Page 16 of Shattered Souls
Royce joins me a few moments later, the two of us working silently. I crouch to go through the cupboard under the sink, pushing aside bottles of cleanser, eye creams, and god knows what other shit that Lydia uses to make herself look like less of a hag.
My nose scrunches when I realize I’ve grabbed a box of sanitary pads. “Bleugh.” I nearly gag. As if seeing Bertram’s porn magazines wasn’t bad enough, now I need to live with the knowledge that Lydia still gets her fucking period. I can officially die with regrets now.
I go to let go when I realize the weight isn’t quite right. The box is too heavy. Trust me, after spending far too long in the pharmacy picking out the right ones for Riley, Iknowwhat weight a box of sanitary pads should be.
Curious now, I lift out the box and reluctantly open it. The top is as you’d expect—filled with sanitary pads—so I tip it upside down. There’s a loud clatter as an old mobile phone hits the floor.Huh, interesting.
“Think I might have found something.”
Royce crouches beside me, reaching out to grab the phone and powering it on. He goes to the call list, but it’s empty, and there is only one outgoing message in the phone’s inbox.
Package delivered.
It’s time-stamped the exact date and time we were due to meet with Lydia to do the exchange for Aurora, along with the digits of the number she messaged.
“Fuck,” I curse. “The package is Aurora, right? I mean, it has to be,” I rant. Agitated, I swipe a hand through my hair, tugging on the short, blond strands. “Should we call the number?”
Royce’s eyes lift to mine while he thinks. With a one-shoulder shrug, he presses the number and puts the phone on speaker. There’s a tense moment of silence before an automatic voice comes over the line.The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected.
“Shit,” I curse as Royce sighs. “Do you think Dax’s guy can trace it?”
“No idea,” he answers, pocketing the phone as he stands. “I’ll give it to him and see.” He does a scan of the bathroom. “I don’t think we’ll find anything else here.”
Checking the time, I’m more than happy to get the fuck out of here. Riley and Gray should be done with their farce of a dinner soon, and I wanna be at home whenever she gets there.
“This is a big ass house,” I comment as we make our way back downstairs. “How the fuck did Bertram afford something like this? Did Gray buy it for him?”
“He vetoed themuch more modesthouses Gray showed him. I don’t know how the fuck he’s affording to live here.” Roycelooks around as though only now noticing that this house should bewayout of budget for someone who has been in prison for four years and had his accounts frozen. “Something to look into,” is all he says, frowning at his surroundings.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I begin to cross the foyer toward the door when Royce throws out his hand, smacking me in the chest.
“Ouch, fucker,” I glower. Asshole doesn’t even look at me, and I follow his gaze toward a set of double doors, one of which is ajar. Through the crack, I can make out a large mahogany desk and bookcases, and I can hazard a guess that that’s Bertram’s office.
“Hold up. There’s something I’ve gotta do before we leave.” Before I can ask any questions, he’s slipping into the office, and with a sigh, I follow.
I remain near the door as Royce stalks like a shadow around the desk, plonking his ass in Bertram’s chair as he touches the mouse and brings the computer screen to life. It’s password protected, but that doesn’t seem to bother Royce as he pulls out his phone and calls someone.
“What are you doing?” I ask, curiosity getting the best of me as I move closer.
Royce’s eyes flash to mine, but he doesn’t answer. Instead, he speaks into the phone. “Yeah, I’m in front of his computer.”
Whoever he’s speaking to must give him orders because he pulls a flash drive from his pocket and inserts it into the computer. “Okay. Now what?”
More orders follow. Royce hits a set of keys on the keyboard before the screen goes black, and gibberish text scrolls across it.
“We’re in,” he says a moment later when the screen returns, no longer displaying theinsert passworddisplay but Bertram’s desktop.
Putting the phone on loudspeaker, a brusque voice I don’t recognize guides Royce as he navigates to the computer’s files and clicks on the flash drive.
“Download the file on the drive,” the voice dictates.
We watch as the download bar steadily fills, and when it hits 100%, Royce says, “Done.”
“That’s it. That’s all you need to do. I’ll be able to monitor his activity remotely.”
I’m guessing this is Blue, Dax’s tech guy. I’ve never met the guy, couldn’t pick him out in a line up, but I’m grateful for all his help in trying to rescue Aurora and now with finding her.
“And Bertram won’t know it’s on his computer?” Royce confirms.
