Page 14 of The Beachside Cafe 3
Cheyenne shook her head. “No. It’s a house. A lovely little three-bedroom house. I can have my own office and a guest room and if I ever get married and have a kid, I’ll have room for him or her there, too.”
“What if your husband has a house?”
Cheyenne laughed. “I tell you I found a house I want to buy and you’re worried that my future husband might have one of his own? He’ll just have to sell his. Because if I get this one, I’m never moving from there. It’s a beautiful place, Mom.”
“Have you been inside? Got a tour?”
“Yep. Yesterday. And I want you to come see it with me tomorrow. Can you?”
“I’ve got plans with Cameron but I can always fit you in, dear. I’ll get someone to watch the café so we can all go. You don’t mind if Cameron goes, too, do you?”
“Not at all,” Cheyenne replied, shaking her head. “He has excellent taste and a great eye for quality.” She grinned. “Just look at the woman he chose to fall in love with?”
Jaymee gasped and swatted at her daughter but a tingling pleasure slid over her skin when she heard those words.
NINE
Cameron, Jaymee and Cheyenne all went out to the Bridge St. apartments together. Cheyenne agreed with their assessment of the place and was gushing with admiration for Cameron upon hearing of his decision to buy and renovate them.
“You sure you want to come inside with us?” Jaymee asked when they reached their destination. “You don’t have to. It’s kind of a rough atmosphere, I think.”
Cheyenne shook her head. “I don’t mind, Mom. Cameron won’t let anything happen to me, will you, Cameron?”
“I sure won’t, Cheyenne. Or to Jaymee either.”
“See? Let’s go.”
Cheyenne led the way into the apartment building but stopped just inside to look at her mother. “I really don’t even know where I’m going.”
“We’re going to apartment four. I want to…”
Jaymee looked up the stairs. Her words drifted off when she caught sight of the door to number four. “Cameron,” she said in a warning voice.
Cameron and Cheyenne both followed her eyes up the stairs. The door to number four was ajar. It looked like it had been rammed open. Cameron bounded up the stairs with Jaymee and Cheyenne on his heels.
“Carmine?” he called out. “You here? Russo?”
Jaymee went into the apartment and was stunned to see it was ransacked. Why anyone would want to rip up the couch cushions and toss all of his utensils and plates on the floor was beyond her.
And Carmine was gone.
“Oh no,” she breathed, her worried eyes examining the scene. She looked at Cameron, who had swiftly pulled his phone from his pocket and hit one of the numbers on speed dial. He plunged one hand through his dark hair. Jaymee was surprised to see he looked as worried as she was.
“Lou? You and John need to come to Carmine Russo’s apartment right now. Bring some blues with you. This is a crime scene. Call forensics and all that other stuff you guys do… yes, Russo, the one that you spoke to on the phone yesterday… because we had already been here and talked to him. We found him on Doug’s computer… no, we didn’t think we should tell you guys about it because it didn’t make a difference to the case. We didn’t know anything to really tell you… Yes, we’re the ones who said we were going to buy the place, look, we’re wasting time talking like this. Russo is missing and we need to find him. God only knows what’s been done to him. IDL is a dangerous company to mess around with… okay, good. Tell them to get here fast. We’ll stake out the place till you get here… no, we aren’t going to touch anything. You think we’re stupid? All right… Yeah… Bye.”
He rolled his eyes and shook his head when he pressed the end button on the phone. “Lou’s a good man but he doesn’t use his time wisely. They’ll be here soon. We can’t touch anything. If you do, you gotta have gloves on.”
“There’s no real point in that, Cam,” Jaymee said, thoughtfully as she scanned the small living room again. “We were here yesterday. Our prints are everywhere.”
“Yeah but if there’s other prints for them to find, you don’t want to smudge them or cover them with yours, do you?” He hurried down the short hallway and pushed open the bedroom door. Jaymee saw a look of disgust come to his face. “I don’t see how anyone can live like this,” he said.
“I know I couldn’t,” Cheyenne said in a firm voice. “No way. Too messy. Looks like it was messy before it was ransacked.” She moved to the tray table next to the big chair Russo had been sitting in the day before.
Jaymee moved around the room, looking for anything that might help them tell where the man was or his condition. She saw no blood spatters or stains, which she felt was probably a good thing.
“Hey.”
She turned her head when Cheyenne said the word. Her daughter was standing at the tray table still, one finger on a pad of paper. “Hey, I think there might be something here.” She looked over her shoulder at Cameron and Jaymee. “I think there’s something written on this paper. Look.”
