Page 96 of HateMates

“What do we got?” Rochel starts, grabbing Miller’s attention.

“Sir.” He nods to Rochel, taking in the audience behind him. “Well, we’ve been scanning all the listing addresses in Tillman’s company’s database.”

“And?”

“There are a hundred and thirty-seven active listings. From that list, we’ve been obtaining any Ring camera or Google footage taken in the last forty hours. We’ve had a team going through footage all night.”

“Tell me you found something?” Fay asks, and Theo tucks her into his side.

“Not yet. Seven houses have no sort of security camera, so we can’t tell if there’s been any activity outside of the realtor entering or exiting the homes. Mr. Tillman has been in touch with his agents. None seemed to sound distressed, but we still sent a squad car to survey the homes. Three houses are currently empty—”

“Those should’ve been the first ones you checked,” Theo snaps.

“We did. Two have come back empty and didn’t look like anyone has been hiding out in them.”

“So, there’s still one?” Fay asks, hopeful. “It would make sense for him to choose a house that’s empty, right?”

“At this point, my guess is no. He’s seemed to one-up us every time. Picking a vacant house would be too easy.”

“And picking a house that someone already lives in wouldn’t be?” she asks.

That’s when it hits me. “Because the active listings would be the first thing we check.” I turn to Vince. “Does he have access to all your listings—active and closed?”

Vince’s lips thin. “I don’t know. He's done some IT work for me. At one point, he did.”

“Could he now?”

“I’m not sure. He’s smart. He’s been in trouble before for hacking into systems, stealing information—”

“Information like security access codes?”

“I’m not sure what you’re asking.”

“Neither am I, Tate. What’re you getting at?” Rochel asks.

“I think we’ve been looking at this all wrong. Miller’s right. He’s too smart to hide out in an active listing. That’s rookie shit. He’s hiding out in a house we won’t think to look at.”

“And where is that? Get to the fucking point,” Theo snaps.

“Your closed listings. Houses that’ve sold. He’s using one of those.”

“Now, why would he do that? With someone living in there?”

“I don’t fucking know. But we’re looking in all the wrong places. Search all closed listings from the last year—”

“There’re hundreds.”

I slam my fists on the table. “And an innocent woman’s life is in jeopardy.”

An officer enters the room, holding a stack of papers. “Sir, we have Vince Tillman's credit card records.”

Rochel grabs the stack and flips through the pages. “Mr. Tillman, does your son have access to any of the credit cards in your name?”

“Just one. For emergencies.”

He flips another page. “Any reason your son would be purchasing a significant amount of décor?”

Vince shakes his head. “I’m not sure. I don’t know.”

---