Page 26 of Hide From Me

“This is his place. Seems quiet,” said Zeid.

We pulled the black Escalade around to the alley and parked behind the dead judge’s house.

“His wife left him a few years ago. He was an asshole. Lots of bitches on the side, but no kids. At least she got out,” Xander said.

“There’s an alarm. Did you get the code?” I asked either of them.

Zeid pulled his phone out and opened the note app.

“Got it from my guy. That won’t be an issue, if the house was even armed. The police won’t be here until tomorrow to start their investigation.”

I nodded and got out. The paper that had been wedged in his mouth crinkled as I unfolded it.

“These are numbers to something. A safe maybe? They might not even have anything to do with his house, but better to start here before the cops get to it.”

The brownstone was well maintained. He wasn’t the richest of any of the elite around this city, but he wasn’t hurting, that was certain. The bribe money from our gang probably didn’t hurt to pay for a lavish lifestyle. I was sure even judge money couldn’t have paid for this alone. But what the fuck did I know?

“What’s that a drawing of anyway? It’s like a three-year-old got a permanent marker and went to town.”

I chuckled.

“Pretty sure that’s a building. That’s our tag and, yeah. I don’t know what that is. Let’s just figure out what the numbers are for. It’s not an address or a phone number. Let’s start with assuming it’s a combination.”

Zeid got to the door first since he was a hell of a lot better with alarm systems. He could disarm nearly every alarm. Well, all the alarms out there. But I wasn’t going to jinx it in case we hadn’t come across all of them yet.

The door opened with a beep, but nothing else. No blaring beeping.

“Silent alarm?” I asked.

Zeid stood in front of a panel.

“No. It was never armed. Guessing our judge forgot when he left, or perhaps he was taken from here. Hard to say without looking around.”

That was all I needed to start searching the house.

“Let’s look for a library or an office. He’s a pompous prick, he probably had both, for fuck’s sake.”

We assessed the room. This was a Stepford kind of mudroom and I doubted he ever used it.

“Where would someone like him hide shit that he didn’t want found? I doubt it’s money. Maybe we try a few other options than just an office or library. Zeid, you take the bedroom.”

He cough-laughed.

“Really? Did you fucking bring me gloves so I don’t catch anything? This dude is nasty. God knows what he brought home.”

X smirked and pulled out several pairs of gloves.

“Here. Don’t be stupid. Of course I brought gloves, easier clean up so we don’t leave prints. Probably fewer diseases to catch as well, I would think. Judging from this place though, I doubt he brought anyone here. He was a bit of a control freak.”

We split up, because this place was big enough to house more than just a corrupt judge and all his secrets. It was doubtful that anyone else was here. Even if they were, we were fully armed and ready for damn near anything. Besides, there was probably only one other person that knew we might be here and that would be whoever the killer was.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a clue on that shit?

I was careful to walk through the house quietly regardless of whether we thought it was empty. This wasn’t the first time I’d had to break and enter. It wouldn’t be the last. All those fucking trials back in the day to prove ourselves. It had all been a ploy to kill us off, and yet here we were. Out on top. I was certain all the assholes that had tried to kill us off were rolling in their graves.

Zeid was already upstairs, and X was looking through the fridge. He would tell me it was to prove no one was here, but I laughed to myself. He was a big dude and food was his hobby second to fighting. Whatever.

I stopped in front of a massive wood door that screamed pretentious prick. Probably his office. I pushed open the door to be greeted by shelves and shelves of books. Most were legal publications and volumes of historical cases. Maybe I could spend some time in here. I might have been crazy and willing to snap a neck, but I also enjoyed knowledge. Knowledge makes you powerful. If you were the smartest fucker in the room, you were rarely caught by surprise.