For a moment Kayden remained quiet. “And if it’s being watched, so much
the better?”
I shrugged, staring steadfastly out the window. “Bait, remember? Maybe
Ellery will make this easy on us.”
“Address?”
Grateful he wasn’t arguing, I gave it to him. Part of me knew it was a shot in
the dark, but it didn’t matter, couldn’t matter. If dangling myself out there was what it took to snag the attention of a psychopath, so be it.
CHAPTER 11
A s we walked up to the glass doors of Sixth Street Condos, Kayden tilted
his head back to take in the two towers that rose above Mill Avenue in the heart of Tempe. “Nice.”
He opened the lobby door and held it for me. Cool air reached out and
twined around us, as I crossed the tiled floor.
The man at the security desk was short, stocky, and in his forties. When he
recognized me, he called out, “Hey, Cyn, I didn’t know you were in town. I think
Kelsey’s out on a company trip.”
Hearing her name put a hitch in my step, but I managed what I hoped was a
smile and not a grimace. “Hey, Terrance.” Reluctant to get drawn into his normal
friendly banter, I kept moving and led Kayden to the elevator. I called back,
“Just need to pick up something from my last visit.”
When Kelsey first moved in, I put Terrance through an impromptu interview.
After which, he decided we were his personal responsibility. Part of the reason I
didn’t worry about Kelsey living in this fairly new high rise could be traced back
to him. As the head of Sixth Street’s security, he took his duties seriously. During what Kelsey dubbed as my infamous interrogation, Terrance and I bonded over
our shared paranoia on personal safety and swapped stories of our time in the military. Something Kelsey delighted in teasing us both about, claiming we were
two peas in a pod.
I hurried into the elevator, haunted by the remembered sounds of Kelsey’s laughter. It twisted the small bit of normalcy into something disquieting. Once
inside, I leaned against the back wall and crossed my arms over my chest, blindly staring at the floor. I set my jaw and struggled to push my reawakened grief back as the doors slid closed.
“Which floor?”
I lifted my head at Kayden’s question and cleared my throat. “Seven.”
He hit the button, then met my gaze in the reflective surface of the elevator
door. “You okay with this?” Quiet concern threaded his voice.
“Yeah…” I trailed off, bit my lower lip, and then shook my head. “No, it’s just I’m not sure how to tell Terrance about Kelsey.”
Kayden moved to lean against the wall next to me, our shoulders brushing.
“You don’t need to do it right now, Cyn.” He paused. “If it’d help, I can talk to
him later.”
His unexpected offer brought pressure to the back of my eyes. Blinking it away, I resisted the urge to rest my head against him for just a moment. It would
be easy to use his presence as a comforting crutch against the keen sense of Kelsey’s absence. Guilt nipped at me for even considering it, still I was grateful
he was here. Even more so because I wouldn’t have to face her empty apartment
alone.
A soft ding announced our arrival. I stepped out of the elevator and headed
