Page 15 of The Guilty One

“Did they find anything?”

“I don’t think so.” He swings the door open. “They copied his hard drive or something techy like that and took a few pictures of his desk and some of the notebooks he had lying around, I guess with notes and stuff in them.” As I step into the office, he follows behind me, standing in the doorway. “Have they told you anything?”

I chew my bottom lip. “No, nothing at all. Which is why I’m here.” I stop behind his desk. “He really wasn’t here all week?”

He sticks his head out into the hallway at the sound of a voice, then turns back to meet my gaze. “Sorry, what?”

“Tate. You said he wasn’t here all week, right?”

He nods slowly. “Well, yeah. He said he was on vacation, that you guys were going to work on some projects around the house or something like that. He came in a few different times, but always left right after. I guess he was just picking something up.” His expression is full of guilt. “I hope it’s okay that I’m telling you this. I don’t want to get him into trouble. I’m sure there’s some explanation.”

“Right now, all I want to do is find my husband and make sure he’s okay,” I say simply. “I promise I’m not planning to rat you out. Whatever you tell me will stay between us.” I sink into the office chair and tug open one of the drawers. The top one is full of only pens, pencils, sticky notes, and breath mints. The second one is locked. I look at Dustin, who is staring back out into the hallway.

“Do you happen to have a key for these drawers?”

“Um…” He hesitates. “I do, but it’s locked in the key box, and I can’t get to it without a number two.”

I stare at him, not understanding.

He rushes to explain. “I’m a number one. The key box has two separate combos, and you need a one and a two to open it. Tim’s the only other person here right now, and we’re both ones. Everyone else is out. Kaira was here yesterday to open the drawers for the police, but she’s out on showings right now and Matt’s at a training.” He winces. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I say with a huff. When he glances back out into the hallway for a third time, I add, “You can go if you need to. I’ll let you know when I’m done in here.”

He winces. “I…actually, I can’t. Only employees are allowed in the offices, just because there’s client information on the computers and stuff, and well, I mean obviously I trust you and know you aren’t doing anything sketchy”—he gives a nervous laugh—“but I have to stay with you.”

“I can’t even get into anything.” I gesture toward the computer, which is locked. “I’m just looking to see if he left anything that could help me find him.” I tug at the next drawer, which is also locked.

Dustin gives a regretful, one-sided smile, but he doesn’t respond. Realizing he’s not going to leave, I pull at the next drawer, which is also locked, and then turn toward the other side of the L-shaped desk. Like its twin, this side’s top drawer is unlocked, but its contents are wholly unhelpful. Two protein bars, a stack of business cards, a blank notepad, a basket of paper clips, a stapler, and a single roll of tape are all that await me. The next two drawers are locked.

Thinking quickly, I grab a sheet of paper from his printer and a pencil and place it over the blank notepad, shading lightly across the paper to see if there’s an address or note that might point me in the right direction.

Dustin watches me intently, but to my disappointment, there are just a few notes jotted down that I’m able to make out.

4 beds

Comps for Odessa??

yard space + easy commute

210k

890k

Commission split?

Bathrooms

Two story—no go

None of it means anything suspicious to me.

With a sigh, I toss the paper into the trash can before reaching for the computer, cutting a glance at Dustin to see if he’s going to stop me. When he says nothing, I move the mouse to wake the screen and begin to run through Tate’s roster of passwords.

Our anniversary.

The boys’ birthdays.

His birthday.

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