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Emma drew in a sharp breath. “Okay. Let’s go on up. Colin, lead the way. I’ve never actually been to Toby’s apartment. When we wanted to unwind, we’d have a drink at my place. Or out.”
They crossed the large marble lobby, Colin nodding to the porter behind a U-shaped desk. She saw Raul’s eyes flicker to a discreet plaque affixed to the side of the desk.
“Are they –”
“Yep,” he said softly. “Black Home Security.”
Okay. That was going to be helpful. They trooped up together. Somehow, without being in the slightest obnoxious, Raul managed to make them feel under his protection. Even Colin looked relaxed.
Toby had chosen a really upscale apartment building which was upscale in a different way from hers. Her building was sleek, minimal. His building was ostentatious, all dark wood and brass, elaborate lighting fixtures, decorative tiles on the floors, brightly enameled planters.
He lived on the tenth floor, just off the elevators. Colin swiped a card and put his hand on the brass handle. Raul held his hand up. “No code?”
Colin shook his head and Raul pushed the back of his hand on the door.
A hallway light turned on as soon as they walked through the door. Inside, Toby had decorated his apartment fully, and Emma was ashamed of the many unopened boxes in her own place. They’d moved to San Francisco and started work within the same week. She still felt impermanent, like she could take flight any day, but Toby had put down roots. Heavy, deep ones.
Colin went to the wall to push the button to open the heavy brocade drapes but Raul stopped him. He fished out latex gloves from his jacket pocket and gave a pair to Colin and to her.
Emma and Raul put their gloves on but Colin just stood there, holding the gloves in one hand. “This might be a crime scene,” Raul said gently and Colin turned pale, nodded and put the gloves on.
Itcouldbe a crime scene, Emma thought and sent up a quick prayer to the patron saint of funny, quirky math geniuses that Toby would be found, safe and sound, soon.
Raul stood in the center of the room, looking around. Emma could almost see the gears grinding in that handsome head of his. All his attention was directed outward, to what he could see and feel and, for all she knew, smell and taste. This was so different from her world. Most of the people she knew imported digital data into their heads and processed it. It was intriguing to watch a man process data from the real world.
Well, she corrected herself, it was intriguing to watchthisman process data from the real world.
“Hit the button,” he instructed and the heavy drapes slowly slid open. It was sunny and light flooded Toby’s living room and dining room. “Okay. The curtains were closed, which means either that Toby left here – willingly or not – while it was dark or very early in the morning.” He kneeled, looked at the lush nap of the living room rug. “Looks like boot prints, several of them.”
Raul began a systematic search, clearly working on a grid. Colin stood still where he was, by the window, looking stressed. Emma moved to the kitchen, which was pristine – Toby once said he couldn’t cook – and entered the large corridor that, like in her own apartment, would lead to bedrooms and studies. She stared at the flooring, beige ceramic tiles.
“Raul,” she said quietly. He looked up and came quickly to her side. She pointed a shaking finger at the ground and the baseboard.
Blood.
Blood in elongated teardrop shapes. Not great gory stripes but definitely blood.
“Not arterial, thank God,” Colin said. He’d come up behind them. “Arterial blood splashes in a very specific way.”
Raul nodded. They followed the blood trail into the master bedroom. Raul and Colin both followed the trail to a spot near the bed where blood had soaked the carpet. They were going to be better at this than she could be, so she wandered around Toby’s bedroom, trying to understand what had happened.
The bed was unmade, big gold green duvet thrown back, gold pillows strewn about the bed. A marble and wood bedside table held a lamp on its side, an Echo, two books in disarray and a third on the carpet.
“He’d been asleep, or at least in bed,” she said. Both Raul and Colin were hunkered down studying the bloodstain, but both looked up at her. “Toby was pretty neat. He told me once that he literally couldn’t leave a bed unmade because he’d been beaten as a child if he didn’t make his bed. He wouldn’t leave the bed unmade. Whoever took him, dragged him out of bed.”
“Early in the morning, or at night?” Raul wondered.
“Alexa. What was your last command?” Emma asked the air.
Alexa’s eerie voice answered, “My last command was ‘Play lo-fi music.’”
“When was the command given?”
“The command was given at midnight oh five.”
“Taken at night, then.” Raul stood, looked around. “They dragged him out of bed. He put up a fight and they must have clocked him one, badly enough for him to lose blood. But not enough blood loss to be dangerous, right Colin?”
“Right.” Colin was pale but composed. “No major blood loss, but if it was a head injury, he might be concussed.”
