Chapter 14
Lane shifted his body to block Celine from the chaos inside the bedroom. Dresser drawers were yanked out, their contents shredded and tossed around the floor. Feathers from the pillows covered the messy bed and smashed glass from framed photos sparkled from the sunlight shining through the window.
“What is it? Is he in there?” She tugged at his arm, her voice pitching to an unnatural octave.
Shifting to face her, he braced his hands on her biceps and forced her eyes to meet his.
“I don’t know, but it looks like someone trashed the room.
I need to take a quick peek to make sure Kevin isn’t injured inside, but I don’t want to disturb anything the sheriff’s department should see. Stand here and make the call.”
Eyes wide, she nodded.
While she got her phone, he made his way inside the room. He was careful not to touch anything as he circled around the king-sized bed. Red dots stained the carpet and tightened his stomach muscles. Clenching his jaw, he kept moving into the attached bathroom.
More mess greeted him. Smashed bottles and shattered glass. More droplets of what looked like blood.
But no Kevin.
He circled back to hallway and found Celine leaning against the wall with her phone pressed to her ear. He gave a tiny shake of his head to let her know Kevin was nowhere to be found.
“Okay, yes,” Celine said into the speaker. “We’ll stay here to talk to the deputy. Thank you.” She disconnected and blew out a long breath. “He’s not there?”
“No, but it looks like someone was in the room and wasn’t happy. The whole place is trashed.”
She covered her mouth with a shaky hand. “Do you think Kevin destroyed the room?”
His mind went straight to the blood spots on the floor.
She straightened, head tilted to the side. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Rubbing a palm over the scruff of his face, he debated the best way to lay things out. He didn’t want to scare her more than necessary but also didn’t want to hold anything back. “I can’t know for sure, but it looks like blood on the carpet and in the bathroom. Not a lot, just a few drops.”
She closed her eyes and crossed her arms around her waist. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
Seeing Celine so upset—again—was a blow he couldn’t handle. He reached between the space separating them and cupped a palm under her elbow, gently nudging her in his direction.
She took a step forward, opening her eyes and locking her gaze with his. Her lips parted as though she wanted to speak but no works came out. Tears leaked down her face.
His resolve to give her space snapped in half. He snaked his arm around the small of her back and crushed her against him.
She melted, sobs heaving her shoulders. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and fisted his t-shirt in her hands.
Seconds ticked by. He hated what brought this moment to light, but he couldn’t help but soak in the feel of her in his arms again. To memorize her every curve, the scent of her floral shampoo.
She sucked in a shuddering breath and stepped back, smoothing the front of his shirt. “I’m sorry. I’m not usually so emotional.”
“I already told you. No apologies, okay?”
She nodded. “Okay.”
A quick flick of his wrist told him they had ten minutes tops before someone from the sheriff’s department arrived. “I think we should comb through the house.”
She reared back her head. “What?”
“We don’t know what will happen when a deputy gets here.
They might tape the place up and make it a crime scene, or they could assume Kevin’s fine and will show up and do nothing.
But in case we get kicked out the minute a deputy shows up, we should see if there’s anything here that can tell us more about Kevin’s gambling. ”
She wrinkled her nose. “I hate the idea of snooping, but you’re right. Better to see for ourselves if there’s answers here then keep sitting on my hands and waiting to be told things.”
“Where should we start? Is there a place Kevin would hide things? Tuck away important information?”
“Either the office or bedroom.”
“The bedroom’s a mess, and I think we should keep that as is for the police.”
“Office it is.”
He followed her down the hall to the closed French doors that led to a large room decked out with leather-bound books, a massive cherry wood desk, and a couple of matching file cabinets. “Does he work out of the office at all? Or is this just for show?”
“He’d split his time pretty evenly between home and the office.” She flicked on the light and hurried to one of the file cabinets.
“And what does he do?” He hated asking about her ex-husband but he needed to know more about the other man if he wanted to get to the bottom of whatever the hell had happened to him.
Not like he gave two shits about the man.
But if his gambling problem led to Celine’s life being in danger, he had to connect the dots fast.
“He’s a certified public accountant.” She opened a drawer and thumbed through the manila folders. “This looks like work stuff. Tax information on clients and stuff.”
Lane pulled open the top drawer of the second cabinet. “Same here. No way we can go through all of this before police show up. Maybe look in the desk.”
Celine shifted to sit at the brown leather chair and poured through the contents.
He walked to the built-in shelves and studied the titles of the books, tugging on the bindings of certain tomes to see if anything lurked behind. “He have any trouble at work?”
Frowning, Celine dipped her fingers into the narrow top desk drawer. “I don’t think so. At least nothing he ever complained about. Why?”
“If he owed money and works in finance, he could have tried to embezzle money from clients or something. I mean, I’m not sure what all he did or if he handled their money. If he doesn’t show up soon, we may want to talk to his boss.”
“Bobbi’s a sweetheart,” Celine said, rolling back the chair to peer into the drawer. “She and I always got along. I’m sure she’d discuss whatever she could with us, but I don’t want to get him in trouble if this is a non-issue.”
He swallowed his frustration. He couldn’t care less about getting the asshole in trouble with his employer. From where he stood, Kevin deserved that and a whole lot more. “A conversation won’t hurt and could be beneficial. We’ll talk to her when we’re done here if you’re okay with that.”
“Sure.” She yanked back her hand and held out a matchbook. “That’s strange. Kevin doesn’t smoke. Why would he keep a matchbook?”
Lane glanced around the room. “I don’t see any candles for him to light either. Where’s the matchbook from?”
She flipped it over. “Wild Stallion Casino.”
“I guess we know at least one place he liked to blow his money. Makes sense,” he said. “I don’t remember hearing about this casino. Is it new?”
“A couple years old, just outside of town. There was a big uproar when the developers purchased some old ranch land. People were afraid it’d bring in the wrong crowd. Looks like it might have also brought out the worst in the ones already here.”
His mind worked over the information. A lot of people got caught up in the lights and glamor of casinos. Thought they’d be the lucky ones to hit it big and beat the house, making their fortune and setting themselves up for life.
Unfortunately, that rarely happened. But to get into as much debt as Kevin appeared to have wasn’t the norm either.
“Have you heard any rumblings about underground groups at this place?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Mafia type, cartel. Criminal organizations that make their money by preying on big spenders who can’t pay their tabs. If Kevin got caught up in something like that, there’s no telling how far their reach is or what they’d do to collect their payment.”
Her shoulders shook and fear tightened the lines of her face. “I’d have no clue if that was an issue. I wouldn’t even know how to find out, except for asking Kevin, who clearly isn’t around to answer any of our questions.”
The blast of the doorbell made his heart jump. “Sounds like a deputy’s here.”
“Let’s get this over with,” Celine said and stood. “Doesn’t look like there’s anything else sitting around to find anyway,”
Lane plucked the matchbook from her palm and pocketed it. “I think you found the most important piece. Besides, it gives us another angle we didn’t have before.” He led the way down the hall and stood to the side as Celine opened the door.
Deputy Sanders stood with a solemn face. “Sorry to keep meeting you guys this way. Can I come in?”
Celine let him in then closed the door behind him.
“Want to let me know what’s going on?”
Celine glanced at Lane with raised brows—making it obvious she didn’t want to be the one to relay the most recent events.
Lane cleared his throat and gained Sander’s attention before jumping into what they’d stumbled upon. “Kevin’s car is in the garage, and he didn’t answer when Celine called.”
“I agree things sound suspicious,” Sanders said.
“But not sure why you’re so concerned. The blood in the room could be from a cut.
The trashed kitchen and bedroom might just be Kevin having a bad day or two.
The sheriff’s department can’t do much unless it’s obvious foul play is involved.
I mean, I’ll look into it, obviously, and try to reach him.
But is there a reason to suspect this is more than Kevin going on a bender and making a mess? ”
“Kevin has a gambling problem,” Celine said with a heavy sigh.
“At least he did. He racked up a large debt last year. I don’t know if he paid it off or not.
I just packed my bags and left. Lane wanted to talk to him about it in connection with the recent attacks on me.
It’s the only thing we could think of that’s a little suspicious, even somewhat related to me. ”
Cringing, Sander’s scratched the back of his neck. “I was unaware of the gambling issue. Do you have any more details? Who he owed money? Where he gambled?”
“Not really, but it looks like he spent some time at Wild Horse Casino. I was oblivious to all of it until he came home in a rage one night.”
The slight tremor in her voice raised Lane’s blood pressure. “What do you mean by rage? You said he wasn’t a violent man. Did he hurt you?”
“He didn’t touch me, but he was upset. Scared.
He ran around the house searching for things of value to pawn off.
When he couldn’t find anything, he started throwing things at walls.
Glasses, picture frames, vases. I tried to calm him down, but it was like he couldn’t hear me—couldn’t see me.
When he finally cracked and told me what was going on, I was shocked.
I left and stayed with my mom and gave him one chance to make things right.
The next day, he’d drained our accounts. We never discussed it after that.”
Sanders let out a low whistle. “I wish you would have told me this other night.”
Lane might agree with Sanders, wishing she’d exposed the truth about Kevin’s bad habits earlier, but he didn’t agree with placing any kind of blame on Celine’s shoulders in this situation. She was the victim. Not responsible for someone else’s actions.
Besides, her ability to always see the best in people was one of his favorite qualities. One that hadn’t wavered since they were kids.
“You know now,” Lane said. “And Kevin is nowhere to be found.”
“Do you have any idea where he would go?” Sanders asked. “People he’d call?”
“His parents still live in town, and he has some buddies. A cousin he’s close to in the next county. I can get you phone numbers if that helps.”
“That’d be great. Excuse me for a second.
I’m going to call this in and see about getting some help to go through the house.
We don’t know how long Kevin’s been missing, but the department takes all missing persons cases seriously, regardless of the timeline and especially when they could be connected to another investigation. ”
“Are you making this an official crime scene?” Lane asked.
Sanders shrugged. “I don’t know. There’s no crime, that we know of, but the sheriff will want the place searched. You can stick around if you want, but it’d be best if you don’t disturb anything. Keep things the way you found them.”
Knowing there was nothing else they wanted to look for in the house, Lane rested a hand on the top of Celine’s shoulder. “There’s no reason for us to stay. Call if you find anything.”
“Will do,” Sanders said, securing his phone to call in the situation.
Lane steered Celine out of the house and back into the blinding heat. He hadn’t gotten to the bottom of things like he’d hoped, but at least he’d learned a few new details.
“What next?” Celine stayed close to his side as she descended the porch steps.
“Let’s pay Kevin’s boss a visit. See how deep into this shit he got before things hit the fan.”