*** Barry’s face pulled into a grimace. “We checked a house listed on the only Billy’s name on the roster but it doesn’t even look like it’s been lived in. It even smelled brand new.”
“Which means he’s staying somewhere else.” It wasn’t that uncommon. The house could be a ruse.
“Or the guy is a neat freak like you.” Jack suggested. He smiled like it was a funny joke.
“No one is that neat.” Drew scowled. He felt the need to defend himself but then thought why bother. His cleanliness was his own business no one else. That didn’t stop his eyes from looking around his home. His house at least looked lived in.
“No, seriously. There’s not even a trash can in the place.” Barry said. His eyes wide in shock. “The house is completely vacant.”
“okay, what about bank records?”
“Nothing again.”
“So he doesn’t live in his house and doesn’t have a bank account?” Jack asked stunned. “What does he do, just walk around with pockets full of cash?”
Barry’s face pulled into a grimace. “The man’s a ghost. We can’t find anything on him.”
He existed, but he was hiding in plain sight, just like the company name on the property.
Drew looked at Shay. She was watching him with the same look. They were both thinking the same thing. His name was anagrammed for anonymity. She nodded and turned to her computer.
“What about the other people?” Drew asked Jack. “You said only some were staff. The guy I took the wrist band from looked like he worked for some crime boss.”
“Others were small time crooks. Street corner thugs that sort of thing. Small time. The guy you bumped into works for a boss in Seattle. He’s not small time but he’s not high profile like Djokovic. Going through footage over the past week I did notice a few of Las Vegas’s finest on the upper floor including the police chief.”
“But none of those people could have been behind my kidnapping. I don’t know any of them. The police chief wouldn’t have a reason to buy me.” Shay’s voice rose. He’d been proud of how well she’d kept herself together up until this point. Her emotions were frayed. Sometimes he forgot what the victims went through and kept his feelings out of it. His main focus was stopping the same thing from happening to others. “I’m just a law student. The daughter of a senator. I have no connection to these people.”
Drew came over to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. He didn’t care how it looked to his friends. He had nothing to hide from them. The guys could see the attraction they had from the beginning. Only a blind man would have missed it. He thought about moving the conversation into the next room “That’s not what Jack’s saying. None of those people have to do with you specifically.”
“No,” Jack agreed. “The police chief is more of a middle man. Lining his pockets and make sure others turn a blind eye to what’s going on. The other buyers have no connections to those they buy. They go to a sight and buy based off what they see. But that’s not all I found.” Jack leaned forward, his hands folded between his legs. Drew didn’t miss the excitement in Jack’s eyes. He did love this part of the job. The investigation. Jack was a hellof a soldier but he was a natural at investigating. He loved the chase, the research.
“What?” Drew wasn’t in the mood for games.
“I checked the week of Shay’s kidnapping and there’s a time blank.”
“Meaning?”
“The recording stops for a time then restart. Two days before her kidnapping and the day after.”
Well, that was odd. “Any idea why?”
“Every camera is shut off for thirty-five minutes.”
“Does it happen prior to then?” He knew Jack would have looked at all the footage they had not just the recent stuff if they had access to it.
“It does. There’s no pattern to it. It’s at different times and days of the week but it’s always for thirty-five minutes.” It could just be a coincidence. Sykes delt in drugs, money laundering, and trafficking. The cameras could be shut off so there was no proof of merchandise being moved. The time lapse was interesting.
“You said the days fluctuate. Are they once a week? More? Less frequent?”
“The data only went back two months. It wasn’t frequent last month. This month it was once a week then the week of the kidnapping twice.”
“Probably to finalize to plans and the day after to make sure the kidnapping went through.”
“Which means its someone local.” Barry chimed in.
That left out Djokovic. He didn’t fly in until the night of the auction. That wouldn’t’ explain the time blanks as Jack phrased it.
“He would have been coming the night I escaped or at the very latest the next day.” Shay added. “I overheard Billy talkingto Sykes. He was worried about Sykes selling me when I was already bought. Sykes said I wasn’t actually paid for.”
