Chapter 45
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Titus rushed back to command central, eager to share the information he found. He prayed that it wasn’t too late to help find Emelia. His mind was going a million miles an hour trying to piece together the puzzle of Roger Stein and his son.
What was the connection to the bakery? Why now? Most importantly, was Emelia safe, well, as safe as she could be? How was she holding up? Would they find her in time?
The one thing he knew was that Emelia’s life was in grave danger. There was no reason to kidnap her for money. She didn’t have much. But again, who kidnaps a simple baker? That part didn’t make sense. What could they possibly want? A secret recipe? One didn’t resort to kidnapping for a recipe. He knew Emelia would have willingly given it if it meant saving her life.
Finally, Titus arrived at the center and turned off his truck, taking a minute to gather his thoughts.
He glanced at the clock. Was it only noon? How had life become so complicated in just a few hours? The weight of not being able to protect Emelia hit him like a sack of bricks. He felt like a failure. Some security guard he was. Why hadn’t he done more? What else could he have done with the information they had at the time? Nothing, really.
A knock on his window startled him out of his self-pitying thoughts. Colt stood there with a concerned look on his face.
Opening the door, Titus stepped out of the truck.
“I know that look,” Colt said.
“What look?”
“That self-doubt look, wondering if you could have done more. The feeling that you’ve failed.” Colt lightly punched Titus’s shoulder. “That’s what happens when you’re in love, my friend. But let me just say this: There wasn’t anything you could have done differently, and nothing could have prevented what happened.”
“But…” Titus started to protest. Didn’t Colt understand? He should have glued himself to Emelia. Had more men watching her back. Anything that would have prevented her from being taken.
“No buts,” Colt interrupted. “I’ve been there. It hurts. But the best thing you can do for yourself, and Emelia, is to concentrate on getting her back and then showing her how much you love her.”
“But…” Titus started again.
Colt glared at him. “If you ‘but’ me one more time, I’m gonna punch your lights out,” Colt warned and then got into Titus’s face. “Listen to me, asshole. There is nothing you could have done to stop this.” With each word, Colt poked Titus in the chest. “Trust me. I know.”
Titus stared at his friend. Colt was right. He remembered how distraught Colt was when Isabelle and Felicia were kidnapped.
“Do Emelia’s friends know she’s been kidnapped?” he asked Colt.
“Yes. I told them earlier.”
“They’re ready to help in any way possible.” Colt continued walking towards the front door. “As am I.” Colt turned and asked, “I hope you found something that might be helpful.”
Fuck. He’d almost forgotten the box because he was so wrapped up in self-pity. Titus reached into the truck and grabbed it.
“There’s helpful information here,” he said, catching up to Colt.
They walked to Chase’s office. The center was quiet this time of day. Melissa didn’t have a class going. Titus made a note to ask her how Leo was doing. The pup likely missed Emelia, too. Jennie and Ava were out for lunch, which was a relief, since Titus didn’t want to talk to anyone else.
Following voices in command central, Titus dropped the box on the table. Colt opened his laptop. Chase was on the phone, and Finn, Ryker, Ford and Zach were quietly talking. They looked up when Titus walked in.
“How’re you holding up, man?” asked Zach.
Titus pulled out one chair and sat. “I’ve been better.”
“We’re going to get your woman back,” said Finn. “Chase is talking to Tex right now.” He gave him a chin-up. “What did you find? Anything to help us?”
Chase hung up the phone. “I sure hope you have something that I can pass on to Tex.”
Titus emptied the box on the table. He’d separated the papers back at the apartment. “This box belonged to Roger Stein. I believe his son Timothy is behind the kidnapping. I found an angry letter from Tim to his father about feeling betrayed. He thought the bakery would be his eventually. I put the receipts for the bakery in one pile. Another pile has newspaper clippings. It seems as if Timothy had sticky fingers. He was put in juvie when he stole from his father, who had him arrested.”
Finn picked up a clipping. “Yeah. It looks like good ol’ Tim liked to steal. Here, the police report says he was sentenced to two years in jail.” He read the rest of the report. “Tim is eighteen at this point.”
“Okay, we need to make a list of what we know and what we need to know,” said Chase. “Colt, can you take notes?”
Colt nodded. They all took clippings and made suggestions.
“We need to know more about Tim’s time in jail. I bet he’s a career criminal. How long was he in the joint?” asked Finn.
Then the men threw out questions as they read the clippings.
“Where did he serve his time, and when did he get out?”
“Where is he now? Did Roger own any properties where Tim could be?”
“Who were or are his friends?”
“Why did he kidnap Emelia? What does she have to do with him?”
“Why does he want the bakery after all this time?”
Ford looked up. “I believe I know the answer to that. It’s rumored Tim stole a great deal of money. Maybe he hid something in the bakery.”
“If he did, it’s no longer there. I thoroughly inspected that storage area. Besides, the bakery has been remodeled countless times,” Titus said, “making it impossible to find anything.” He shook his head. “If it’s even there.”
Colt held up his hand. “We have a good start. I can only access a few of these records. Tex has the potential to retrieve jail records for information on his sentence duration, parole officer and if he had any cellmates.”
“Colt, why don’t you take a little time and get what information you can,” said Chase. “Then I’ll call Tex.”
An hour later, Colt was able to access a few more news clippings that weren’t in the box and read them out loud.
“It sounds like neighbors and shopkeepers next to the bakery were asked about Timothy. No one mentioned his name specifically or said anything negative, but the implication was that Tim was a psychopath who wasn’t above revenge,” said Colt.
He looked up from his computer. “One shopkeeper he stole from pressed charges against him. One night, someone snuck into his shop and poisoned the man’s cat. The shopkeeper had the cat there to catch mice.”
Colt shook his head. “The article hints that Roger supposedly paid the man to keep quiet.”
“I bet Tim is a psychopath and probably terrorized people he stole from so they wouldn’t call the police,” said Chase.
In fact, when they reexamined the receipts and ledgers, it turned out Roger had a second ledger that listed a lot of money spent on lawyers and miscellaneous things. Items that had nothing to do with a bakery. Money that he apparently used to pay people off.
“I bet a forensic accountant would have a ball with this,” Ryker said.
“That’s something for another day,” replied Chase. “Colt, do you have any information on property Roger owned?”
Colt shook his head. “The only thing in his name was a house he sold before he went into assisted living. He’s since passed away. There’s no address listed for Tim.”
“Damn.” Chase shook his head. “Time’s running out. I’m calling Tex. You boys continue to look for any clues.”
Titus’s stomach dropped. For sure, he was certain they’d find some nugget that would help them. He closed his eyes, sending love and comforting thoughts to Emelia.