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Even if he never got to see Paris with Edward, he made a promise to himself to return. The adventure he had with Edward had already proved in his mind that he could tackle so much more travel than he’d ever attempted before, and he wasn’t going to put it off any longer. The world was too big to miss out on.
Kevin Jones’s apartment was located across the Seine in the eighth arrondissement, not far from the Champs-Élysées. The place made Daniel’s look like a hovel. Cathedral ceilings with wall-to-wall windows let in tons of sunlight over the plush, gray couch and loveseat. Throw pillows in black and white added accents to the monochrome room.
“Holy shit. I am in an Audrey Hepburn movie,” Daniel whispered to himself as he slowly walked through the place, his shoes echoing off the exquisite parquet floor.
“What?” Edward chuckled.
“Please tell me you’ve seen Charade,” Daniel replied, nearly moaning.
“Can’t say that I have.”
Daniel shook his head and continued to look around the main parlor before wandering into the kitchen. “Audrey Hepburn returns home from a Swiss skiing vacation to find her beautiful Paris apartment completely emptied by her husband who was discovered dead while attempting to flee the country. All these people are chasing after her, trying to steal the money that her dead husband stole, and she’s working with Cary Grant to find the money. And Cary Grant’s got all these secret identities and fake names.”
Edward walked up behind Daniel, wrapping his arm around his middle and pulling him tight against his front. “I thought you said this was a James Bond movie. Isn’t James Bond sexier?”
“Mmmm…depends on which Bond we’re talking about.” Daniel leaned back against Edward and smiled up at him. “And then we gotta consider Cary Grant.” He gave a somewhat dreamy sigh. “I came out to my mom over Cary Grant.”
“How’s that?”
“At the end of Charade, I told my mom that I wanted to marry Cary Grant.”
“How old were you?”
“Nine.”
“What did she say?”
Daniel smiled, basking a little in the memory. “She kissed my cheek and said, ‘Don’t we all.’ ”
Edward pressed a kiss to his temple. “Your mom sounds awesome.”
“She is.”
The bloom of happiness faded almost as quickly as it came. His mom was amazing and accepting. He wanted to introduce Edward to both of his parents and his sisters, but that wasn’t going to happen. They weren’t dating. With his work, he’d never really be free.
Clearing his throat, Daniel stepped away from Edward. “We should probably start looking around so we can get to dinner on time.”
“Good idea.”
Daniel backtracked to the living room. A thin film of dust lay untouched over everything. No one had been here in quite some time. It made Daniel worry they wouldn’t find anything useful.
“So, we just search everywhere that could be a possible hiding place?” Daniel asked as he stood in the middle of the room, hands on his hips.
“We do. He could have things hidden anywhere.” Edward started checking behind the framed prints and other art on the walls. “Look under the furniture. One place I searched years ago had a safe right under the couch.”
Daniel shoved aside the couch, then the chairs. He looked under and in cushions before moving on to every cabinet in the bright, white kitchen. He pushed on the walls in the pantry and even opened coffee cans and boxes of dried foods. That was where he would have hidden things.
Edward was just as methodical as he searched everything in the posh apartment. He even pulled out all the air vent covers.
Hours later, they’d torn the apartment apart and found only a couple of guns and several passports. Daniel couldn’t believe how much he looked like the agent—he could easily use any of the IDs.
Edward cursed and paced the man’s bedroom. They’d overturned the mattress and piled all the bedding onto the floor. Every piece of wall art was off the walls, and everything down to the lamps had been turned over.
“He could have hidden the information anywhere,” Edward muttered. “It could be in a safe deposit box or even a train station locker.” He cursed again and moved one of the bedside tables away from the wall to look behind it.
Daniel eyed the massive bed, then leaned over to grab one leg to try and move it. His fingers touched something. He felt around. “There’s something taped to the back of the bed,” he said as he pulled the tape loose. He stood and held out a thumb drive and a small key in his palm. “Found these.”
Edward took them. “This could be anything, but I have a feeling it’s what we’re looking for.” He turned the key over in his hand. “This looks like a safe deposit box key. But I have no idea what bank. It could be on that thumb drive.”
