Deadly Pursuit - Chapter 7
“Oh.” Serena sat her mug of coffee on the table. “I haven’t checked to see if Charley responded to my email.” She darted back into the guest bedroom and grabbed her phone from the nightstand. She’d responded to his email with one of her own that included another photo attachment with an embedded message.
Are you in trouble? I know someone who can help.
Charley hadn’t responded.
“Nothing,” she said, joining Tyre at the kitchen table again.
“That’s okay. We’ll stop by his place and go from there.”
“I haven’t seen Charley in years,” she reminded Tyre. “I don’t know if he still lives at the same address.”
“Have you forgotten where you work?” Tyre teased. “I got Shawn to pull everything he could find on Charley last night after you went to bed.”
“Oh, no. He must have been up all night doing that.”
Tyre reached across the table and took her hand. “He was more than willing. Everyone at West will do whatever it takes to keep you safe. Especially me.”
There it was again. That tingling feeling in her gut.
Tyre squeezed her hand. “Come on. Our best chance of catching your friend is to get him before he gets started on his day.”
Charley Ford still lived in the fourth-floor apartment he’d been renting since he’d been a graduate student at NYU with Serena. The building was in the East Village and on the older side, but it appeared to be well-kept.
But when Tyre knocked on the door of the corner apartment and the door swung open, she knew Charley was in trouble.
Serena gasped when she saw the destruction in the apartment.
Tyre pulled his gun from the holster hidden under his jacket. “Stay here.” He pulled Serena farther back into the hallway.
Serena did as he asked but peeked around the doorframe into the apartment once Tyre disappeared inside. It was a small space. The living area flowed into the dining area, and both could be seen from the open kitchen at the far end of the space. Just off the kitchen was the opening to a hallway. Tyre made his way to the hall, disappearing into each of the rooms briefly.
“It’s all clear!” he said, coming back to the front door. “You can come in now.”
Tyre walked back into the living area as Serena stepped into the apartment.
The sofa cushions had been cut open and the stuffing inside strewn about the apartment. The desk drawers had been overturned on the floor and all the books on the single bookshelf knocked aside. Even the dishes and the silverware from the kitchen had been smashed on the floor. She didn’t go into the bedrooms or bathroom, but from the look on Tyre’s face when he had walked out of those rooms, she guessed they’d also been thoroughly searched.
Someone had been looking for something. The question was, had they found it?