Page 41 of Elsie's Strong Shelter

“Give me a sec.” The sound of clicking keys filtered through the phone. “Try his birthday. 1122.”

Dean handed her the phone then crouched in front of the safe and turned the dials. “Nope,” he said over his shoulder.

Elsie sunk to her knees to bring the phone closer to Dean.

“Okay, then 1181. That’s year and month of birth,” Calvin said.

Dean twisted the dials again. “Nothing.”

Elsie’s shoulders dropped. There were thousands of options. It would take a miracle to open the damn safe. “What about his sister’s birthday? He used her name for the other property. Might have used something related to her for this as well.”

“Good point. Let me bring it up,” Calvin said. “Try month and day first—0902.”

Dean’s fingers went back to work, and he shook his head. “Give me month and year.”

“0985.”

“Got it,” Dean said, and the door swung open.

She leaned to the side for a look inside the safe. Wads of cash lined the shelves with a thick manilla file folder on the very top. “The money’s strapped just like the cash we found in Justin’s bedroom.”

“Anything else in there?” Calvin asked.

“Cash, paperwork, and a handgun.”

He stood and she caught a glimpse of the gun at the bottom of the safe. She sucked in a breath. “What the hell is going on here?”

Dean scrubbed a hand over his face. “Looks like Malcom was heading up an illegal poker ring. Buy-in must be pretty high for this kind of cash. We need to call in the sheriff’s department. This is the kind of money people would kill over.”

“Sadie saidsome deputies will be by soon.” Dean stuffed his phone back in his pocket and gave the bedroom-turned-storage area a long look.

Elsie sat on the floor beside the safe and flipped through a file. “How can we have found so much that doesn’t tell us a damn thing?” Her scowl highlighted the frustration in her voice.

“It might feel like that, but we’re circling the truth. We know more about Malcom and what he was doing here, and that ties in with Justin Pauly. Which might tie in with Mila.”

She tossed the file on the floor. “How? She’s not here. She wasn’t at the other house. We don’t know where Justin is, or if he’s even the one who took her. Unless she’s hiding somewhere, or the surprise ringleader of some illegal gambling ring, I don’t see how she’s connected at all.”

Sensing Elsie was close to a breakdown, he held out a hand. “Come here.”

Sighing, she nestled her palm in his. “What?”

He ignored the jolt of heat that shot from his arm and pulled her to her feet. Dipping his chin, he forced her to meet his eyes. “I know it might not seem like it, but we’re getting closer. I feel it in my gut.”

“Well, my gut is sinking,” she said, pressing her hands to her stomach. “I feel sick and worried and I’m scared as hell. Mila has been gone for too long.” Tears slid down her face.

His heart cracked in two and he wrapped his arms around her. It felt like years had passed since he’d held her, not hours, and the anxiety tying him up inside since Gina had walked into his house this morning melted away. He’d fix what went wrong between him and Elsie, but not now. Now he had to keep her from falling over the edge.

“We know Mila was at Mrs. Pauly’s and that Mrs. Pauly didn’t see her the night she went missing,” he said, holding her close and repeating the facts of the case. He didn’t have any new information for her, but cycling through what they’d learned over the last few days was the only thing he could think of to help her see how much they’d uncovered—and prove they were onthe right track. “We also know Justin hasn’t been seen since that same night, that he came to Town Tavern a lot to talk to Malcom, and he was hiding cash under his bed.”

“Which circles us back to needing to find Justin.” She took a step away from him and wiped her eyes. “We’ve been to his residence. Staked out his known previous locations. Maybe we need to dig deeper into his past.”

Now it was his turn to be frustrated. “Calvin and I have searched and haven’t found anything useful. This guy’s flown under the radar for a while.”

Elsie swished her mouth to the side. “What about his mother?”

“What about her?”

“Have you talked to her?” She raised her brows high and spoke slowly as if talking to a child.

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