“We don’t know this is Justus. We have plenty of trouble on our hands. Try not to borrow more okay?”
Titus sat up, and his gaze caught on my mouth. For a second, I thought he was going to kiss me. Then he frowned. “I’m taking you to Drew. Let’s run in and get your toothbrush.”
“What? No! You promised the council—”
“That I’d keep you safe. That’s what I’m doing. Leland Blum was murdered, Robyn. It’s not safe for you out here anymore, and Ican’tlet anything happen to you.”
“I’m not going—”
“Yes, you are. You should be surrounded by enforcers right now. Come on.” He got out of the car, and I had to follow him to argue with him. Yet on my way up the stairs, I realized there was no good argument to be made. I probablywouldbe safer at his house, surrounded by enforcers. But the only thing I wanted to be surrounded by was Titus’s arms.
“Hey!” I snapped as I jogged up the stairs after him. “I’m not—”
“Shh!” He turned to me with a fierce look, then pointed at the door to Justus’s apartment. Which stood open about two inches.
“You locked it when we left,” I whispered. “I specifically remember that.”
“Yes, and I alsoclosedit. Stay here.” Titus pushed the door open, flinching when the hinges squealed, then stepped inside. “Damnit,” he swore, but I couldn’t see what the problem was until he headed for his brother’s room, clearing my line of sight.
Justus’s living room had been destroyed.
The glass coffee table lay in shards and chunks all over the pristine white carpet. The couch had been overturned, leather cushions tossed aside. Every cabinet and drawer in the kitchen stood open, and the bi-fold doors concealing the washer and dryer had nearly been pulled from their hinges.
“The bedroom’s empty. And it’s trashed again,” Titus whispered on his way through the living area toward the guest room. “I don’t think this was Justus. Whoever was here didn’t have a key and seems to have been searching the apartment.”
I tiptoed behind him into the kitchen, my new boots crunching on glass, and grabbed a butcher knife from the block on the granite countertop.
“Robyn!” Titus snapped softly. Then he pointed to the front door, silently telling me to go outside.
I held the knife up and mimed gutting the vandalizing bastard, but Titus looked distinctly unimpressed. He opened the guest room door, his entire body tense and ready to spring into action. Then his arms fell limp at his sides and his shoulders relaxed.
I looked past him into the room. It was practically untouched. The only thing out of place was…
“Um, Titus?” I edged by him into the room and picked up a wallet lying on the unmade bed. “Is this yours?”
“If my wallet were here, you wouldn’t be wearing new clothes right now.”
I sank onto the bed and opened the leather trifold. The clear ID pocket was empty, but the credit cards inside belonged to— “Shit. Leland left it here.”
Titus sat on the mattress next to me and I gave him the wallet. He thumbed through the credit cards, then opened the billfold to find a thin stack of cash. “They only took his ID.”
“Which means they were looking for him, right?”
Titus shrugged. “All I can say for sure is that this wasn’t a robbery. But yeah, they could have been looking for Blum. Or they could have been looking for Justus, and found Blum’s ID instead.”
“So, whoever broke in here found Leland’s driver’s license, tracked him down, and killed him?” And that probably wasn’t Justus; he wouldn’t have to break into his own apartment.
“Looks like it,” Titus said. “But ID alone wouldn’t have led them to his dorm room.”
“Because addresses aren’t listed on college IDs and his hometown address would have been listed on his license.” I nodded, thinking of my own university identification. “So how did the killer find his address?”
Titus frowned. “I think the more pressing question is ‘Why would someone kill Leland Blum?’”
“Oh, good. A mystery. But I have to warn you, I’ve seeneveryepisode ofScooby Doo. Even the ones where Scoob was a puppy.”
Titus smiled, in spite of the circumstances. “Wow me, Thelma.”
“Okay, but I call dibs on ripping the rubber mask from the murderer, when we find him.”
