Page 50 of Twisted Trust
I have all the money in the world to offer her and she still wants to work? Clearly, she doesn’t view this as a permanent solution, but that’s fine. She’s mine until she learns Hillary closed her case, and even then, maybe she can be mine forever if she never finds out.
I eat breakfast while on a call with one of the casino owners who reports an increase in LVPD activity on their premises. We decide to ease the drug shipments until their presence eases, which will be a small hit on our income but worth it in the long run. Chip joins me just after eleven on the balcony and offers me a cigarette. I turn it down.
What was once an obsessive addiction has turned into something that turns my stomach just to think about, but I’m not sure why. Is it normal to just grow out of something so addicting so quickly?
“What have you got for me?” I ask as I loosen my tie and stare out over the sweltering haze that covers the Strip. “Any news on Cameron?”
“Not a thing,” Chip groans. “I’ve dug as deep into his past as I can get, and on the surface he just seems like a good guy. Born and raised in Detroit, he went to college for architecture but dropped out when his parents got sick. They both diedwithin six months of each other and after their funeral, he packed everything up and moved out here about eight years ago. Since then, he’s lived a quiet life. He moves from job to job but nothing too intense, mostly convenience stores and fast food. Doesn’t drink. Doesn’t gamble. Has a long-running subscription toBustyBlondes?—”
“The magazine?” I glance across at him. “Who even gets their porn on paper these days?”
“Exactly. On the surface, he seems like a normal guy, but he’s almost too normal, if you know what I mean. His apartment was full of stuff but it didn’t feel lived in. More like what you’d expect from a holiday home. He has no friends, and any of the people I spoke to all said pleasant things about him, but nothing in depth. It’s like he’s some kind of ghost.”
“So how did this ghost end up with blood all over his walls?”
Chip shrugs. “I got no clue. Like I said, it all looked performative.”
“Hmm. Performative or not, Maeve’s son could have been seriously hurt. Whatever this guy is involved in or playing at, we need to find out. Elio knows about the engagement.”
Chip hisses softly through his teeth. “Let me guess, he was over the moon.”
“Alarmingly so. So this?” Pushing off the balcony railing, I tap the file in Chip’s hands with my fingertips. “I want this dealt with. The last thing I need is Cameron’s bullshit causing us trouble at a time like this. Find him.”
Chip nods. “I will.”
15
MAEVE
“I’m telling you it’s not here.” Chip pulls the car up to the sidewalk and parks outside my apartment. “We cleared everything out.”
“No, you cleared out everything youthoughtI would need because none of you have ever raised a child before.”
“You don’t know that,” Chip challenges until he meets my accusatory gaze and groans softly. “Okay, fine. I knew I should have told the movers just to bring everything.”
Climbing out of the car, I gaze up at my apartment building and Cameron immediately enters my thoughts. “When Levi said his men were bringing things from my apartment, I thought he meant everything, but I guess someone decided they knew better.”
“Like you said,” Chip grumbles as he appears next to me. “None of us have raised kids before.”
“Well if you ever get around to it, know that there’s nothing more powerful than a four-year-old’s bond to the most unusual things like the towel you guys left behind or the blue plastic chair he insists on sitting on after every shower.”
“Isn’t that the sort of stuff you try to wean kids off of?” Chip asks as he follows me up the metal stairs to my door.
“Do you want to deny my kid the only things that soothe him after everything he’s been through?” The look I give Chip could wither roses. “He’s a baby who has been ripped out of his routine, sleeping in a strange bed, surrounded by too much excitement. I need to give him stability and security until things calm down.”
“Alright.” Chip raises both hands in surrender when we reach the landing, then he moves past me to unlock the door.
Across the landing, Cameron’s door is firmly closed with some loose mail sitting on the doormat. It must all be junk. Anything worthwhile would be stolen already. It’s strange that I haven’t heard from him. I’ve called as often as I dare over the past few days hoping he’ll somehow pick up and tell me he’s okay, but the longer the silence drags on, the more I fear the worst. If he’s dead and it’s somehow my fault, I’ll never forgive myself.
“Besides, Levi didn’t think of everything, did he?” While Chip unlocks the door, I rummage through my mailbox until I find the letter from the bank with my new card. Waving it in the air, I smirk as Chip grumbles something under his breath and waves me across the threshold.
Inside my apartment, the stink of rotting food hangs in the air like a silent threat so I quickly clear out the fridge of everything left behind. As I clean, Chip wanders from room to room and only allows me to leave the kitchen once he’s certain the apartment is secure.
“Do you really think someone is hiding in my wardrobe on the off chance I came back here?” I say as I start gathering up all the important toys to Scott that were missed by Levi’s clean-up crew.
“You’d be surprised how desperate people can get,” Chip replies, hovering in the doorway.
“Desperate likeLevidesperate for an heir and locks me into an engagement where I’m suddenly expected to churn out a baby?”
