be a dark sedan, her stomach clenched.

They were being followed, she realized.