I ripped them off the wall, but it wasn’t enough. My stomach clenched as I tore each page to shreds, scattering the paper like confetti over his pristine carpet.
Laura kept working away in the other room while Dustin went suspiciously quiet, as if waiting for a reaction from me.
For that reason alone, I kept quiet and dragged out the top drawer, expecting to find folded shirts or ironed socks. My fingers slid over a scrap of silky material, and I paused, frowning.
Pinks, florals, lace, and stripes. He had dozens of women’s panties, in every colour and pattern imaginable. I lifted a black pair and dangled them from my forefinger. “What the fuck?”
“What’s going on?” Tim said from the lounge room.
“Come here,” I called back, breathing harder against my mask.
Maybe he bought the panties online and liked to wear them under his stuffy, buttoned-up exterior. Or maybe—and I could have pulled a muscle with this stretch—he brought women home and saved their panties like some weird souvenir. But then Jeanette and Clive’s apartment came to mind. If he’d been sneaking around and rummaging through residents’ underwear drawers, he’d just become a whole new level of dangerous.
“No!” Dustin suddenly sounded like he was fighting for his life.
The smashing of equipment continued, but going by the pace, Laura had either run out of steam or objects to obliterate.
I dropped the panties and found another pair of underwear, smaller this time. My hand stilled, and a wave of awareness stole my breath.
I remembered the images of Sadie on the monitor. The girls too. Add that to the pictures on his wall, and we were dealing with some apprentice serial killer bullshit here.
And he’d been doing this for years.
My insides plummeted, and I wanted to kick myself for not catching on to it sooner.
They’d never been safe—and they never would be again while Kerger was still living here.
Tim appeared in the doorway. “What’s going on?”
“You tell me.” I nodded at what I’d found.
I left the underwear on top of the chest and went over to the bedside table, determined to find the keys.Kerger had been coming and going from our apartments whenever he saw someone leave. Daily. Maybe multiple times a day. He could have been lurking in our rooms while we were sleeping, and I’d joked about it like it was too farfetched to be real.
I heard Tim rummaging behind me. “What in the Norman Bates is going on here?” he asked. “Are they... did he buy them or steal them?”
“No clue.” My fingers nudged a metal ring, and my heart thudded.
“They’re kid size,” Tim said, his voice filled with disgust. “Willow size.”
“I know.” I turned with the keys in hand and watched the same emotions I’d experienced play over his face, too.
“This is… deranged.” He stared as if convincing himself it was real, then disappeared into the walk-in closet and emerged with an empty backpack. Ramming the underwear into the main compartment, he pulled out every piece from Dustin’s collection. “I’m throwing it all out,” he said, leaving the top drawer bare. “Or burning it. I’ll talk to Laura.”
“Whatever you think’s best.” I pulled my keys from my pocket and flicked through Dustin’s set until I found the one with my apartment number, checking to ensure they were a match. Satisfied I had the masters, I dropped both bunches in my pocket. “Got ’em,” I said. “We’re good.”
“Not yet.” Tim slammed the drawer. “I’m checking every hiding place to see what else he’s got here. What’s this?” he asked, nodding at the scattered pieces of paper.
“Articles about missing women from the past few decades.”
Tim didn’t say a word. He paused and released an audible breath through his nose, then focused on the next task.
I helped him search the entire room while Laura and Owen kept Kerger contained on the other side of the wall.
We opened bedside drawers, dragged all his crap off the shelves in the walk-in closet. Took a couple of suitcases out from under the bed. After rifling through every nook and cranny, nothing else triggered concern. The underwear, articles,and CCTV appeared to be the worst of it, which was saying something.
“Almost done?” Owen called out.
“Nearly there.” I straightened and blew out a breath, satisfied we’d achieved all we could in here. With his belongings strewn across the floor, Dustin’s once perfect room had been tossed so fully, it would take him hours to clean.
