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“Oh, God! Gerald!” Liam cried. He tried to take a step into the apartment, his chest bumping into Seth’s back, but Seth dug his heels in.
“Wait! You’ve got to wait a second, Liam!” Seth said between clenched teeth.
“But if Gerald is in there—”
“I don’t think he is,” Seth spit out. His words stopped Liam’s attempts to force his way into the apartment. “If they’d found Gerald at home, they wouldn’t have threatened you at the shop. They probably trashed his apartment first, looking for him or the money.”
He could feel Liam’s chest slump a little bit, and his breathing slowed. Seth turned around to face Liam, taking in his tortured expression as his eyes flitted from one broken object to the next. Seth touched Liam’s cheek, and Liam jerked away as if waking from a bad dream.
“We need to be quick, in case they’re watching the place and I didn’t see them,” Seth said when Liam finally looked at him. “We don’t touch anything. We’re looking for things that might be missing. Clues as to where Gerald might have gone.”
Liam nodded. “Okay. I can do that.”
Seth tried to give Liam one last reassuring smile, but the man was gazing into the apartment again.
They did need to move fast. They weren’t followed. He just knew it. And he didn’t see anyone in the parking lot that gave off a bad vibe. But the trashed apartment left his skin crawling.
Stepping inside, Seth moved so Liam could enter and then shut the door behind him. Liam moved slowly with his arms folded tightly over his chest as if it was the only way he could keep himself from touching anything.
Seth followed close behind Liam as they crossed through the one-bedroom apartment with the tiny balcony. All the furniture and electronics were destroyed, not that there was a lot. The furniture itself looked to be quite old, judging by the wear on the fabric that wasn’t torn. The dishes pulled out of the cabinets weren’t numerous. A number of takeout menus scattered around the place. Apparently, Gerald wasn’t much of a cook.
They silently checked the bathroom. Everything had been pulled off the counter and thrown onto the floor. The medicine cabinet was hanging open, but things largely looked as if they were still in place.
“Did Gerald take any medication?” Seth inquired.
“No, I don’t think so. He never mentioned it to me if he did. Why?”
Seth stood in the middle of the small bathroom, mentally cataloguing the items he saw. “Just wondering something. There’s no deodorant or toothpaste. I also don’t see a toothbrush.” He motioned for them to continue to the last room.
The bedroom was exactly like the others. The bed was taken apart and the mattress torn open. The dresser drawers were all pulled out and thrown around the room along with the contents. The folding closet doors were pushed open, and all the clothes had been ripped from the hangers. Boxes that had likely been stacked on the overhead shelf were torn down and opened.
“Can you tell if anything is missing?” Seth asked.
“Are you kidding me?” Liam looked at him like he’d lost his mind as he waved his hands at the aftermath of the cyclone that had ripped through the room.
“Do you know what Gerald’s luggage looks like?”
“What?”
“Have you seen his luggage?” Seth repeated slowly and evenly. Liam had to feel overwhelmed by everything, but he was the only one who could help them with Gerald.
“Um. Yeah. He’s got this one roller bag. Big, black, with a hard body. He brags that no airline will ever break it. The thing even has one of those phone-charging ports.”
As if finally catching on to what Seth was saying, Liam twisted around, his eyes darting over the room. “It’s not here. We haven’t seen it.” He continued to look around the room, his voice growing higher in pitch as he spoke. He dug through the clothes piled on the floor. “His favorite shirt is missing. Several shirts I know he wears a lot are missing.”
Seth grunted. It was what he’d started to suspect, but coming to Gerald’s apartment had been about confirming it. “That means he had enough time to pack before he left town. He didn’t just grab his phone and wallet, then jump into a car. He had a plan, packed a bag, and went somewhere.”
“I…I don’t get it,” Liam stammered in a low voice. He opened and closed his fists at his sides in a helpless gesture, as if he were trying to pull answers out of the empty air. “Why didn’t he tell me? Why didn’t he come to me?”
“Liam, we need to get out of here.”
“He just left me! He packed a fucking bag and he left me alone to face this mess he made!”
Seth’s heart broke for the man. His face was pale, causing the bruises to stand out even more while unshed tears glistened in his eyes. It didn’t make any sense. How could anyone betray someone as kind and warm as Liam? He didn’t deserve to be treated so poorly.
