Page 68 of More Than Nothing
Roman let her change the subject. “We did. I won’t lighten up on him from my side, Elenie.” If anything, he’d be doubling down on his efforts, doing anything and everything he could think of to bring an end to the vulnerable position she was in as a CI. “This isn’t all on you. I’ll keep digging, keep nudging, keep asking questions. And I don’t give a fuck if he thinks he’s untouchable. No one is.”
Elenie chewed on her thumbnail, shadows in her eyes. “He might not be untouchable but he is vicious when he’s crossed. You should be careful.”
“I’ve come up against worse.” Roman’s smile was dangerous. “Maybe he’s the one who should be careful.”
Chapter 31
Elenie
The house was in darkness when she got home, the driveway clear of cars. Her heart rate quickened as she walked up the path and turned her key in the lock. She’d known before meeting Roman that a potentially empty house was too good an opportunity to waste.
“Hey?” Elenie flicked on the light. “Ty? Dean?”
There was no answer. Still, she went room to room through every part of the house to make sure everyone was out. She even traipsed out back to the garage, just to check, finding all the lights off and the heavy chain locked through the door handles.
Back inside, mouth dry and palms sweaty, Elenie ran through the possibilities open to her. Frank’s phone was a non-starter. It’d be in his pocket right now; he never left it at home. And the key to the padlock on the garage doors would be on Frank’s keyring, also in his pocket. That left a search of the house for money, drugs, or his laptop.
A quick glance around the living room told her his laptop wasn’t there. Elenie headed swiftly upstairs to the main bedroom, careful as always to avoid the most worn treads where the gaps in the carpet liked to snag unwary toes. Neither her mother nor Frank had made the bed. The air smelled faintly of cigarettes and dirtylaundry, with a touch of her mom’s perfume thrown in, the partly open window helping to disperse anything more pungent. Elenie let the bulb on the landing illuminate the room, so no one pulling up in the driveway would see a light on in the bedroom.
Again, there was no laptop. In Frank’s nightstand, all she found were cigarettes, empty gum packets, a handful of loose change, three disposable lighters, and a strip of condoms which made her gag a little. Elenie slid a clumsy hand beneath the drawer, thinking of hidden compartments or taped paperwork, but there was nothing. Of course. Because her life wasn’t actually a TV show, even if it felt like one.
She flinched at the sharp snap when she closed the drawer harder than she’d meant to.
Inside the closet, she went through the pockets of Frank’s jackets and pants. Balled-up receipts for gas, more loose change. His clothes were surprisingly tidy. Her mother’s, not so much. Elenie bent down to look under the bed and grimaced at the layers of dust covering the carpet. One sock, discarded and forgotten, lay like a dead mouse a couple of feet in. She crooked her neck to scan the underside of the wired bedframe and mattress. No bundles of drugs, no wrapped wedges of cash. Frank wouldn’t be making this easy for her.
“Dammit.”
She tapped her way carefully around the bedroom floor, checking for loose boards, and dug her fingers gingerly into the edges of the carpet to see if it came away easily at any point along the walls or in the corners.
Elenie checked Athena’s nightstand, her dresser, and even inside the pendant lightshade in the center of the room. And all the while, her chest grew tighter and her palms damper; the silence screamed in her ears. She was drawing a blank.
Where else could she look?
A set of headlights dipped and bobbed their way up the drive, casting moving shadows on the bedroom wall. Elenie ducked instinctively, bending at the waist, and slid across the carpet on silent feet.
By the time Tyson and Dean crashed in through the front door, she had made it to the safety of her own room, beads of sweat drying on the back of her neck. As her pulse slowly settled, she pulled open her closet. When Dean passed her door five minutes later, he found Elenie studying her limited outfit choices for her date with Craig the following night.
At least this time most of the company was pleasant and the food was excellent.
Elenie smiled across the table at June Reed Sanders—a smart woman in her late thirties who managed to be funny, glamorous, clearly ambitious, and yet friendly at the same time. Her husband, Owen, reminded Elenie in many ways of Roman, with a calm and dependable air that was enormously appealing. She loved the affectionate touches they shared without embarrassment as the evening wore on.
“I’m time-poor at the moment while I get my current project onto a more secure footing,” June told them.
“Doesn’t stop her looking for anything that will pay more cents on the dollar than tucking money away in the bank.” Owen’s words were dry but full of humor, as he squeezed his wife’s hand on top of the tablecloth.
Craig continued the smooth spiel Elenie was familiar with by now, intent on encouraging June’s investment into an overseas project currently at the drawing-board stage. Or so he said.
Elenie knew for a fact there was little chance of the scheme ever getting off the ground. Craig had told her so himself. He laughed at what he called the “easy targets,” looking to boost their property portfolios, who would fall over themselves to invest once he rolled out some slick marketing ploys and inflated profit projections. Expecting him to be a miserable but necessary distraction while she gathered dirt on Frank, Elenie had been side-swiped by the extent of Craig’s brazen scams. Now it looked like she might end up with a catalogue of damning information against the property developer as well.
Despite Craig’s arm stretched across the back of her chair, they didn’t give off the convincing vibe of a loving couple. Anytime he got close to touching her, Elenie couldn’t stop herself from moving away, the quiet force of one magnet being repelled by another. And she felt the irritation coming off Craig in waves whenever she did.
He wanted her to back him up. Not have any opinions—oh, Lord no. But she was supposed to chirp in with positive reinforcements to echo what he was saying, give brief anecdotes to support his trustworthiness, build him up to June and Owen, just like he’d told her to build him up at the previous dinner he’d dragged her along to. The problem tonight was that she really liked this couple and she had no intention of selling them down the river for Craig’s benefit. She just needed an opportunity to give them a heads-up.
Elenie studied June and Owen across the table and tried to read their thoughts. June’s eyes met hers for a second. There was calculated interest in the look they shared.
“If you could live a different life, Elenie, what would you choose?” Owen’s question drew her attention back to the table. Craig let out a stifled laugh but wiped it from his face when he saw the other couple were genuinely interested.
Wow. She hadn’t seen that one coming.
