Chapter Fourteen
Bryce pausedin the hallway with his hand on Lawson’s door, half-convinced that he’d see Jesse sneaking back toward the apartment any minute. He should have stayed long enough that morning to talk with him instead of leaving a note. Not that Jesse seemed likely to listen to him in any format, but at least Bryce would have been able to judge his reaction. Maybe predict he was going to walk into the case again, despite yet another warning.
Even after someone tried to kill him over the case, all Jesse could talk about was investigating. Bryce should have tossed him into the back of the SUV and driven him to department headquarters. If nothing else, making Jesse sit for an interview with Bonnell would keep him safe and out of the way. Bryce might find a few answers if he didn’t have to worry about Jesse.
But the moment Bonnell met him, she would want to interfere with his life. Jesse was obsessed—that much was painfully clear to Bryce. While he hadn’t descended to Lawson’s level, he still wouldn’t give up investigating the paranormal. Bonnell wouldn’t like that.
Why, oh why, did Jesse have to be the man who sparked Bryce’s lust and imagination with a smile and a touch of his hand? Things would be easier if he could ignore how he felt.
Bryce wasn’t going to solve the case through procrastination. He went into Lawson’s apartment and crossed over to the window. There was no sign of Jesse, but he could have parked on a different street. Damn it all, Bryce wasn’t going to get anything done until he knew Jesse was out of danger. He sent a text telling Jesse to check in when he reached his destination.
“Will do, director,” Celia said. She came back into the living room as she ended her call. “I’m texting David to bring us an assload of boxes. We have to take all this crap to the archives and go through it.”
“That wasn’t your call to make,” Bryce replied.
“I wasn’t sure how long you were going to take with Dawes.” Celia put her phone back in her pocket. After putting on a set of gloves, she glanced around the room and scrunched her nose. “Procedure is to take everything in, but do we really have to pack up the garbage?”
“Lawson might be coming back here. We can’t leave anything for him to find. You’ll be surprised what people leave notes on.”
“He failed his evaluation, magnificently and to no one’s surprise. Bonnell said he finally started talking to Dr. Pak, and it was cult belief this and end-of-the-world theory that. He’ll be transferred to one of our beautiful facilities in the Nevada desert.” Celia checked underneath the sink. “Seriously? We have to pack the pizza boxes and empty chip bags?”
“Everything goes with us,” Bryce said. “You can put it in a garbage bag, but someone’ll have to sift through it eventually.”
“It’sgarbage.”
Bryce shrugged. “Department policy.”
“Yes,” Celia said and clicked her tongue. “You’ve certainly been a stickler for that lately.”
Celia took a garbage bag out from under the sink and began carefully picking up pieces of trash strewn across the kitchen counter. She tossed each one in the bag and moved on to the next piece. She did so in terse silence.
Bryce pulled a pair of latex gloves from his jacket pocket and sifted through the papers on Lawson’s kitchen table. “It’s not against policy to date someone from the FBI.”
Celia tossed another pizza box into her garbage bag. “He brought me a case, Bryce.”
“Which I didn’t know until after the date.”
“And that’s why you were extra gentle with him a few minutes ago? You’re the one who taught me that we should be vigilant around people who are convinced we exist without having any proof.”
From Celia’s tone, Bryce gathered she had lumped Jesse into the same category as internet theorists who harassed her podcast. Jesse wasn’t like that. He had a cause. A reason. And as much as he was getting in the way, at least he wasn’t wrong.
Great. Jesse had gotten that far under his skin. Still, Bryce couldn’t let the misinformed opinion stand. “Turns out Jesse has proof. He’s not living out some fantasy of becoming internet famous. He’s more grounded than that.”
“Because conducting an illegal search into something he’s been told to stay out of is the pinnacle of grounded behavior.”
“Look, I’m upset he was here this morning. I told him to stay out of it.” Bryce deposited the pile of papers he was sifting through back onto the table. “However, he managed to interrupt someone this morning. Who knows how much they would have destroyed if he hadn’t stopped them? Now we have confirmation that there’s more to this case than Lawson’s fanaticism.”
Celia made a noise that wasn’t truly agreement or disagreement. Then she gagged. “Okay, that is just nasty. I don’t know what it started out as in life, but I think it’s all fungus.”
Bryce headed for the bedroom. “Just make sure to watch out for rats.”
“Rats? Do you think they’re in here? What am I saying? There’s every chance they are. We’re so doing a ‘why hygiene is important’ segment on the podcast.”
The bedroom wasn’t any cleaner than the kitchenette or living room and it had the bonus of the makeshift altar. The statue of the creature lacked the detail of the one currently sitting in the DWO artifact lock-up. Bryce was willing to bet Lawson had made the one in his bedroom. How long had he been worshipping the creature?
Bryce took out his phone to text David. They’d need a containment box for the sculpture, on the off-chance it had the strength of the one from the museum. Bryce took a peek into Lawson’s closet.
Enough of Lawson’s general detritus had been shoved aside to make a rare clear spot. Someone had hidden inside. Bryce snapped a few pics of that before turning and taking a few more photos of the altar. Some of the candles were out of place, probably knocked aside during Jesse’s struggle.
