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“That’s odd,” he said. “The door’s open. Dominic, are you in here?” I could hear him walking through the apartment. “I don’t see him. Fawn moved out today. Nothing looks amiss here. Maybe he’s with his sister?”
“Maybe,” was all I said, then thanked him and hung up. We knew he was helping Fawn today and asked if he needed us to assist him, but he declined. We could have taken a few hours off.
Dominic wouldn’t leave his door open like that. Not when he lived next to the East Dremest border. Granted, no one had tried to break into his apartment before, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t now. None of this felt right.
I didn’t bother contacting Fawn. It would only worry her, and I didn’t want to do that.
I advanced on JJ, following him as he backed toward the bookshelf. “You don’t want to do this,” he said. Yeah, I heard him when he said it the first time and I still didn’t give a shit. I didn’t stop walking until JJ was flat against the same bookshelf Perry liked to throw shit at.
“I want to know why Dominic is in your shop and not at work.”
“If you’d let me get my fucking phone out, I could check the security feed,” he grated through clenched teeth. This was what I was talking about. I wasn’t thinking clearly when I felt this way. My mind went to one single thing, and I couldn’t focus on anything else. Right now, it was that Dominic was in East Dremest where he shouldn’t be, and I had no clue why.
It wasn’t a hole-in-a-wall place other cities were but that was only because of Jordan. He kept the seedy shit hidden. He pretended to care about the citizens. He was the unofficial mayor. If he ran for office, I was sure he’d win because people were scared of him. Luckily, he never tried to do so.
Perry stepped up behind me. Even if I hadn’t heard his shoes move across the carpet, I would have known he was there. My body was so in tune with his, I could keep him safe with my eyes closed. Yet, Dominic was out there, and I didn’t do anything to stop whatever happened. Guilt ate at me, sank its claws in to the point I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
“Pey…” Gentle hands smoothed down my arms. “Let JJ check his phone.”
I took two steps back, but that was as far as I was going.
JJ pulled his phone from his pocket and tapped it a few times. His eyes narrowed as he brought it closer. “This isn’t right. I was down there last night. I moved that sign. It’s not hanging there any longer.” He held up his phone to show us. All I saw were garage bays. JJ pointed to the upper right-hand corner. “See that sign?” It was for a brand of oil. “We stopped using it, but I forgot to take it down. Last night, I went into the shop after I left here and removed it. I also straightened up a bit. This isn’t live. Someone fucked with my system.” The more he said, the angrier he got.
“What did you do?” I growled. Obviously, there was something going on if his feed wasn’t live.
“I didn’t do shit, asshole. Stop accusing me when I have no more of an idea than you do.”
Perry cut in, “I’m calling Jordan.” He was already dialing before I could stop him. He put the phone on speaker. I didn’t want Jordan involved in any of this but if it meant we could eliminate suspects, I was fine with it. What we needed to do was handle this shit while we were on the road. We had to get to JJ’s shop. I was partially to blame. Too bent on getting in JJ’s face rather than getting in my SUV.
“Junior, how are you?”
“Hi, Uncle.”
“It’s nice to hear from you. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Jordan was very nice to Perry. Sickeningly nice, which made my stomach turn. JJ was seething the more his dad spoke. His hands balled into fists. If he didn’t pay attention, he was going to crack the screen on his phone.
“Yes, nice to speak to you as well.”
“Did something happen with my son?”
“No, JJ’s fine. I want to ask you something and I need you to be honest.”
“Of course.”
Perry took a deep breath and let it out. “My ex-assistant, Dominic, didn’t show up at work tonight and he’s not answering his phone. Peyton tracked it to JJ’s shop. JJ checked his security feed. It’s an old video, not live. He swears he has nothing to do with it, so I wanted to call you and ask.”
Jordan’s tone changed to the hard man we all knew he could be. “You want to accuse is more accurate. You think I had something to do with Dominic being taken? After the three of you went public with your relationship? Why the fuck would I bother in the life of a man who never came to my side of town? I don’t know him.”
JJ leaned forward like he was about to rip into his dad, but I put my hand on him to hold him back.
Perry’s hand that held the phone shook. He was fine when he had to confront people about work. This wasn’t work. This was Dominic, and Perry was talking to his mafia boss uncle. He didn’t raise his voice to Jordan. Didn’t do anything to make it worse. Perry knew what the consequences could be. “I’m just trying to work out why he’s there. That’s all. If it’s about money, I can pay.”
“I’m going to let this slide only once. If you call accusing me of shit again, you better have the fucking proof to back it up. Neither myself nor my people have anything to do with this.”
“Yes, Uncle. I’m sorry. I wanted to cover my bases.”
“I’m not even in your fucking ballpark, Junior. Maybe you should interrogate my son.” He hung up without another word.
“Jesus,” Perry muttered and pocketed his phone.
