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I squint my eyes at him because he knows damn well, I wasn’t leaving that house.
He chuckles, “Didn’t think so.”
“You think you’re so funny.” I taunt as I start to move up the aisle toward the pastas. “Let’s see how funny you are when I leave you at this grocery store.”
“Whatever you say, Elise.” I can hear the laughter in his tone as he calls my bluff.
chapter Twenty-four
I Know You
Beast
I glance down at the picture Summer just sent.
When I gave her my cell number, it was only for emergencies. No one has this number. Other than the phone I used to call in a cleaning crew, I don’t use personal cellphones often. I’m not really the calling and texting type. Yet, the odd fluttery and empty feeling in my stomach every time my phone vibrates says otherwise.
I hit the back light on the screen again to re-illuminate the picture she sent. It’s a selfie of her and Gabe lying in his bed. I can tell he’s getting ready to go to sleep because he’s in his pajamas with a silk bonnet on his head. They are both smiling at the phone with their faces close together.
I get that feeling again, the empty stomach one. I had it all day today as I spent time with Summer running errands, even though I had more pressing things to handle.
My phone lights up again, this time with a text message.
Summer: He wanted to say goodnight.
A voice memo pops up and I press play. My son’s voice comes through my phone.
“Good night, Hulk. See you in the morning.”
I shut my eyes as my pulse races. This feeling is new. One I’ve never experienced before. I wish I had my brother Lucien here to help me figure it out. It’s like my body is out of whack. My brain is fuzzy but still alert. I get the same feeling when I’m near them.
Opening my eyes, I touch the microphone on my text box.
“Goodnight, Gabe.” Once I’m done with my voice message, I hit send then place my phone in my pocket.
Going back to my laptop, I once again recheck that I’ve disabled the camera system on the house in front of me along with the alarm system. Once I’ve verified my coast is clear, I place the computer back in my bag and slide on my black gloves. Slinging the black duffle over my shoulder I make my way into the large home of Timothy Smith.
The man was still out of the country for the next two weeks, but I wanted to check his home for anything that might give me an idea of how he’s connected to the Church.
The house is as grand as one would think a CEO of a Fortune 500 company with old money would have. This is the home he shares with his wife of thirty years. Timothy has two more places in New York, one he shares with his mistress and the other he uses for his temporary flings.
I knew if I wanted to get the most information about him, I would need to check this one first. I entered from the back of the house through the glass French doors into the family room. To my left is an open kitchen.
I make my way through the downstairs area, not really focusing on the decorations. I check the three main bedrooms on the first floor before going into the office. The space is basic. Cherry wood bookshelves and leather furniture.
I rummage through his drawers finding the basics, business and finance logs, a couple of bills, and some receipts. I close the drawers and look on the desk for more information. Hidden under a folder is a black envelope. The front is made out to Timothy but there is no return address.
Opening the envelope, I pull out a black rectangular paper with gold trim. In gold fancy lettering are the words. ‘You’re Invited.” The date at the bottom of the letter was two months ago.
Whatever event he was invited to has passed, yet he held on to the invitation. Even though there is a shredder in the corner that looks full of shredded documents.
His office and desk are clean and well organized. So why would a man keep an invitation like this if the event has passed? It leads me to believe this invitation is important to him.
Flipping the card over for any more information, I come up short. No details of the event or location. Studying the card a little further, something catches my eye in the bottom left corner.
I pull my phone out of my pocket and turn on the flashlight shining it against the black card. Embezzled into the card is a capital R with a thorny crown above it. I have no idea what it means. I’ve never seen it before, but I documented the image in my memory.
Placing the card back in its envelope, I place it back where I got it. My next stop is to his computer. I start up the laptop and plug in the hard drive I brought with me. The first and easiest trick I learned from Lucien was how to break into basically any personal laptop. Once you start trying to break into large corporate networks it gets harder, but someone’s personal computer is lightweight.
