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What? Does he think I’m an amateur? Granted, I didn’t practice criminal law in Denver, but I know the system. Of course I’ll wear gloves. I pull the uncomfortable things out of my pocket and slide them on. “I’m always prepared, Sheriff.” Except for goggles, apparently. I won’t breathe in any fiberglass, but I’m sure my eyes will be a red mess by the time I’m done.
“Good man.” Hardy waves and heads toward the door.
I resume walking up the staircase and open the door to Brendan’s apartment.
And I have to stop myself from stumbling in shock.
Man, whoever did this left no stone unturned. There’s literally no floor. Only the joists holding with a pathway of hardwood here and there. The drywall has been cut and the fiberglass insulation pulled out of the walls. The pink fluff is everywhere. I’m glad for the mask the sheriff gave me. It’s not bothering my eyes yet, thank goodness.
Brendan’s couch and chairs have been ripped into and the stuffing pulled out. Everything in his cupboards and drawers has been pulled out and thrown into piles that fall between the joists. His clothes are strewn about. Even the contents of the refrigerator are trashed. Did someone really think he’d be hiding something in an egg?
His bookshelf lies on the floor, and pages have been ripped out of his books.
My God…
No wonder he’s pissed. In my mind, he isn’t even pissed enough.
I’d be gunning for blood.
One thing’s for sure. Brock and Uncle Joe did not do this. They may be hotheads, but they’re good men. They would never destroy a place to get information. They would have gone about it much more methodically.
Call that a hunch, as well.
I’m not sure what I expected to see here, but it wasn’t this.
This is the work of a sociopath. Someone who doesn’t care how his actions affect others.
That’s not Brock or Uncle Joe.
I heave a sigh of relief. Until now, I didn’t know how scared I was that my uncle and cousin would be implicated.
I stand for a few more moments. Should I move some things around? Look for information on my family?
“No,” I say aloud.
If any more information about my family were here, it’s long gone now. Either stolen or destroyed.
I’m hoping it’s destroyed.
If it’s stolen, someone else has information that I don’t.
And that scares the holy shit out of me.
I turn, and Brendan Murphy stands in the doorway.
“Hey, Murphy. I didn’t hear you come in.”
“I said hi. You were lost in your thoughts.”
“Was I?”
“Yeah. Care to tell me what you were thinking about?”
I sigh. “Just that whoever did this is a fucking sociopath.”
“No shit. Is that your legal opinion?”
“Look. I’m sorry, man. If the energy board hadn’t screwed up, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Damn right it wouldn’t have happened. I’d have been here, and I’d have pulled out my Glock.”
“Your Glock?”
“I’ve got it. It’s at my parents’ place. I never go anywhere without it. I sure as hell wasn’t going to leave it here while strangers came in to investigate a fake gas leak.”
His words jar me. A fake gas leak. Does he know something?
“I mean,” he continues, “it turned out to be fake.”
“It turned out to be an error,” I say.
“Dumbass state employees,” he mutters.
Guilt eats away at my stomach. I started this. Me. Maybe I deserve to lose my law license. What was I thinking?
Just to find out more family secrets? Hell, we Steels were all doing fine before any of this came up. Why didn’t I just let a sleeping dog lie?
Now Brendan has to deal with this.
“Have you talked to your insurance company?” I ask.
He nods. “They’re paying me about half what it’ll take to clean this up and replace everything the assholes destroyed. Next they’ll probably cancel my policy.”
“Don’t worry, Brendan,” I say. “I’ll make sure the state reimburses you for everything. You get me receipts. I won’t let you down.”
And by the state, I mean the Steels, of course.
“I’m going to Denver tomorrow,” he says. “Someone’s going to listen to me.”
My heart nearly stops.
“The state won’t get away with this,” he continues.
Lambert is too smart to leave any kind of trail, but still, I hate the thought of Brendan going off all half-cocked over this. I started something really stupid, and now I have to finish it.
“Tell you what,” I say. “I’ll go to Denver. It’s my place as the Snow Creek City attorney. I’ll make sure you get everything you deserve.”
“You’d do that?” he asks.
“Of course. I’ll have a lot more pull than you do, and besides that, I have all kinds of contacts at the state level from my time in Denver. Let me take care of this for you, Brendan.”
“Why? Why would you do this for me?”
“Because you’re a friend.”
“We’re friends now?”
“We’ve always been friends.”
“I’m not buying, Steel. I know what you want. You want those documents I found, in fact…” He shakes his head. “I bet you had something to do with this. You were looking for something else, and that energy thing gave you and your brother just what you needed to break in here and—”
