Chapter 38
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Minutes later, I arrived at my condo. Tyler waited for me on the floor in front of my door. I need to get him a key. He was wearing all black, just like the first time I’d seen him. He stood and stepped aside while I let us in.
I led the way to the kitchen to make myself a sandwich. I hadn’t finished my meal at the restaurant, so I was still hungry. “You eat?” I asked, while pulling out bread, sliced meats, cheese, and condiments.
“No.” Tyler helped me with plates and fixings and soon we were sitting across from each other at the kitchen table, two stacked sandwiches before us.
“Thanks for the text, by the way.” He took a bite of his sandwich, and groaned. “God, I was starving.” After swallowing, Tyler continued. “I got out through the back window right as a cab pulled up. A little too close for comfort.”
“I bet.” Thank God, he’s safe. I should tell him about using him as bait, but not yet. “Let’s finish our food, then retire to the back room to discuss what we both found out.”
Tyler nodded as he worked on his sandwich. Apparently he was ravenous, because he made two more.
We cleaned up and grabbed a couple beers, which we took with us to the office. “Okay, you go first,” I said.
“All right.” He drank half his beer, then burped. “Carl really loves jade.”
“I know. He’s crazy about it.”
“Dunno when was the last time you were at his house,” I heard jealousy in his tone again, “but it’s practically wall to wall.”
“Nope, that’s about like it was when I was there monthsago,” I said, with emphasis on “months.”
“I see.” He coughed and plowed on. “I looked everywhere. Upstairs, downstairs. Nothing. No sign of the things I stole. His laptop is password-protected, too. I didn’t have enough time to check all the jade stuff to see if that item was back in his collection, either.”
“It’s okay, honey. We needed to make sure. Could be, all the evidence we require is on his computer. We just need to find a reason to get a search warrant. Maybe we can get the cops to look at the Facebook conversations, too—the messages between the suspects, you know?”
“Yeah. But enough about that. How was dinner?” Tyler leaned back in his chair, arms crossed
I smiled. “Do I detect jealousy in your tone?”
“I keep telling you, I’m not jealous!” Denial looked cute on him.
“You are, but we’ll talk about that later. Dinner ended early. I think Carl was uncomfortable with our conversation. He’s a lightweight when it comes to alcohol. I got him a little drunk and asked him questions about his family.” I turned on the laptop and waited for it to boot up.
“A couple useful things,” I added. “One, he was wary when I mentioned that I had suspects in mind for the crime, and that I was close. And two, he admitted to having an uncle in Georgia.” I went on the Internet and accessed my email.
“You mean the Forever Safes owner, Franklin Cordone?” Tyler said, getting excited now.
“Yes. But we still need to link Carl, Remmy, and Griffin to the loot.” That’s where you come in, unfortunately.
I pulled up my email. No messages of importance. “I’m hoping I’ve scared him enough that he’ll do something stupid.”
“I just want this to be over soon,” Tyler said.
“I know, love. It will, I promise you that. Carl is suspicious now, and I’m hoping that’ll lead to something.”
“I hope so,” Tyler replied. He yawned. Time for bed.
“Let’s clean up and get some sleep.” I closed the laptop and stood, pulling Tyler up with me. “You did good tonight. Thank you for your help.”
“I’m happy to do it. It’s to help me, after all.”
I kissed his nose. “Come on, love.” I turned off the light in the office and dragged Tyler behind me to bed.
As we lay there after a quick shower and mutual blow jobs, I thought that Carl, Remmy and Griffin were about to do something stupid. And I would be there to catch them. Hopefully, Tyler wouldn’t get hurt…and he’d forgive me for using him as bait…eventually. 13
I told Tyler I’d be busy with tying up loose ends and closing the net on our suspects over the next couple of days, before going up to visit Uncle Ben on the weekend. I asked him to visit the Krog Bar in the evenings, and spend as much time as he could there and see if anyone of the suspects turned up.