“He give you guys trouble too?” I asked.
“He tried to shake us down,” the uni said. “Claimed the tenant took the only key and he’d have to charge us for the time and trouble to get another one made.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Nope. So I told him not to worry, we had a skeleton key that would work on all doors. Then we showed him our battering ram. All of a sudden he remembered he kept a key for emergencies.”
We got to the end of the hall and he gestured to the open door on the left.
“You cleared it?” Bailey asked. “No one here?”
“Empty. From the looks of it, I’d say whoever lived here isn’t coming back.”
Bailey and I walked in. The apartment had that damp mildew smell that old, poorly maintained buildings get. The threadbare but richly stained sofa and badly nicked wooden coffee table in the living room told me this had probably been a furnished apartment. I realized that we shouldn’t be tromping around in what might be another crime scene.
“Shouldn’t we get everyone out of here and call Dorian?” I asked.
Bailey sighed. “Too late. I couldn’t take the chance that Brian might be holding Hayley here, or that she might be…”
I nodded. If there’s a victim who’s potentially wounded or in danger, you don’t call the criminalist and wait to process the scene. Bailey had rightly called in the cavalry. But that meant that by now at least a dozen officers had already barged in and checked every nook and cranny, so our being here wouldn’t make a whole lot of difference. But that didn’t mean I wanted to be in the zip code when Dorian arrived.
Bailey and I kept our hands to ourselves to at least avoid adding our prints to the hundreds left by all the unis as we made our way through the tiny one-bedroom. And I saw that the uni was right: the place was vacant. The closets and medicine cabinet were standing open and empty, and there was nothing on the pine nightstand or dresser. I noticed that the bed was made neatly, but the cover was mussed-as though someone had sat on it.
“Did any of you guys sit on the bed?” I asked the uni.
“Not that I saw. But I’ll check and confirm.”
“Has anyone door-knocked the tenants?” Bailey asked him.
“Jennings, Kowalski, and Lopez took the duty. I think there’s only, like, twelve units, so they’re probably about done now. I’ll tell ’em you’re here.”
Bailey nodded and I watched him walk away. She caught me enjoying the view. “You still shopping?” she asked.
“No, Sister Mary Catherine. But there’s no law against looking, is there?”
