Page 16 of Call Back

Chapter 4

We drove backto my apartment, and I was so freaked out about the cameras I convinced Colt to go back in with me while I picked up a change of clothes for the next day. When I parked in the driveway, I rested my hand on the steering wheel for a moment. “We didn’t come up with a plan to set up whoever’s watching me. Hell, we didn’t plan anything at all.”

“What’s your schedule tomorrow?”

“I’m cleaning Miss Ava’s house in the morning and then working for the Belles in the afternoon at four.”

“First course of action should be getting the gold back. I’ll do some digging to see what I can find out about Geraldo Lopez. Then we’ll come up with a plan tomorrow when you’re done with Miss Ava.”

I scowled. “Miss Ava plans to keep me busy all day, working off the expenses for the damages to the apartment.”

“Then I’ll come by Ava’s and we’ll wing it. In the meantime, I’ll do a little digging of my own.”

I shot him a glare. “Don’t go finding the gold without me.”

“Now, Maggie . . .”

“I’m serious. If you find something we need to tackle tonight or tomorrow morning, text me, and I’ll get away.”

The amused look on his face suggested he didn’t believe it, and I didn’t feel like arguing the point.

“One more thing . . .” My stomach clenched. “I understand the rationale for keeping the cameras, but it freaks me out. While we’re in there, can you try to figure out where all of them are?”

His hand covered mine, warm and comforting. “Yeah. And we’ll come up with a plan to set them up tomorrow, okay? This is just temporary.”

I nodded.

We headed up the stairs, and this time I actually made it past the doorway. I tried not to look down as I skirted the bloodstained section of the floor and slipped into my bedroom. Colt went into the kitchen and started opening cabinets.

“You got anything to eat in this place?” he asked.

“You just ate!” I protested, even though he was using it as an excuse to search.

“I’m a growin’ boy.” More cabinets banged shut.

I grabbed a small bag off the shelf in my closet and tossed it onto my disheveled bed. Before returning to attack me, Lopez had searched my apartment for the gold and left a mess behind. I hadn’t found time to clean it up afterward, and the reminder of what had happened sickened me. Nothing much was broken, though, just tossed around.

Colt appeared in the doorway. “I found a box of raisins in the kitchen but not much else.”

I hated raisins, so there wasn’t a single raisin in this apartment. That had to be code that he’d found another camera. “What about the books you were looking for?”

“Only the two.”

Three cameras in one open living room and kitchen? That seemed like overkill.

Colt walked into the room and picked up a handful of clothes and tossed them onto the bed. “How about we take fifteen minutes and make a stab at cleaning this mess up?”

I didn’t want to stay in here fifteen seconds, but I realized what he was doing—he’d just created an excuse to look for cameras in my room. Besides, the mess needed to be cleaned sooner or later.

“Yeah. Thanks.” I grabbed a pair of yoga pants and a T-shirt off the floor and tossed them into the bag while Colt continued picking up the clothes off the floor.

He started hanging a few of my dresses in the closet and took the opportunity to snoop around. Snagging a black, lacy bra off my dresser, he let it hang from his index finger. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you in this.”

My heart sank. Colt had never seen me in my underwear. But I had a part to play. “How many weeks has it been?”

“Weeks? Plural?” he scoffed. “More like one.”

One camera. In my bedroom. “I need to get my toothpaste out of the bathroom.”

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