Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 36353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 182(@200wpm)___ 145(@250wpm)___ 121(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 182(@200wpm)___ 145(@250wpm)___ 121(@300wpm)
When I stepped farther inside, I noticed a weathered paperback resting face down on the nightstand. The spine was cracked, and the cover was nearly worn off. I tilted my head to read the title. The Old Man and the Sea.
I hadn't read it, but the book seemed fitting for Callum.
I walked over to the bed and sat on the edge, my fingers curling around the end of the comforter. The mattress didn’t give much beneath me.
Everything caught up to me at once. The hack. Ellen’s disappearance. The bug. Yet I felt safe here. With Callum.
He crossed the room without saying anything, opened the closet, and set my suitcase inside. Then he carried my toiletries bag into the attached bathroom, disappearing for only a moment before returning.
“You can use anything in there.” He gestured toward the door. “And there’s space on the shelves for your stuff.”
“Thanks.” I looked up at him. “This is a lot.”
His expression didn’t shift, but something softened in his eyes. “You’re handling it well, baby.”
I’d never been close enough to a guy for him to give me a pet nickname, but I loved hearing Callum use one for me. It gave me the courage to admit, “Only because of you.”
His hands fisted at his sides, his knuckles turning white and his nostrils flaring. “Fuck, baby. You can’t say shit like that when we need to head down to Deviant’s office.”
My brows drew together as I asked, “We do?”
“He’s digging into Ellen’s disappearance and wants to see if she ever said anything to you that might send him in the right direction.”
I stood, already moving. “Yeah. Of course. Whatever you need. I want to help.”
His lips curved at the edges in a slight smile. “I had a feeling you’d say that.”
Callum led me down another hallway, this one quieter and narrower than the one we’d used earlier to get to his room. Stopping at a closed door, he knocked once and opened it without waiting for a response. The guy at the desk looked up from his computer and gave me a quick once-over before shifting his gaze back to the man at my side. “I’m assuming you wanna stay for this.”
Callum quirked a brow with a nod. “You’d be right.”
“Mm-hmm.” I didn’t get the gleam of humor in Deviant’s eyes, but it vanished quickly when he looked at me again. “Gemma, right? Come in and sit down. I’m Deviant.”
“Nice to meet you,” I murmured as Callum guided me over to one of the chairs in front of Deviant’s desk. “I wish it was under better circumstances.”
“That’s why I wanted to talk to you. So we can get to the bottom of Ellen’s disappearance.”
I glanced up at Callum, who stood behind me like a wall of protection. “I’m willing to help however I can.”
Deviant leaned forward slightly. “Not sure how much Hawk has told you, but your client Ellen hasn’t just been reported missing. She’s gone completely dark. Phone’s off. Apartment’s empty. No financial activity in the past forty-eight hours. Nothing.”
My heart sank. “I hoped she was just…hiding or something.”
“So did we.” Deviant tapped a few keys. “That’s why I need anything you can remember from your conversations with her. Even stuff that didn’t seem important at the time. Something she said. The way she acted. Anything unusual.”
“She mentioned going through a rough divorce not long ago.”
“Yeah.” Deviant nodded. “Already figured that out. I’m lookin’ more for something that wouldn’t be common knowledge.”
I hesitated, sifting through my memory for anything that stood out to me. “She was nervous, but that’s not unusual. A lot of women are at first. I do this whole routine to help break the ice—silly questions, stuff like ‘are you the type who clears all your notifications, or do you have thousands of unread emails?’”
Deviant’s fingers froze on the keyboard. “What did she say?”
“That she doesn’t just clear them, she deletes messages constantly.” I bit my bottom lip as I remembered exactly what she’d said. “And she also mumbled something about how that hadn’t done much good in the past.”
“Did you notice if her phone was rooted?” he asked.
I blinked. “I’m sorry—what?”
“Modified. Jailbroken. Anything off about it?”
“No idea,” I admitted. “I barely saw it. She kept it in her bag for the whole shoot.”
Deviant nodded and resumed typing at lightning speed. “Still helpful. Could mean she was paranoid about someone seeing something on her phone. Or that she was trying to hide her tracks.”
I offered him a grateful smile. “I hope it helps.”
“It does.” Callum squeezed my shoulder before asking, “Need anything else?”
Deviant shook his head. “Not unless Gemma has more info for me.”
“Nothing I can think of.” I heaved a deep sigh. “But I’ll let Callum know if anything else comes to mind.”
“That’d be good,” Deviant murmured before his focus returned to his computer screen.