Fatal Obsession

Chapter 20

"Who do you think hired those guys?" Kyle asked Aaron as they followed the part he had taken the night before.

"I don't know."

"Did you get a good look at their faces?"

  Standing still, Aaron stared at the spot. "I took a wallet from one of the guys. It's back at my place."

"What exactly are we looking for?"

"They might have dropped something important."

"Okay."

  Aaron led him to the spot where he had left the guy. "You can search here."

  He walked further into the woods, only stopping when he reached the spot where the fourth guy had stood.

He hadn't been able to see his face quite as clear as the others. But he could find out about him when he captured the other three guys.

A glint from the ground caught his eye. He walked over to the other side and knelt down, pushing aside the underbrush. It was a silver antique cigarette lighter.

  He picked it up and put it in the evidence bag he had walked with.

He heard slight rustling sound, so he slowly stood up while reaching for a stone. Bracing himself, he turned swiftly with the stone in his hand and threw it in the direction of the trees.

  There was a grunt of pain, afterwards loud footsteps running away from the scene. Aaron broke into a run, chasing after whoever had been hiding. He saw the man far up ahead and dashed after him.

  It was a plus point that he ran every morning, so he was able to keep up. Up ahead, he saw a black pickup truck parked at the side of the road. The man veered toward the pickup truck, waving his arms wildly to the person in the driver's side. He halted, panting just as he reached the clearing, watching the truck sped off down the road.

  He stood there for a minute catching his breath before turning around and making his way back to where he had left Kyle. He'd already noticed the man. Lanky with black hair, and a slight limp length discrepancy. 

"What the hell happened?" Kyle asked in alarm.

"I was chasing someone. It might have been one of the guys from last time."

"Why would he come back here?"

"I'm guessing that he came looking for what he lost."

"What is it?"

"They were looking for this." Aaron held the silver lighter out toward Kyle so he could inspect it himself.

He had already seen the initials at the bottom of the lighter.

"LMA, who's initial do you think it is?"

"I guess we should find out."

  Kyle handed the lighter back to him. "They came looking for this lighter so it wouldn't be traced back to them."

  He nodded slowly before he took his eyes off Kyle and strode toward his jeep.

"I'll have the guys run it for fingerprints."

"Okay."

  They piled into his jeep, where he put the evidence bag into the glove compartment.

"Hopefully, with luck the guys back at the lab find an actual print that can be used."

"Let me know the results."

  After dropping Kyle to his home, he dropped off the lighter at the crime laboratory. He wanted to get this analysis done soon as possible before these guys decide to vanish.

"As you can see I'm swamped with workloads. So, it's going to take some time to run that for fingerprints."

"It doesn't matter. Call me."

"If they're in the system, it'll be about an hour. If not, it will be a couple of minutes. But as you can see, I'm busy at the moment." The technician swiveled round in his chair to face him.

"Just call me."

  Aaron left the building and drove to the gym. He usually practiced for two hours but only did a single bout of practice, he didn't want to tire himself before meeting Logan. He left the building in a hurry, driving straight to the dorm building but he went around the back to park in the private garage. 

  The Dean had allowed him to use this one so no one would see him shuffling around.

  It was almost time for him to meet Logan. Although they had seen each other last night, he actually missed Logan. 

  The feelings he had for him had never changed. The more time he spent around him, protecting him, his feelings increased. Only Kaia and Kyle knew his true sentiment toward Logan.

  He went up to his room, showered and dressed before going to Logan's room. He knocked three times then waited for him to open the door.

  The door opened to reveal him standing there. "Aaron, come on in."

  Aaron hesitated, gazing up and down the hallway. He entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"You look good." Aaron complimented, staring at Logan. He was wearing a Cherry red shirt, black jeans and black sneakers.

"Thanks." Those eyes of his traveled down his body then back up to his face. "You're looking really good yourself."

"I do clean up well, don't I?"

  Logan didn't move, he just stood there staring at him. Aaron quirked an eyebrow at him, lips twitching at his expression.

  Logan cleared his throat and looked away. "We should go."

"Sure."

  They left his room and took the elevator to the lobby. In the lobby Aaron saw a guy with his back to the door sitting on a chair. Head bobbing to whatever music he was listening to.

  Aaron slowed his steps, watching him. It was unusual for anyone to be staying in the lobby at this time of the night. 

   Even though he wasn't seeing this guy's face, Aaron knew he had never seen him before. But there was a nagging at the back of his mind.

"He's a new student?"

"Yeah."

  Aaron glanced down at him. "When did he enrolled here?"

"I'm not sure."

"Do you know his name?"

"I've only glimpsed him once before tonight. He mostly keeps to himself."

"Hmm..."

  When they got to his jeep, Aaron's phone rang. He sneaked a peek at his phone but didn't answer.

"Aren't you gonna answer?" Logan asked glancing over at him.

"It's Kaia. I'll call her later."