“Take these,” Dante said and handed her apair of disposable gloves. “And don’t touch anything unless youthink it’s necessary.”
Julie slipped the gloves on and entered theapartment.
“Let me know if you see an alarm system andcameras,” Julian said. “Though I doubt there’s an alarm; it wouldhave gone off already, but if there’s cameras, I can take care ofthem.”
“I’ll let you know,” Julie said.
They all hovered in the doorway as she creptthrough the living room and kitchen before vanishing into one ofthe bedrooms. She came out and entered the bathroom. She went tothe other bedroom next and reemerged a few minutes later.
“There’s no one here,” she said. “And Ididn’t see any cameras. I’m not sure why, but this place feelslonely and like they’re not coming back. I’m probably imaginingthings.”
“Can you find something with a phone numberon it?” Cassidy asked.
“Or a computer,” Julian added.
“I’ll look,” Julie replied.
She walked over to a stack of envelopes onthe counter and started thumbing through them. After a minute, shereturned to one of the bedrooms. She reemerged with a laptop, wentinto the second bedroom, and came out with a second computer.
“Breaking, entering, and robbery,” she saidas she exited the apartment.
“I’ll make sure none of this comes back toyou,” Dante promised.
“I’m not worried about it,” Julie said as shegave the computers to Julian. “I feel like a badass.”
“Don’t get used to it,” Preston said, andJulie laughed.
***
It took Julian five hours to break into thefirst computer. When he did, he discovered it belonged to Lucy. Healso found a dozen job applications; each one contained her phonenumber.
Cassidy frantically dialed the number, but itwent straight to voice mail. Then, she called Dante. He remainedoutside of Melanie and Lucy’s apartment, keeping watch. No one hadarrived.
It took Julian another three hours to getinto Melanie’s computer, but Cassidy already knew she wouldn’t getan answer when he found her phone number. She hung up the second itwent to voice mail. There was no point in leaving a message; no onewould answer them.
She stared at Julian before walking over togaze out the window. The sun was rising on the city, and there hadbeen no sign of her brother for a day and a half. Even when he wasbouncing from woman to woman, Kyle had never vanished for this longwithout contacting her.
“We should call Brian,” she said.
She prepared herself for an argument with herbrother but didn’t get one.
“I’ll call him,” Julian said.
That was when she realized she wasn’toverreacting; this was bad.
CHAPTER 21
Kyle woke to apounding headache, dry mouth, and every muscle in his body feelinglike someone had taken a hammer to them. When he moved, every partof his body protested the action. He strained to recall the detailsof what happened, but his brain was misfiring on all cylinders.
When his eyes fluttered open, he couldn’tsuppress a groan when a sliver of light burned his irises. Heswallowed, and the motion made it feel like glass slid down histhroat.
What happened?
Bits and pieces of memory filtered throughhis mind. He recalled leaving work with Melanie, eating dinner, andsitting through a horror movie. She’d been so warm against his sideas she held his hand and munched popcorn.
He’d sipped his soda and pretended to behuman while falling more in love with her. And then he told her heloved her.
That memory broke through the hazeenshrouding his brain. He’d said the words to her, told her how hefelt, and before she could reply, Savages attacked them.
