When the door opened a few minutes later and the orderly wheeled the gurney out, I knew he was the man I'd seen in the elevator. But it was the man who walked out after him that really caught my interest.
It took me a moment to remember where I'd seen him before, but when I did, I would have given just about anything to have him standing there in front of me right at that second. I would have ripped his heart right out of his chest.
I hit the record button instead and sent a copy of the security video to my cloud. I might not be able to kill him, but I could take him down my way.
"Got you, you bastard."
Chapter Twelve
"What did you find?" Andrew asked as he leaned over my shoulder and watched as I started a couple of my deep search programs. "Oh, who's that?"
"That, my dear friend, is Brody. Police officer, breaking and entering expert, and all around rat." I also suspected he was the one who had disabled my security cameras. He'd been left alone while I showed Officer Curtis the upstairs.
"You recognize this man?"
"Oh yeah. He was one of two officers who showed up to investigate when I called the police because someone had broken into my place and ransacked it." I pointed to the other two men on the screen. "The orderly is the one I saw in the elevator with Abe, and that last guy is the man who attacked me in my bedroom then jumped out the window after I scratched him. You can still see the scratch marks on his cheek."
"Damn."
"I think Brody is the one who disabled my security cameras so they could break back into my house."
"How did he even know where they were?"
I quickly explained about the CD I'd made and given to the police.
"Damn," Andrew said again.
"You already said that."
"Yeah, but…damn. Fighting some jerk that has a fascination with you is one thing. Fighting the cops is something altogether different."
"I'll fight anyone I have to fight if it means getting Abe back."
"I understand that," Andrew said, "but this is way out of my comfort zone. I wouldn't even know the first thing to do." Andrew started pacing. "I mean, how do you even start to fight something like that? Lodge a complaint with the police commissioner?"
I found it odd that he was so upset when it was the man I cared about who was missing. "Andrew?"
Andrew's shoulders slumped as he turned to look at me. "I'm sorry, Danny. You're probably losing your mind with worry over Abe, and I'm the one freaking out. I just…"
"Just what?"
"I feel so helpless sometimes. I mean, you and the others, you're all doing great things to make the world a better place, and all I can put on my resume is underwear model."
Oh.
"And you don't think there's a need for underwear models?"
Andrew raised an eyebrow.
"No, I'm serious." A small smile graced my lips. "When I was discovering boys, I used to dream about the guys I found in clothing magazines."
Andrew's nose crinkled.
"No, I don't mean like that. Yes, I fantasized about a few of them, but what I'm saying is looking at guys in magazines, even ones with their clothes on, helped me understand what I was attracted to." I chuckled lightly. "It also helped me understand that no matter what I did, my ass would never look as good in a pair of jeans as an underwear model's did."
Andrew chuckled as I hoped he would. The tension in the man was almost tangible.
"I have four older brothers, Andrew. Four very big, very straight older brothers. If I'd been caught with gay magazines, I would have had my head handed to me. If I was caught looking at a clothing magazine or some other girly type magazine with pictures of hot guys modeling clothes in it, I could always say I was looking for a present for my mom. They never would have thought twice about it. I imagine a lot of young guys go through the same thing. So, you may not think you do much for the world when you model, but I'd have to disagree."
