AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The way he squinted at Casper told him the other man had also forgotten to put on his glasses after hurrying out of bed to answer the door. It also meant the other man hadn’t recognized Persy standing several feet behind him in the hallway.
“Do you know what time of the morning it is?” Jonathan Walker complained as he absently scratched the slightly graying hair visible on his chest above the red top.
“Yes,” Casper confirmed lightly. “And now that you’re out of bed I would like you to tell me if there have been any new tenants moving in recently or if anyone in the building is away on holiday?”
“Who the hell are you?” He glared belligerently. “Whoever you are, you can’t just randomly come in here off the street demanding to know—”
“Actually, I can,” Casper assured him with deceptive mildness. “In fact, I just did. Now are you going to answer me nicely, or do we have to go the difficult route?”
The man looked startled. “There’s no need to take on that aggressive tone.”
Even the thought of this man flirting with Persy and asking her out was enough to make Casper feel feral. “Then answer the fucking question,” he grated from between clenched teeth.
“You—”
* * *
“Jonathan, this gentleman is with me.” Persy intervened on a conversation that was rapidly heading toward violence if someone didn’t put a stop to it. “I would be very grateful if you could answer Mr. Kingston’s questions.” She gave Jonathan a reassuring smile as he peered up at her.
“Persy…? It is you!” Jonathan’s gaze flicked briefly to Casper before returning to her. “And Mr. Kingston is a friend of yours, is he?”
Persy wasn’t sure what Casper was to her. “Yes, he is.” Easier to just confirm that description than go into any details that were none of Jonathan’s business in the first place. “So, if you could just answer his questions?”
After hearing those questions, she now had an inkling of where Casper’s thoughts might have gone regarding Martyna Morozova’s disappearance. If he was right, then it was sheer genius on Martyna’s part.
“Let me think…” Jonathan appeared flustered. “None of the present tenants are on holiday, but we did have a new tenant move in a week ago.”
“Which apartment?” Casper demanded.
“I can’t just give out—” Jonathan broke off with a garbled squeak as he suddenly found himself pinned against the wall, Casper’s uninjured hand about his throat. “Mr. Rezcov is a very pleasant man, and he’s been a good tenant so far—”
“Polish or Russian?”
“Polish, I think. But he could be Russian. We don’t have any discrimination here regarding where a person comes from,” he blustered.
“Never said you did,” Casper bit out. “Which apartment?”
“Just answer him, Jonathan,” Persy encouraged when he gave her another look of appeal.
“4b,” he muttered sulkily.
“There, now wasn’t that easier than having your windpipe crushed?” Casper soothed as he released the other man and stepped back to wipe his hand on his jeans. “Are you feeling up to a jog up the stairs to the fourth floor?” he inquired as he and Persy strolled toward the stairwell at the side of the building.
“With a hundred-and-fifty-pound pack on my back, if necessary,” she assured cheerfully.
“Show-off!”
The two of them chuckled together as they took the stairs two at a time to the third floor.
“Is it really going to be this easy, do you think?” Persy murmured once they were standing outside the door of Apartment 4b. “And who the hell is Mr. Rezcov?”
“We’re about to find out.” Casper pressed his thumb against the doorbell and once again kept it there.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The moment the apartment door swung open, Casper had an answer to that question as he instantly recognized the tall and muscular man as being one of the bodyguards Vadim Morozov had brought with him to the Kingston Security offices two days ago.
A good-looking bastard, in a cold and glittering silver-eyed sort of way.
