Page 58 of The Last Straw

“Hello.”

“Mr. Carson, this is Wayne Dyer. I’m the manager at Detter House.”

“Oh, yes, hello, Wayne. What can I do for you?”

“Sir. We have a situation here. There was another attack. Two investigators were here in Rachel Dean’s apartment, when one of them, Jade Wyrick, was abducted right out of the bedroom. Her boss, Charlie Dodge, found a hidden door in the walk-in closet that led to a secret passage. The man got away. Wyrick was taken to the hospital, and the place is crawling with cops. Residents are being asked to provide an alibi for where they were, and after learning that the secret passage goes all through the house, a bunch of them are already demanding to be released from their leases.”

“Oh, my God,” Allen muttered. “So there is a secret passage?”

“Apparently,” Wayne said. “What do I do?”

“I’ll be there within the hour to speak to the police and to the residents. Just hang with me, Wayne. We’ll figure this out.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you,” Wayne said.

The call ended. He leaned back in his chair, took a deep breath and then reminded himself that there was a positive to this day. He was in the office when Wyrick was attacked, and Charlie Dodge was his alibi, because when Charlie called to tell him about the 911 call, he’d been there to take the call. Now the cops had to quit looking at him as a suspect. He might have the passkey to the apartments, but he couldn’t be in two places at once.

Upstairs, the techs from the crime lab were all over the old passage, lifting prints, finding a random hair now and then. One was found caught on an old nail. Another pulled from between a wood sliver and the wall. There was even a tiny piece of fabric caught in the floor.

They followed the passageway to a little set of stairs that led into the basement, taking pictures, prints and DNA. There were no security cameras down here. Only the other stairs that led up to the main house. And up there, there were too many ways someone could have left the building. They would have to go through security footage now.

The dead end was disappointing, but the evidence had been gathered, and once again the team from the crime lab was gone.

Sonny came home in the middle of the chaos, loaded down with sacks from several different stores in the Galleria, and for good measure he was carrying a cold drink he’d gotten from a fast-food drive-through on his way home.

He parked in the garage, then headed toward Detter House with his game face on, ready to run the gauntlet of uniformed officers all over the grounds, until finally, one stopped him at the back entrance into the lobby.

“What’s going on?” Sonny asked.

“There was an attempted abduction. What’s your business here?”

“Oh, my God!” Sonny said and shifted his bags to get a better grip. “I live here! Am I allowed inside? I got a text on the way home that I have a delivery to pick up at the office.”

“What’s your name, sir?” the cop asked.

“Sonny Burch. I live in apartment 115. Ground floor.”

“I’ll walk you in,” the cop said and then led the way inside.

They crossed the lobby and went straight up the hall to the manager’s office, passing detectives and uniformed officers on the way.

Sonny didn’t have to fake the uneasiness and shock of what was happening. Nothing had gone as he’d planned. The only thing he still had going for him was that no one had seen his face, and he’d never been arrested, so neither his DNA nor prints were in the system. He needed to get rid of Rachel, but the place was too hot. There was no way in hell he could take a chance on getting her off the premises tonight.

It was a fuckup of epic proportions.

When they reached the office, Sonny entered without knocking.

“I came to pick up my package, but can you believe this?” he asked.

Wayne looked up. “It’s horrible. A nightmare. They carried Dodge’s assistant out unconscious, and there are police everywhere.”

Sonny gasped. “The policeman told me there was an attempted abduction. Are you saying it was Jade Wyrick?”

Wayne nodded.

“Is she okay?” Sonny asked.

“I don’t know,” Wayne said and then his phone rang again and he pointed to a box in the corner. “There’s your delivery from Amazon. I’ve got to take this.”

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