Page 117 of Morally Corrupt

"Safe?" Adrian frowns.

"I don't think anyone knew about the safe. I didn't until I snooped around. It's hidden in his dressing room."

"Have you tried opening it?" Marcel asks, and I shake my head.

"I couldn't. It's one of those high-tech ones. It has biometrics."

"Then how can we break it? We need to see what's inside."

"Don't worry. I couldn't, untilnowthat is"

"What do you mean?"

"I needed the funeral home to release Martin's body for the wake," I say and motion them to follow me to the kitchen. I open the freezer and remove a bag containing Martin's fingers.

"You cut his fingers?" Adrian's mouth snaps open in shock as he watches me take a plate and shake the bag so that the fingers fall into the container.

"Only the thumbs and the pointers."

"Good Lord!" Adrian's hand goes to his forehead, massaging his temple.

Marcel, on the other hand, doesn't seem at all fazed. I narrow my eyes ever so slightly.

Whatever. One less person to criticize me.

"Fine! Let's get this over with!" Adrian shakes his head in disgust. I wonder why, though. It's not like they're smelly…

"We can't… yet," Marcel intervenes as he studies the fingers. "Too frozen. We need to leave them to thaw first."

I scrunch up my nose as I look them over and realize he's right.

"Let's microwave them," I suggest, and Adrian slaps his forehead this time, letting out a loud sigh.

"I don't mean likethat," I immediately add. "The defrost setting. It might work."

"No," Marcel says pensively. "We can't risk the heat damaging the fingerprints." Okay, that does make sense.

"You're right. We can wait for a couple of hours more. We should probably move them until then, though. I don't think the staff will react too well to detached body parts laying around." I take the plate with the fingers and motion the guys to follow me to Martin's room.

"This is huge!" Marcel exclaims when he enters.

"Wait until you see the dressing room." I motion towards the door at the end of the room and show them where the safe is.

"There's probably a fortune here only in watches." Adrian looks at the glass case in the middle of the dressing room that displays Martin's collection. I'd wager it's a couple of million just for the watches.

"It makes you wonder what he keeps in the safe if he leaves the valuables outside," Marcel notes.

"It must be business related. There was absolutely nothing anywhere else. To be honest, considering his suicide method, he was prepared to die at any point."

"I wonder why he was willing to risk death by crossing Jimenez. It's clear that he knew what he was getting into," Adrian says, and Marcel and I agree.

"We just have to hope the safe will give us some info. Otherwise, dead men tell no tales."

I move a bunch of his clothes to reveal a hole in the wall, with the front of the safe sticking out.

"That's… a big safe." The safe is at least one and a half meters tall and probably stretching another meter in the back.

We decide to sit around and wait for the fingers to thaw, checking every now and then.

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