Aiden, page 9
“And that sounds absolutely terrible,” Mountain said.
“It is, and why that asshole should be allowed to continue to ruin all these people’s lives, I don’t understand.” She scrubbed her face. “And now sleep couldn’t be further off after that phone call.”
He nodded. “I’m sorry that it just adds to all the stress you’re under.”
“What else is new?” she quipped.
“What about at work? Any stress there?”
She shook her head. “No more than usual. You know you have so many hours where you must be polite and keep up professional appearances at all times. The tourists come here to have fun, to let off some steam, and to make some money. They really aren’t interested in listening to rules.”
“Anybody in particular who caused trouble?”
She shook her head. “No. However, a couple guys I really enjoyed because they were nice and polite and always friendly,” she noted, “but you know, most of the time, it’s just a job. I’m there until I’m no longer there.”
“Got it,” he acknowledged.
“And nobody stands out. Just a couple nice guys but that’s it.”
“I’m surprised the nice guys stand out because the environment is so overcrowded, noisy, and full of the gambling spirit.”
“Anything separate from that does stand out,” she stated.
“Do you have any names for these guys?”
“How would I have names?” she asked, bewildered.
“If I pointed them out to you on a video, would you recognize them?”
“Sure,” she replied. “But they won’t be the guys you’re looking for.”
“Why’s that?” he asked.
“Because they’re nice guys. They’re not the ones who turn around and slice people’s throats for a few thousand dollars.”
He looked at her and gave her a hard knowing look. “Honest to God, I’ve seen people slice throats for a cup of coffee, so nothing surprises me anymore.”
Aiden walked away from his Jeep in complete darkness, totally comfortable in a world without lights. Once he got away from the strip, Aiden really appreciated the normal streetlights, instead of the neon blaring in his face to Come party all night long. He hated that whole Vegas strip environment. It was one thing to come for a holiday and to watch the evening shows and to enjoy some gambling, but it was another thing entirely to have it shoved down your face.
It wasn’t a place where he could ever live full-time. But, as an employer, the casinos required an awful lot of people in the city. And, as employees, they needed the income.
Aiden made it up to the apartment building in question, pulled out the duplicate key from where he’d been told it was hidden, and let himself into Moscow’s apartment. As Aiden stepped inside, he listened to see if anybody was here, but it was empty. And such a hollowness filled it. He flipped on the lights and looked around, but no crime scene tape was here—nothing like that. But then it wasn’t a crime scene either. It was just the residence of a dead man.
Aiden shook his head at the thought and walked first to the master bedroom. Most secrets would be kept in the bedroom. As he sat down on the bed to look into the night table, the box springs squeaked.
But he kept digging through the night table and found a series of condom packages that looked like jelly and a few other sex toy accoutrements, but nothing that really revealed much as to his murder. At the base of the night table was an open shelf, holding a couple books, but they looked like they hadn’t been touched in a very long time.
“Probably just for show,” Aiden said out loud. He knelt, so he could look under the bed, but nothing was there. He lifted the mattress and proceeded to check everything that he could to find anything important or of interest, but nada. He got up, walked to the closet, checked out the wardrobe, and whistled.
Lots of money involved in buying this clothing. Moscow liked to dress up, and he liked to dress well. Aiden always was amazed to see killers or guys full of abuse and drugs, yet who have that whole mentality about trying to pass themselves off as gentlemen. It seemed like they were almost hoping that the clothes would hide who they really were.
And the problem was that they became good at hiding who they were. And the women had no idea of the evil that resided within, until it was too late. It broke Aiden’s heart to realize just how badly Toby had been beaten. And that she’d been pressured into marrying Moscow. That she’d gone along with the agreement was another thing that stuck in Aiden’s craw.
He shook his head at that and carried on to the other side of the closet. A few things were stuck in the back, and he pulled out a shoe box, expecting to find shoes. However, when he opened it, it was full of cash. He whistled as he looked at it, not sure where any of it had come from. But again, taking your gambling winnings as cash—or spending a lot of time in the casinos, if you’re any good at gambling, knowing when to stop and when to move—could have brought Moscow a lot of income. Unreported income.
He took several photos of it and stashed it back into hiding in the closet. Theoretically that cash should belong to Toby now, as his widow, but Aiden didn’t know if Moscow had a will that said otherwise.
As Aiden continued his inspection of Moscow’s apartment, he didn’t find very much else in the bedroom. The bedroom itself was perfectly made up. It had this swinger vibe, with the black satin sheets—that Aiden couldn’t imagine would be Toby’s style. But then this place didn’t have anything to do with her necessarily; it seemed to be more about her being what Moscow wanted.
With a last look, Aiden stepped into the master bathroom, did a quick check, and then headed out to the living room. A small desk sat off to the side. He took a seat, pulled open the desk drawer to find folders upon folders. Frowning at that, he brought out a handful based on the names on those files and took a look inside and just stared. “Good God, talk about finding gold.”
He opened them up and took photos, and, just when he was done with the first file and heading into the second, he heard a noise in the outer hallway. Frowning at that, he closed the desk drawer, stood, and stepped behind the front door, still holding the folders of importance. Everything he’d seen so far showed that this Moscow guy was into blackmail, and his blackmail scheme was a bigger source of income for Moscow than probably his gambling was.
But it was also a good way to get himself killed.
All Aiden could think of at this moment in time—as he waited to see where the footsteps outside were leading to—was that this was a hell of a lot stronger motive than a wife who didn’t want to be a wife.
Just then Aiden heard voices outside too. “This is the one,” a man said outside the door.
Aiden swore softly under his breath and waited. When the doorknob rattled and was found to be locked, he heard tools being brought out, then something inserted into the lock.
Just as he expected the door to open, a woman’s voice called out, “Hey, you! What are you doing there?”
Chapter 7
Toby woke from a deep sleep with a start. Something was wrong. She looked around the room but couldn’t see anything. She turned the lights on but saw nothing wrong. She bolted downstairs, only to have Mountain say in a calm voice, “Hey. What’s up?”
She gasped, tried to calm her breathing, and said, “Something is wrong.”
He sat up slowly, looked at her, and asked, “In what way? No intruders are here. I haven’t heard anything myself to be concerned about.”
She stopped and stared. “I can’t get rid of that feeling,” she explained, and then she spun around in a circle. “Where is Aiden?”
Mountain stood, pulled out his phone, and checked the screen. “He’s still at your ex’s.”
She winced at the term and nodded. “It’s him,” she said. “Something’s wrong with Aiden.”
Mountain focused on her curiously.
She couldn’t figure out what the hell was wrong, yet the feeling remained. “I don’t know what exactly,” she cried out. “It’s just that feeling.”
“Well, I can send him a text, but it might disturb him.”
She frowned. “He’ll have it on Silent, won’t he?”
“He should, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t vibrate or do something that could still bring attention to him.”
She sagged onto the couch. “Something’s wrong,” she repeated.
He nodded. “I’ll send him a text message.” He did, and they both waited, staring at the phone. When no response came, she said, “See? There’s a problem.”
“Not so sure about that,” Mountain countered. “Aiden is a big boy.”
“He might be a big boy, but everybody gets into trouble.” As he continued to stare at her, she flushed. “I don’t know. It just feels like something’s wrong.”
“And I can go with that, your gut instinct,” he confirmed. “I am quite fascinated, however, that you’re picking up something on him.”
She glared at her cousin. “I like him, but, I mean, obviously we don’t have a relationship.”
He laughed, lifted his phone, and waggled it at her. “This text right here, if you’re correct, is already quite a connection.”
She shook her head. “Got nothing to do with him so much as the fact that I just know there’s a problem.”
“Well, you can delude yourself all you want.”
“No deluding,” she muttered, staring off in the distance. “I already told you that I like him. But that’s a long way away from having a relationship.”
“You also don’t know what a healthy relationship looks like.” At that, she turned and stared. “I mean, Moscow has dominated your world for a very long time.”
Her shoulders sagged, and she nodded, her voice barely a whisper. “I know. It’s been a really rough time.”
“Whereas a relationship with Aiden would be perfectly healthy,” he noted in a cheerful voice.
She stared at him. “Are you telling me that you approve of such a thing?” she asked in a mocking tone.
“Absolutely. He’d never do something shitty to you.”
“Well, that would be reassuring.” Toby studied her cousin intently. “But it’s a long way away from you agreeing with something like that.”
He smiled. “I’m no longer quite so protective,” he explained. “A lot of that back then was just the fact that you were going through a really rough patch with your parents, plus I was going through a really rough patch with my parents. I think it tainted our views of what relationships should be like.”
“Yeah. And, of course, you’ve been just so happy on that relationship roller coaster ride ever since, right?”
“No, not me,” he stated. “Not likely to be a relationship in my future either.”
“So, why would you want that for me?”
“I wouldn’t. I would want something a hell of a lot better,” he replied forcefully. “And Aiden is a hell of a lot better.”
“Well, Aiden is here to help out. I’m sure he’s not thinking about me in that way at all.”
At that, her cousin burst out laughing. “He’s male. That means he always thinks about it.”
She shrugged. “Is that all you guys think about—sex?”
“No, surely not,” he teased. “Pizza is at the top of my list too.” As he spied the box with the leftovers on the coffee table, he leaned over and grabbed a piece.
“Don’t you want to warm that up?” she asked, staring at the congealed cheese, feeling her stomach twist.
“Nope. It’s perfectly fine like this. Cold pizza is a food group all unto itself.”
“Yeah. One likely to mess up your system.”
“Not mine. Again I’m male. We run on this stuff.”
She smiled at him. “It really is nice to see you again.”
“Good. Once you hook up with Aiden, we’ll see each other all the time.”
She stared. “Why?”
“Because we’re buddies, and we see each other, maybe not as much as we should,” Mountain admitted, grimacing. “But, until I get something solved in my life, I can’t really be here, having the barbecues in the backyards and lazy Sunday afternoons beside the pool.”
“Yet that sounds lovely,” she said, with a smile. “And you are right. It’s not exactly something we have available for us right now.”
“No. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t what’s coming.”
After a few minutes of quiet time, she nudged him. “Check your phone.”
He looked at her and said, “It hasn’t buzzed.”
“Check it,” she repeated mutinously.
“You’re really bothered, aren’t you?”
“I am.” She jumped to her feet. “Maybe we should go there.”
Mountain rose, frowning. “That’s not a good idea.”
“Leaving him on his own right now is not a good idea either,” she said. “Something is wrong.”
He frowned, pulled out his phone, and sent another text. “We’ll give him another few minutes. … How far away is Moscow’s place?”
“About a five-minute drive from here,” she stated. “His sister is pretty close as well. All of us live within the same ten-block area. However, if there were a problem, we are just far enough away that we can’t get to Aiden fast enough though.”
“I trust Aiden to handle whatever he’s up against.”
“Says you,” she said, and she couldn’t stop this feeling of danger. It was just getting worse and worse.
Finally Mountain gave in. “Fine. For your sake and your sake only, let’s go.”
As they went outside, she noted, “We’ll have to take my Jeep.”
“Good, at least I can sit in that.”
She snorted. “I’m not much shorter than you are.”
“Oh, hell yes, you are,” he argued. “I’m six foot six.”
“Okay. Fine, so I’m only five ten and a half.”
He smiled. “Has your height ever given you a problem?”
“No, not really.” she said, “but it is much nicer to go out with tall guys when you’re tall.”
“And Aiden is tall,” Mountain said, with a cheeky smile. She glared at him, when he added, “Hey, look. We’re going to Moscow’s. And we’re going there right now just because you’re afraid something has gone wrong.”
“Something has gone wrong,” she stated, as she reversed the Jeep back down the driveway and headed over to where Aiden should be.
As they got closer, Mountain noted, “Now I don’t want you to do anything stupid right now. We’ll do a quick reconnaissance first.” But, as they pulled up closer, cops were across the street. She gasped and pointed. He nodded grimly. “Cops,” he acknowledged, “but no flashing lights. So … what does that mean? They chose to come now and check out Moscow’s apartment? Seems rather belated. Does Moscow have more than one place?”
She nodded. “He does. I wonder if the cops didn’t know about this one.”
“How often did he stay here?”
“Not that often,” she said. “He kept rooms right off the strip because of the gambling sites. He went back and forth.”
“So, maybe this is a secondary place that the cops just discovered.”
“I don’t even know if his father knows about this one.”
“And that would be another reason why maybe the cops just found out about it.”
“It could be,” she agreed, “but still it’s awfully late at night.”
“Well, the father has probably already been here or sent them here to do their job.”
She nodded. “Which sounds very much like him.” As they watched, she added, “No sign of Aiden.”
“If he’s in the apartment right now, he’s in trouble, but again I trust …”
She gasped, then pointed to the second floor, where somebody climbed out the window. He dropped down what looked like a drainpipe to the ground. “Good God, how is that even possible?”
“Well, that’s Aiden,” Mountain replied, “so it’s definitely possible.”
As the man bolted around the next building, she immediately started up the Jeep and followed him. “What about his vehicle?”
“It’ll be here, not too close by,” Mountain noted. And even as he said that, they came around the block to see him hop into the rental. She flashed her headlights at him. He turned, saw them, lifted a hand in a surprise greeting, and pulled up toward them. She pulled up beside him.
Aiden looked at Mountain. “What’s the matter?”
Mountain shook his head and pointed. “Her.”
At that, Mountain leaned back so that Toby could look directly at Aiden. “Something was wrong,” she stated, staring at him in astonishment. “We came because I insisted.”
“Sure, something was wrong,” Aiden agreed. “But I’m certainly not used to people coming to help out.”
At that, she shrugged.
“Let’s talk at home,” he said. And with that, he quickly pulled out in front of her.
She followed him back to her place at a more sedate pace. “What kind of a life is it when nobody expects somebody to come and help out?”
“You should know,” her cousin said, beside her, “because that’s how you’ve been living too.”
And there wasn’t a whole lot she could say to that.
Aiden pulled up in the front of Toby’s house, hopped out, and walked up to the front door. He was still a little flummoxed at the idea of her forcing Mountain out because she was worried. That would have taken some effort because Mountain was not the kind of guy to panic. As they followed him to the front door, he murmured something along that line to Mountain.
She immediately jumped into the conversation. “He only came because I insisted. Honestly I had just such a strong terrible feeling that I could not just sit around and do nothing.”
“Well, much appreciated,” Aiden replied. “However, you know if you’d done anything more about it and had gone into the building or had talked to the cops, it could have gotten me in a lot of trouble.”
