29. Chapter Twenty-Nine
Searching through someone else’s things is starting to make me feel really uncomfortable. Maybe it’s more disturbing because I’m searching Cameron’s room, and the things that I’m finding are making me realise that there is something really strange about this guy.
Kat, Brad and I turned up at Callie’s about an hour ago. After a quick drink and a breakfast roll, we were all designated rooms to search.
I’ve been here for about thirty minutes. I’ve searched his walk-in wardrobe which was easily the size of my own bedroom; in there, I found a large black duffel bag that was almost filled to the brim with needles and little glass jars containing fentanyl and midazolam. There was also a whole collection of knives.
I made sure not to touch anything and I captured some pictures before quickly moving on. I remember Callum mentioning that they’d get drugged before they were put in the basement, so I’m assuming the contents in the duffel bag are what they used.
After that, I’d moved onto his bedside cabinets that were pressed against both sides of his king-sized bed. I cringed as soon as I spotted a bunch of condoms inside the top drawer and slammed it shut. When I checked the other one, there was a picture of Callie when she was younger, standing with who I assume is her mother. There were slash marks across the picture, and it was wrinkled and torn as if someone had screwed it up plenty of times.
Now, I’m searching through his chest of drawers, checking if there’s any fake bottoms in the drawers or anything stuck to the side. I’ve searched two and thankfully come up empty-handed so far.
“Woah, he’s got a PS4 in here. Dude, we should take this!” I roll my eye, close the drawer that I was looking through, and then turn around to glower at Brad.
“We’re not taking anything. We’re meant to be searching for anything that might be helpful,” I snap.
“Oh, come on. I’ve been searching Derek’s room for ages. There’s nothing in there apart from normal stuff that every other middle-aged man has in their room. I’m bored, Nate,” he whines, flopping backward on the bed like a sulking teenager.
“Be glad that you haven’t found anything in his room. I’d gladly swap rooms because this room is starting to give me the creeps.”
“Why? What have you found?” All playfulness has left him now and he’s leaning on his elbow, watching me with inquisitive eyes.
“Where do I start,” I mutter, walking over and sitting beside him on the bed. “There’s needles, drugs and knives in his wardrobe. Condoms in one of his bedside tables and a picture of Callie in the other one, pretty sure he’s stabbed the picture a few times.”
His brows rise as his eyes go wide. I nod, silently telling him that I’m being truthful and I haven’t said that as some sort of sick joke.
“Drugs as in weed? Or something stronger?”
I sigh and shake my head, “Something much stronger. I’d estimate about a dozen bottles of fentanyl and something called midazolam.”
His eyes narrow and he pulls out his phone, typing something in once it’s unlocked.
“Holy shit!” He pushes his phone in front of my face, almost whacking me with it. I pull it out of his hands and read the article that he’s pulled up on Google.
“So they’re the drugs that Callie, Connor, and Callum must be injected with all the time.”
“Duh, why else would he have sedatives,” Brad deadpans. I ignore his snarky comment and continue to read through the paragraphs until I find the one for the side effects that the drugs may cause. There’s at least twenty different side effects for each drug.
“You think they mixed them together or used them separately?” I ask, handing Brad his phone back before pulling my own from my pocket.
“Are they safe to be mixed together?” I shrug in response to his question and stand from the bed as I press the call button on my phone, pacing back and forth across the room as I wait for the call to connect.
“Hey, kiddo. This will have to be a quick call. I’m busy at the moment,” my dad says as soon as the call is connected.
“Okay, just an update. We’ve found some fentanyl and midazolam. I’m assuming that’s what Cameron and Derek have been using to sedate Callie and the twins. I haven’t touched anything, but I have taken pictures and sent them over to you. We’re gonna keep looking for anything else.” I end the call before he can reply, eager to try and find more now that it’s been confirmed that the drugs were used on my girl and my friends.
“Help me search the rest of this room, and then we’ll go look through the guest room afterwards.” Brad jumps up and follows me over to the chest of drawers.
“There’s nothing here,” Brad grumbles, tossing a box of papers over his shoulder and letting them spill out across the room.
“There must be. Who hides boxes filled with paperwork in a guest bedroom unless there is something important within the box? It doesn’t make sense,” Kat snaps back, ruffling through stacks of paper.
“He has a point, Kat. We’ve searched through six boxes already, and there’s nothing suspicious or incriminating on any of these papers.” She glares at me and huffs in frustration before turning her attention back to the papers in her hand.
“Do you two know that Ryker’s downstairs with Callie at the moment? All alone in her father’s office whilst the twins have gone to get some food,” she says in a teasing tone.
Brad whips around to face her, a scowl painted on his face. She giggles when she peers over her shoulder and sees his reaction.
“If you’re planning to share her, Brad, then you need to stop with the jealousy.”
“I’m not jealous, but I am hungry so I think I might go downstairs for a little while.”
I laugh as he starts ambling his way out of the room.
“Connor and Callum have gone to get food. Just stay here until they get back if you’re hungry.”
“I’m not hungry. I’m thirsty. I’m just gonna go get a drink!” With that, he rushes out of the room.
“What has happened to our friend? He was so gruff and rude with other people before. Now look at him, he’s acting like some sort of buffoon.”
“He likes Callie a lot. He’s just being himself, Kat. We can’t fault him for that. He also seems to have a slight obsession with Ryker, so I’m going to guess that his infatuation is making him act irrational,” I tell her, chuckling softly as I pick up some of the papers scattered across the floor to help her.
“Are you open to the whole sharing thing as well?” she asks, turning to face me as I lean against the desk that she’s sitting at.
“I think I might be open to it. We’ve seen Brad’s parents make it work, so it’s not like it’s a bizarre thing, and Callie’s interested in all three of us. I think we could make it work if we got to know Ryker better and if we each were all able to spend quality time with Callie… Brad told me that he has spoken to her about it and he thinks that she’d be open to it, so maybe we could give it a go.”
“I wasn’t asking if you’d be into sharing her like that, Nate.”
My brows furrow, “What do you mean then?”
She scoffs and shakes her head. “Honestly, Nate, sometimes I wonder how I’m still a virgin and you’re not.”
My eyes grow wide. “Oh, you mean sharing her like that with them.” I feel my cheeks warm from embarrassment. “Uh, I, well…” Kat howls with laughter, almost falling off her chair.
“Stop! Stop talking,” she croaks out between breaths, “Please, don’t say any more. I don’t actually want an answer to that! Just think about it yourself, dude.”
I push her shoulder and then curse before quickly scrambling to grab her arm as she begins to topple backward. I don’t grab her in time and she lands with a thud and a groan against the carpeted floor.
“Shit, I didn’t mean to do that!” I tell her, reaching forward and offering her my hand to help her up. She slaps my hand away and tips her head to the side, squinting her eyes as she looks at something. Her brows furrow as she crawls towards the desk, pushing the chair out of her way and sticking her head underneath.
“Are you ok? Did you hit your head or something?” She shakes her head and crawls backward, pulling herself up with the help of my outstretched hand.
“Nate, when Callum and Connor get home, I need you to discreetly bring them up here,” she says in a serious and calm tone. “Don’t say anything to anyone else. Just tell them to come to this room.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
When she doesn’t answer me, I bend down, attempting to look under the desk myself but she grabs a hold of my shoulders and pulls me away.
“Kat, what the fuck is under there?”
She shakes her head and flicks her gaze to the open door that leads out to the hallway.
“I don’t think this was just Derek’s hiding place. I think their brother may have used this room as well, or maybe their mum, I’m not sure…” she whispers, trailing off when her eyes land on the desk again.
“Okay, and what makes you think that?” I ask impatiently.
“There’s an adoption certificate taped to the underneath of the desk, along with a birth certificate.” She slowly walks over to the doorway, peeking her head outside to scan the hallway before she faces me again. “From what I saw, I think it might be Cameron’s or Callie’s birth certificate.”
“Okay, so why am I gonna get Connor and Callum up here? I thought you’d seen a gun or a chopped-off body part or something, Kat! You had me freaked out.”
“Shut up!” She rushes over to me and clamps her hand over my mouth. “I’m whispering about it and acting like this because they’re taped underneath a desk in the bloody guest bedroom,” she hisses. “They’re obviously hidden for a reason, you idiot!”
When I scrunch my face up in confusion, she releases her hold over my mouth and sighs, rolling her eyes and muttering something about my intelligence.
“Think about this logically, Nate. They’ve mentioned to us that they suspect Callie may not be Derek’s child. There is also what I think is Cameron’s birth certificate under there, and I don’t want to know why. So, either Cameron has hidden those there for some reason, or their mother hid them there knowing they would expose her secrets if they were found.” She flicks me when she finishes speaking and checks the hallway again to make sure no one can overhear her.
“Okay, that makes sense now… but shouldn’t I go downstairs and get Callie as well then?”
“Oh my, honestly, Nate. You’re acting so dim right now. You’re usually smart, especially when it comes to situations like this where you have to consider people”s emotions and mental state. Callie isn’t in a good headspace at the moment, and I don’t want her to find out about this if it’s something bad. If we get the twins to come up here and check it out, then they can decide what to do about it.”
“Well, this sounds interesting.”
Kat and I jump, squealing in surprise. We both look over at the doorway to see Ryker standing there, leaning against the door and raising a thick, questioning brow at us.
Oh, shit.