Fatal Obsession

Chapter 43

  Aaron pulled to a stop then turned to Logan. He had already called the Dean to let him know that he had important matters, so he wouldn't be able to make it to class.

"Call me if you need anything." He had told Logan he would be missing class today but not the reason.

"I won't be needing anything from you." Logan opened the door and exited the vehicle, slamming the door shut. He stalked off without a backward glance.

  Aaron bit back the hurt he felt at Logan's words. He knew Logan would be angry at him but he hadn't expected him to be this bitter. He stayed there until he disappeared inside the building before dialing Kaia's number.

"He's in class. Keep an on him for me please."

"Of course."

  Kaia had needed an explanation on his reason for not guarding Logan so he had told her that something urgent had come up at work.

"Thanks, Kaia. I owe you one."

"You owe me a lot."

  He hung up his phone then drove out the parking lot to pick Kyle up from his house. Kyle jogged down the steps to the vehicle.

"It's a long drive. We should get a bite to eat before heading out."

"Did you skip breakfast again?"

"Late night. I overslept."

  Aaron drove to east until he saw a fast food restaurant and pulled into the drive-thru. They gave their orders at the first window before driving to the second window to pay and collect their orders.

"Roger Langston lived alone, had no family. He had a long rap sheet since he was sixteen years old. Nothing to major until he turned eighteen." Kyle handed him two sheets of paper.

  He braked at the stoplight to read through the papers.

"All these are drug-related, theft, kidnapping." He placed the papers on his lap when the light turned green.

"At the age of twenty-five he vanished for four years then returned a completely different person."

"Maybe the person he works for is part of an organization." Aaron said turning onto a freshly paved road. He drove passed luxurious homes before turning onto a dirt road.

"If he worked for an organization we can't get caught trespassing."

"Don't worry we'll search his home secretly. No one will know we were there."

  Roger's house enclosed by trees came into view. He drove passed the house to park his vehicle around the back out of sight. They retraced their steps on foot back to the house. Aaron went to the side door, put on a a pair of gloves then knelt to the ground.

"Keep an eye out." He told Kyle as he took out a tension wrench and a feeler pick from his pocket. There was a click before he stood back up.

"Seven seconds." There was awe in Kyle's voice.

"Really, you were counting?" Aaron pushed the door open and it swung inward. He entered the house first, gun in his hands, with Kyle following closely behind him.

  The living-room was so pristine, it would make Martha Stewart jealous.

  Kyle whistled his appreciation. "The guy probably had a maid. No way he did the cleaning himself."

"Did you find any information about him hiring a maid service?"

"No."

  They walked through the living-room, down the hallway into the dining room. There was nothing out of place. Upstairs in the bedroom was the same as downstairs.

"See if you find anything in his bedroom. I'll search his office." No matter how clean a place seemed to be, there was always something out of place.

  Aaron walked across to the opposite end of the hallway to a door marked private. He pushed the door inward and entered the office. The room was in total disarray.

  Papers were scattered all over the floor. He carefully maneuver his way through the mess, making sure not to step on any of the papers. He left the door slightly ajar before walking to the desk in the corner of the room.

  Aaron searched through the drawers but found nothing of importance. He walked to the bookcase to inspect the books. He trailed his fingers across each book until he felt a ridge on the spine of the book at the end. He peered closer and saw a small dot beneath the spine of the book.

  He ran a finger over it and felt a slight bulge. Aaron pressed on the bulge and heard a creak coming from his left. His eyes scanned his surroundings before landing on the cabinet. It had moved from its original position. He made a beeline for the cabinet.

  Aaron put his shoulder against the cabinet and gave it a push. It shifted to the side to reveal a home-made safe and it needed to get the password. He sent Kyle a message to meet him in the office.

"What did you find?"

"A safe. But we need a password. We need to search this office from top to bottom."

  They searched the office for almost half an hour before Aaron found a piece of blue carbon paper taped inside a book that was sealed.

  The only reason he found it was because the book dropped from the bookcase when he accidentally bumped into it. He held it up and saw numbers printed into the paper.

"There's something marked on here."

"What is it?"

"A password."

Aaron went to a grab a pencil that was thrown on the desk. He put the carbon paper on a piece of regular paper and started scratching onto the images. When the password appeared on the paper, Aaron punched it into the safe. There was a click and he pulled on the handle opening the safe.

Inside the safe were a stack of papers, money and a small black metal box.

He took a hold of the metal box and flipped it over. The key was attached to the bottom of the box.

"We'll take this with us."

  Aaron turned to the stack of papers grabbed the pile and handed them to Kyle. "Take this. We can read them at your place."

  Aaron heard a creak from downstairs and went to the door. He pushed the door until only his eyes were looking out. He heard the front door shut before footsteps echoed on the floorboard.

"We have company." Aaron whispered to Kyle.

"Shit! Can you tell how many?"

  Aaron kept still as he listened to the footsteps. They were probably still searching downstairs.

"No, they're still downstairs. We need to take them out." He closed the door then turned to Kyle.

"How are we going to do this?" Kyle asked.

"This place is a couple of miles from the other residents. Go to the bedroom and wait for my signal."

"Okay." Kyle left the office and silently crept across to the bedroom.

  They couldn't leave any blood, so they would have to do it swiftly. He hid the box and left the office. On each side was a hallway, he went down the left to wait.