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Chapter 12
Texas and I moved through the gate that led into the apartment complex’s courtyard as rain fell heavy over our heads. I pulled up the hood on my borrowed jacket and stayed close behind. We approached the front door and found it unlocked. I could still hear the rain coming down as he stepped into the front hallway.
I sniffed as the smell of someone cooking drifted into my nostrils. “Do you know which apartment is his?” I asked as Texas strode through the first hallway, his head turning left and right as he scanned the apartment numbers, and since he never stopped, I could only assume they weren’t what we were searching for.
He nodded. “He’s apartment 204.”
I moved to the side and started following the path of numbers. We reached the end of the hall and took a set of narrow stairs just large enough for us to go up single file onto the next floor. “204,” I said, stopping in front of the first apartment I came across. We must have come up the back way.
Texas nudged me to the side and moved in front of me, raising his fist to knock. We waited a bit and when a gruff voice answered. “‘Oo is it?”
“Mr. Ollison?” Texas inquired.
“Ye’?”
“My name is Texas Johnson; I’m here to take a statement on behalf of Bricker and Stein on the disappearance of Jenna Wiedleman.”
“Disappearance?” The soft sound of locks being disengaged sounded immediately after that. Texas and I exchanged a look moments before the door cracked open and the rounded face of a middle-aged man appeared on the other side. “Jenna’s missin’?”
I frowned. “You were the last one to see her, Mr. Ollison,” I said, stepping closer into the alcove of his doorway. “You didn’t know?”
He shook his head and then gestured for us to enter the apartment. “No, ‘course I didn’ know,” he replied. “Please, why don’ you come in? Would you like somethin’ to drink?”
“No, thank you, Mr. Ollison,” Texas said. “What can you tell us about the last time you saw Jenan Wiedleman?”
He wrung his hands. “Well, we met atBean Water—s’near tha downtown stretch,” he said. “She’s a sweet girl, really. American, that one. Speakin’ o’, you have American accents, are you mates of hers?” He stopped and looked at us expectantly.
I nodded. “Yes, and we’re very worried. We haven’t seen or heard from her in a few days and she hasn’t answered her phone or emails and she hasn’t been to her apartment. Do you know where she could’ve gone?”
He grimaced and shook his head. “Last time I saw ‘er, she needed a ride back to ‘er office.”
“You took her back to the office?” Texas demanded.
Startled by the sharp tone in his voice, the man nodded quickly, eyes growing wide. “‘Course, didn’ want ‘er to waste ‘er money on a cab,” he answered.
Texas spun on his heel, reaching out and snatching my wrist as he tugged me behind him. “We have to go,” he said.
“What? Why?” Texas didn’t reply as he yanked me out of the apartment. Thomas Ollison stood in the doorway of his apartment, watching us as we retreated quickly. I sighed and called over my shoulder. “Thank you for the information, we appreciate it.”
He lifted his hand in a half-hearted, confused wave. I would’ve returned the gesture had Texas not slammed through the door into the stairwell, nearly dragging me down the staircase as we went.
“Texas!” I tugged on my wrist. “Slow down, you’re going to make me trip. Tell me what’s going on.”
Texas shook his head and refused to release me, but at least he began to speak. “It was never him,” he said. “If he took her back to the office, then she’s still there.”
“What do you mean?” We pushed out into the apartment complex courtyard. The rain had begun to come down even harder as we rushed from the street to the car.
Texas hurried me to the passenger side door, made sure I was inside before he dashed around to the driver’s side, and slammed himself in, shoving the keys into the ignition as lightning flashed across the sky and thunder rumbled.
“Stover—Bellamy said he didn’t feel right about him and as we were waiting on Ollison to come home, I hacked into the security footage ofBean Waterand was reviewing the time when Jenna would have left. I was trying to figure out why the images felt wrong. She was leaving, but—” he broke off and shook his head. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it.”
“See it?” I lifted my brows and tilted my head as he turned the car around and headed back to downtown Sydney, back to the Bricker and Stein office building. “See what? Texas, you’re not making sense. I’m confused.”
“I thought it was odd we couldn’t get anything on the businessman Bricker and Stein are prosecuting,” Texas said. “He seemed too clean for a guy embezzling money. He doesn’t live over his means, isn’t spending money frivolously. I’ve checked his normal accounts. That’s because he wasn’t the man they were prosecuting.”
“I’m sorry what?” I shook my head. “They’re not prosecuting anyone for embezzling money?”
“No, they are,” Texas assured me. “But didn’t you think it was also a little odd that they’d send over a grunt worker like Jenna? She’s just a paralegal. She does background work. But one of the reasons Alex wanted us to come check on her in person, is because Jenna used to work for Iris.”
