Page 33 of Simply Perfection
When Trevor hit pause, the last image was a black background with large white letters.
You belong to me.
“What the fuck, Mitchell? I thought this was some Valentine’s thing?”
“I did too, sir.”
“Either you have really fucked-up friends, or there is something else going on here. Regardless, you and I are going to have a chat.”
Trevor couldn’t look away from the monitor. Those words. The ones Niall and Matt used often to send Trevor spinning into a world of safety and pleasure, now catapulted him in a storm of uncertainty.
“Make a copy of that disk, then bring it to me. I’m officially opening a case file.”
“Sir? Is that really necessary? What if this is some kind of sick joke?”
If the captain responded, Trevor never heard the words. All he could think about was the opening clip. It was now apparent that Mindy’s murder was no random act or even aimed at hurting Mr. Carlyle, but at Trevor himself. A message Trevor hadn’t understood at the time.
Trevor’s palms were clammy; he couldn’t speak, and he was dizzy. It’s not like he made enemies on the cases he worked. He was a no-name lab tech, not even a blip on the radar of the criminals he helped put away. That meant this was personal. That meant his friends were potentially in danger. Mr. Carlyle. Ethan and Ryan. Rick and his family. Logan and Clay. But most importantly, Matt and Niall. His lovers.
You belong to me.
What if this person knew of his relationship with Matt and Niall? It seemed logical. Trevor hadn’t exactly been hiding the fact that he was dating the two men. What if Trevor’s selfishness in holding onto Matt and Niall had put the two men in danger? If they got hurt, if this person targeted them, it would be Trevor’s fault. He couldn’t live with that. It seemed he now had his evidence.
His first instinct was to deal with the problem himself. He could run a trace on the video feed, maybe see if the manufacturer’s serial number for the camera was still embedded in the metadata. He could try to get fingerprints off the disk, if the individual was in the system, Trevor would confront the bastard. However, he was no hero, and he knew it. He needed help.
He swallowed several times, trying to get saliva back down his throat. “I don’t know much, Captain, but I’ll tell you what I can.”
“Five minutes, Mitchell.”
“Yes, sir.”
Trevor copied the DVD to a media file on the computer, then made a hard copy. He put on a pair of gloves and removed theoriginal, placing it back in the jewel case, then slid it into an evidence envelope and sealed it. Trevor’s prints would already be on the evidence, but this way he at least minimized further contamination. Trevor initialed the label as the collection agent. As he left the A/V suite and walked down the hallway, Trevor couldn’t help but think of that movie Matt and Niall had made him watch not too long ago,The Green Mile. With each step, Trevor’s heart beat as if he were going to his execution. Perhaps the comparison was a touch dramatic. It was only Captain Frederick after all.
Trevor knocked on the doorframe to the captain’s office. “Sir?”
“Come in, Mitchell. Have a seat.”
Trevor did and moved to sit in the chair in front of the Captain’s desk.
“You want to tell me what’s going on, Trev?”
Trevor nearly landed on his ass again as the deep voice grumbled behind him. He spun around to see a man standing in the corner of the captain’s office, arms folded across his chest.
“Clay! What are you doing here?”
“They cleared me for duty and I was in the building to deal with the last of the paperwork. Came upstairs to grab something Logan left earlier. Imagine my surprise when I hear that you’re being threatened and didn’t bother to tell either Logan—your best friend— or myself.”
Clay’s anger was evident. When he stepped under the fluorescent lights of the office, Trevor noticed that Clay’s gray eyes mimicked thunderclouds. Of course, Clay’s tense stance and the tick on his left cheek were other clear signs. Trevor didn’t think it was good for Clay to get so agitated, cleared for duty or not.
“Clay. Calm down. It’s not good for you. Besides, if you keel over from a stroke now, Logan will kill me.”
“My blood pressure is fine. Now talk.”
Instead of sitting in the chair, Trevor moved over to the window and braced his back against the cool, clear pane of glass.
He looked over at the captain. “The first scene of the video showed my neighbor’s dog. I found her dead on my front landing back in November. At the time, I thought it was a random act of violence against my neighbor. He’s an old man, and I occasionally look after him. I didn’t understand why someone would want to target him. Mr. Carlyle has never hurt a fly.”
“Well, I think we can put that theory to rest,” Frederick stated calmly.
