Page 49 of Shattered Veil

Cassie and I had slightly adjusted our seats so we weren’t constantly craning our necks backward at Colton, but our legs were still under the cover of the table. I reached out with my fingertips to brush her knee, intending it to be a brief nudge that simply told her that I understood. That I knew that she held a silent fear of the unknown regarding Colton’s reason for being here and the missing women that could be closely linked to her life. The moment that I touched her, though, I heard the quick breath she pulled through her nose. I was the only one that was listening—thank God, I was the only one that was listening—and, just like that, the gesture that I had meant to be one of solidarity morphed into something that was so much more. Electricity pulsed in my veins. I squeezed the grip I had on her lower thigh, and the current coursed through me.

“’Kay,” Colton muttered, looking to Claire. “Last thing…what kind of lock are we dealing with here?”

“Round knob,” she replied. “Just a jagged key.”

“Deadbolt locked?”

Claire’s shoulder bobbed up. “Don’t know for sure.”

“So, you’re saying I may be able to get away with just shimming it?” Colton laughed. “Give me a challenge, come on.”

I released my grasp on Cassie’s knee. She let out the breath she had dragged into her lungs as quietly as she could manage, and as my hand returned to my lap, it was as if a string were tied between us. I moved, and so did she—slightly. Ever so slightly, but enough for me to sense exactly where her leg was placed as her body angled toward mine.

I shook my head quickly, looking to Colton and asking, “You wanna speak English?”

Colton tilted his head to the side. “What about that wasn’t English?”

“Shimming,” Claire repeated the word, and I turned to see her. Her blue eyes were tired, and Luke was watching her with a clenched jaw as she said, “It’s basically forcing something against what works as a lock…like, it’ll push the mechanism aside.” She mumbled to Luke, “I’ve never broken into someone’s home, baby—only locks on protected merch we took out of stores. Take a breath.”

Luke sighed. “I’m fine, Claire.”

“I’ll explain—door knob,” Colton spoke over them, “meet the trusty credit card that I haven’t used in years.” He held up an index finger and shifted onto his left side to reach into his back pocket. Retrieving a worn, brown wallet, Colton flipped it open and dug out a plastic, blue card that was marred with scratches. He held it between his fingertips in his right hand and noted, “Like this,” as he moved the card forward and back.

Luke squinted at him. “I don’t get it.”

“Of course, you wouldn’t,” Colton said with a loud exhale as he looked at him with a pointed gaze. He gestured with his left hand up and down. “There’s a slight crack between a door and its jamb, yeah?”

I looked back to Luke, saw him grimacing in Colton’s direction, and he grumbled, “Yeah.”

“Card.” Colton held it up with purpose and then smacked it flush against his other hand, which represented where the door met the jamb. “Opening.” He repeated his motion from seconds ago, rubbing the card against his hand in such a fashion that he would have been able to feel the grooves from the numbers tickle his palm. “Shimmy. Right where the latch is to push it aside.”

“Oh…kay,” Luke’s eyes went wide as he began to understand the act itself. “It…can’t be that easy to break into an apartment.” His nervous face whipped down to Claire. “Right?”

Claire shrugged, and Colton remarked, “Pretty damn easy if the deadbolt isn’t locked.”

“And if it is deadbolted?” Zoey inquired.

He told her confidently, “Get me something thin and blunt that can fit in a keyhole. I’ll get in there, no problem.” Colton added offhandedly, “The lesson here is to always lock your place with something that’s only on the inside of your home—sliding chain, flip lock, what have you. Safety first, kids.” He then glanced at both Cassie and Claire, “Either of you ladies have bobby pins in your hair?”

“You’re planning to unlock a deadbolt with a bobby pin?!” Luke’s light eyes were now bulging from his head. “That—that doesn’t seem very failsafe.”

“Ah, two bobby pins,” he clarified, holding up two fingers. “And it’s not ideal, but y’all are low on time, and it works in a quick pinch.” Colton patted the outside of his hoodie down to his jeans as if he were searching for something in his pockets. He comically noted, “I don’t have lock-picking necessities on me at the moment.”

I could practically hear Luke grind his teeth together, and Claire reached to comfortingly touch his shoulder.

She waved to her ponytail, mumbling, “I’m not using any,” and eyed Cassie’s messy bun. “Pins?”

Cassie quickly snagged two pins from the base of her bun, releasing a few strands of hair to fall and frame her face. As she held them up for Colton’s examination, he leaned forward to stretch a hand out her way. She placed them in his palm, and he narrowed his eyes at them as he slinked back into his seat. He gave them what appeared to be a quick stress test, taking the time to pinch one pin between his thumb and forefinger and gently flex the material before moving on to the second.

Colton nodded, smiling wide. “That’ll do.”

It was only a handful of minutes later that Colton had connected his headphones via Bluetooth to his phone, the buds were secured in his ears, and the call between his cell and Claire’s was connected. Without so much as a goodbye, he walked down the road. Liam rapidly pulled up the live feed footage from his security camera as we all raced to Cassie’s Jeep, and we piled in.

Cassie had conveniently parked approximately a block away from the complex—nearly a halfway point between the apartment and Henry’s. Keys in the ignition to turn on the battery but engine and headlights off, our collective breath was clouding before us as we watched and waited. Cassie twisted the knob at the end of the lever on the right side of the wheel, the windshield wipers swiped once, the snow was whisked away and drifted off into the wind, and she turned the knob back to its original location.

Colton was visible from where we were parked, walking directly away from us with his hood over his head and the neck of the shirt beneath his jacket pulled over his nose. Strolling through the snowstorm that was seemingly progressing into a whiteout, I supposed that the full coverage of his face wasn’t one that would be questioned by any random passersby. There were none to speak of due to the time of morning, but I considered it, anyway.

Liam was seated directly behind me, the light from his phone illuminating his face, and he spoke, “Camera feed’s finally up—hallway’s clear.”

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