Chase // Van McCann

3. What Is She Playing At?

It wasn't hard to find Matt Weiss. The team was quick to identify him. They knew where he worked and where he lived, but it didn't matter how hard we tried to reach him—we couldn't find him. I stared at Joe who attempted to call his mobile phone for the hundredth time. Once he reached his voicemail, he shook his head.

"I'm tired of waiting. Give me his work and home address and I'll go find him myself," I demanded, reaching my hand out.

"Christ, say please, Van. What crawled up your arse?" Bondy jabbed.

"This investigation is moving too slow for my liking. I need to take matters into my own hands," I shot back. Joe handed me a piece of paper and I stuffed it in my pocket.

I managed to get more sleep last night. As soon as I got home, I ate, showered, and then crashed into bed. However, I woke up thinking about the conversation with Lily yesterday which turned my mood sour. I guess I was being an arse to everyone today.

"Let me come with you," Bondy said, following me as I grabbed the keys to the car.

"Yeah that's fine. Just let me smoke first."

I huffed the last of my cigarette and then breathed out, blowing smoke towards the sky. Bondy watched me quietly, not saying a word until I asked him what his problem was.

"What?" I asked a bit too harshly. I stubbed my cigarette in the ash tray.

"Just wondering what's gotten into you today. It's not even noon. Did your ex reach out to you again or summat?" Bondy questioned. He was in dangerous territory and he knew it. Him mentioning my ex only added to my foul behavior.

"No, thank God. I was thinking about Lily. I know for a fact she's not listening to us. She's gonna get herself in trouble," I answered.

We made our way to the car. I sat in the driver's seat and handed Bondy the address. I'm the worst when navigating; I get distracted.

"What's it to ya if she listens or not? She's an adult. She can do whatever she wants," Bondy pressed. I thought about his words and realized he was right. Why do I care? I guess I'm used to people listening to me so when I have someone who doesn't, it bothers me to no end.

"You're right. Let's stop talking about her then. Tell me where to go."

"Let's go to his place first. Take a right when you get out of the carpark."

After fifteen minutes of driving, we arrived at a small, quaint house at the end of the street. There was not a single car in the drive and the windows were dark. We got out of the car and slowly walked towards the front door. Bondy rang the bell and knocked but we were met with silence. I listened for any signs of movement in the house but didn't hear anything.

"He's not home," Bondy said, looking around. "I'd love to go around back but we don't have a search warrant." We made our way back to the car and the letterbox caught my attention. I walked up to it and opened the one that belonged to Matt. The letterbox was full of newspaper and envelopes.

"Looks like he hasn't been home for a while," I said out loud. He kept looking more suspicious the more we dug around. I pulled the bottommost envelope out and looked at the delivery date which dated three weeks back, around the time Erica died. I put the envelope back.

"What'd you find?" Bondy questioned.

"The bottommost envelope dates back to around the time Erica supposedly died," I replied. I could see Bondy's face lighten up.

"Let's go to his work then. See what we find there."

We drove to his work which was on the other side of the city. We stepped out of the car and stared up at the company he worked at, which was at a rundown business complex. We opened the door and the door chimed, signaling the person at the front desk to look up.