Chapter 17 Ghost
GHOST
The ride back to Bryersville was silent between me and Scout.
That didn’t shock me, though. It was the dead of night, four in the fucking morning, and everyone was bone tired.
Him included. Scout, despite the brain he packed in that skull of his, was always quiet.
Like me and Brutus. Well, I’d say he was even quieter than us, but sometimes his motormouth could get going at the right times.
This wasn’t the right time, though.
When we hit the city limits of Bryersville, our heads were on a swivel.
I still wasn’t sure whether or not anyone knew that I watched Jasmine.
Every time something happened, it answered a couple of our questions, and then raised three more.
Was it just a coincidence that someone tried taking her while I was on a food run?
Did someone have eyes on us?
We rode through town, staying well within the speed limits and making sure we didn’t do anything that could draw unwanted attention to ourselves. Part of me wanted to drive by Jaz’s place of work, just to see what was going on. I resisted the urge, however.
Especially when the address we were headed to had us pulling into the parking lot of a fucking in-home care facility.
“Uhhhh, Ghost?” Scout asked.
We parked our bikes in the same parking space toward the back of the lot. “Yep.”
“You sure we’re at the right place?”
I double checked the address. “Yep.”
“Soooo… you wanna do this? Or should I?”
I slowly turned and looked at him, yanking my helmet off and motioning to my mask. “Don’t think the nurses will take too kindly to me walking in at four in the morning.”
“You mean, you aren’t just gonna go in there coughing your damn head off?”
I chuckled as I perched my helmet on my leg. “You think someone coughing should be walking around in an in-home care facility?”
Scout groaned as he rolled his eyes and ripped off his helmet. “Fine. I’ll be back. But you owe me.”
“We’ll get milkshakes on the way back.”
His lactose-intolerant ass flicked me off before he headed for the front doors. I watched as he had to press a button and speak with someone before the door popped open in front of him. I wasn’t sure what the hell he said to get himself inside, but whatever.
And when he came out a few minutes later, he gave me a thumbs up.
“So get this,” he said as he returned to his bike. “Apparently, some of the care patients are on a weekend getaway to the Grand Canyon this weekend. The man’s not even in the state right now.”
I nodded slowly. “She’ll be relieved to hear that.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Any reason why she didn’t already know that?”
He had a good point. “No clue.”
“Bad relationship, you think?”
I shrugged. “She seemed pretty worried about him.”
“Every good daughter would be, regardless.”
He had a point. “It’s something to figure out later. Let’s get to her place before those assholes show up for round two.”
“You think they’d double back?” Scout asked before he slid his helmet into place.
“If they didn’t find what they were looking for the first time, oh yeah.”
The ride wasn’t far from the in-home care facility to her place. Maybe ten minutes, and that was because we caught every single fucking red light from here to Timbuktu.
I hated it when that shit happened.
But eventually, Scout and I stood in the entrance to her apartment.
And holy fuck, the destruction on camera was nothing compared to what they did in person.
Scout whistled lowly as he slipped by me, his boots crunching on glassware. “Man, they fucking hate this woman.”
“Obviously,” I said as I made a beeline to her bedroom.
“What are you doin’?” Scout called out.
“You look around in the kitchen and living room for anything we may need to take back with us. I’m packing up whatever clothes they didn’t destroy.”
“You gonna sniff her underwear while you’re at it?”
I growled at him as I stuck my head outside her bedroom door. “Don’t you fucking talk about her like that. Don’t you even fucking think it, do you hear me?”
He grinned as he held up his hands in mock surrender. “Heard and noted, Casper.”
I grumbled at the nickname as I dipped back into her bedroom.
Fucking hell, the place was a pigsty. Holes were punched into the walls.
It looked like they grabbed at the drywall just to tear it down the slats.
Did they think she hid something behind the fucking walls?
Good God, we weren’t in a goddamn movie.
Her mattress was toast. It laid there in shreds, along with her pillows. Most of her blankets were ripped through, but I managed to find two of them underneath her bed that were crumpled and a bit smelly, but intact.
I folded them up and crunched my way to her closet.
“Bingo,” I muttered when I found a set of suitcases.
Every time I picked up a piece of clothing that was ripped or torn in some way, I got so mad that I could have chewed through glass.
Everything was destroyed. Even the products in her bathroom were emptied out into the tub and the sink.
It looked like some of it was even flushed down the fucking toilet.
I found some spare toiletries behind her bathroom mirror that were shattered.
I didn’t have time to fold her shit. I just shoved it into the suitcases as best I could. We wouldn’t be able to pack all of her suitcases. Safely, Scout and I could carry one each, since she had those bigger suitcases.
I did find a little carry-on, however, that I could strap to my bike.
If I could find a way to distribute the weight evenly enough.
She had books on shelves with pages that were torn out. They were tossed about, but there were a few on the shelving that wasn’t touched. I took the five that were still standing and placed them inside the suitcase.
Scout was quiet, though.
“Find anything?” I called out.
“Not sure, hold on,” he said.
That got my attention. “You need me?”
“Not yet but keep an ear out.”
I found a makeup bag that was thrown across the room, its contents scattered all along the floor. I dipped down and picked the little plastic containers of things up, not really understanding what most of it was.
I looked at one particular bottle as I wrinkled my nose.
The fuck was primer?
Like the shit I put on my bike before I touched up paint?
“Ghost!”
Scout called out for me, and I shoved the bottle into the makeup bag. I zipped it up, tossed it into the suitcase, and went flying out to Scout.
I noticed him standing in the living room with a laptop in his hand.
“Think I found what they were looking for,” he said as he swiveled the laptop to face me.
I saw the law firm’s logo emblazoned right on the top of it.
“Her work laptop,” I said as I walked over to him. “Where did you find it?”
“It was under the fucking fridge, Ghost.”
I furrowed my brow. “What?”
He tossed me the laptop. “Under. Her fridge. Are you sure she doesn’t know more than she’s letting on? Because why the hell would she just put her laptop under a fridge?”
I didn’t have an answer for that, but there had to be an explanation. “I’ll ask her when we get back.”
Scout placed his hands on his hips. “What are the chances that she’s—”
My eyes snapped to him. “I dare you to finish that statement.”
Scout studied me for a while. “Don’t let her get under your skin.”
“I’m not,” I said as I started back to her room.
“You are,” he called after me. “And if she’s a plant of some sort, or she knows more than she’s letting on, you’re already too biased to see it.”
I growled as I shoved the laptop into the suitcase before zipping it up.
I walked over to her dresser and opened up the compartments, scooping out a handful from each drawer.
She had a drawer for underwear, a drawer for socks, a drawer for these little tank-top things, a drawer for shorts, and a drawer for sweatpants.
I just grabbed a handful of each, shoving them into the other suitcase, and zipped that up as well.
I was ready to get the fuck out of there.
Because Jaz and I needed to talk.
“Should we take some of this food that’s going to spoil?” Scout asked as I charged out of the bedroom with the three suitcases in tow.
“What?” I snapped.
His eyebrows rose. “Food. Spoiled. Kitchen. Should we take it so it doesn’t rot?”
My nostrils flared. “Sure, let’s take a look.”
And before I knew it, we had yet another one of her suitcases filled to the brim with food that wasn’t going to sit well in her fridge for the foreseeable future.
As well as some food she hadn’t managed to use yet.
“Ooooh, she’s got the good snacks,” Scout said as he flung open her pantry.
I ignored him as I looked up along the walls at the perch points where I had the cameras.
On the one hand, keeping an eye on this place could help us out.
But if those assholes were to come back and find the cameras, Jasmine in particular would be fucked.
While Scout shoved plastic bags filled to the brim with the snacks she had in her pantry, I debated in my head on whether to take those cameras down.
I looked at the cabinetry doors those asshats practically yanked off their hinges.
“All right,” Scout said as he carried three plastic bags of snacks in each hand, “ready when you are.”
I peered over at him before I raked my eyes up and down his presence. “Got enough food there, Scout?”
“Got enough sense there, Ghost?”
I snarled at him, but he just chuckled as he walked past me. “I’ll be down by my bike whenever you’re ready. I’m assuming I’m hauling one of those suitcases?”
“Yep.”
“I’ll grab one on my way out.”
“Thanks.”
And as I stood there, slowly turning and surveying the awful sight that was Jaz’s studio apartment, I drew in a very deep breath. I hoped with all my might she had a good explanation for why she kept her work laptop underneath her goddamn fridge.
Because I had to admit, I wasn’t sure why she’d withhold that information from me.