Page 35 of Rattler's Revelation
“That’s the scenario we’re working with,” I tell him as he leads us to the elevator.
“Would it help if you looked inside her apartment? I can get the key.”
I stop walking and stare at Teddy in surprise. “I don’t understand. Are you saying Nadine’s apartment is still vacant?”
Teddy shrugs. “I haven’t rented it out to anyone yet. I was hoping Nadine would come back. She paid her rent through the end of the month.”
“Yes, we’d very much like to see her apartment,” I say, keeping my excitement down, even as I share expectant glances with Bianca and Rattler. We may not find anything in her place, but maybe this is the break we need.
Teddy runs back to his office and returns with a keychain containing several keys. We enter the elevator and ride it up to the third floor. When we exit, Teddy leads us to Apartment 3C. He inserts a key into the lock, opens it, and takes a step back.
“Have you been inside?” I ask him.
He nods. “Once, to look around. I didn’t believe it when I read her note, so I felt compelled to check. I didn’t touch anything but the door handle.”
I pull out three pairs of gloves and put one on while tossing the others to Bianca and Rattler. “Put these on before you touch anything. Teddy, if you could stay outside, that would be helpful.”
“You want us to search the place?” Rattler asks.
“Yeah, do a quick search. I’m going to call Rafe and have him order a forensic team to do a more thorough search.”
“What are we looking for?” Bianca asks as she opens the kitchen cabinets.
“I don’t know. I don’t expect to find anything, but I can’t shake the feeling that something is here for us to find. If that makes any sense.”
While Bianca searches the kitchen, Rattler and I examine the remaining furniture in the living area. There’s an empty entertainment center, a coffee table, two end tables, and a couch. We search through drawers and under every surface. Rattler checks the cushions. We even lift the entertainment center, but find nothing hidden underneath or behind.
“I didn’t find anything in the kitchen,” Bianca says, passing through and stepping into the bathroom.
“Yeah, we’ve come up empty, too,” Rattler says. “Bedroom?”
I nod and follow him inside the bedroom. It isn’t as large as Rattler’s room at the clubhouse, but it is large enough for Nadine to have a desk, a bookcase, a dresser, and a full-sized bed. I’m resigned to failure until Rattler and I pull the desk away from the wall. Taped to the back is an envelope. I yank it off and open it to find a USB drive inside, along with a notebook.
“Bianca!” I call out as I hand Rattler the USB drive so I can sit on the bed and flip through the book. Rattler sits next to me.
“What did you find?” Bianca asks as she steps into the room. Her eyes widen when she sees what we’re holding. She sits on the bed on my other side.
I only have to read the first page to know we may have caught that break I was hoping for. “Nadine was following Walt, well, she called him Max. She was also following another guy, Todd.”
“I think that’s the name Tommy was using,” Rattler says. “I forgot to tell you that I talked with Chill last night before we hooked up. She said the guy you identified as Tommy was working at the casino under the name Todd. You said she was following them?”
“Yeah, she mentions how Max tried to talk her into quitting. He told her he had a better job for her, but she kept putting him off. When other workers started quitting, she decided to follow Max and see where they were going. She took photos. They’re probably on the flash drive. She writes that she was afraid something bad was happening to the girls and that she was considering going to the police. I wish she had.”
“Did she say where she followed them to?” Rattler asks.
“At first, they only went to the same apartment in town. Nadine wrote down the address. We should go check it out. However, she said that one night they drove out of town and into the desert. She followed them as long as she could, but she was afraid they’d catch on that she was tailing them, so she turned around and returned home. However, she said she droveout there on her own during the day to see if she could find anything.”
“Did she?”
“I’m not sure. She’s written down several points of interest. These include backroads and fenced-in properties. She took photos of them and marked their GPS locations.”
“Wow, was she trying to be a detective?” Bianca asks.
“Maybe. We should take this back to the clubhouse and have Spark go through it. He might be able to help us locate where Walt and Tommy took the women,” Rattler says.
“It’s a place to start,” I agree, taking the USB and shoving it into the envelope with the notebook. “I hope this helps us.”
We exit the apartment and find Teddy in the hall with a woman who looks to be in her early thirties. She has her black hair pulled up into a bun, and she’s wearing navy blue yoga pants with a long tunic in various shades of green and blue.
