TWIN PASSIONS: (A Logan Brothers Novel) (12 page)

I looked both ways before
sliding the key in the lock and opening the door up slowly. I was so
tentative, as if he'd still be inside, but I knew he wasn't. I
glanced once more to my left and right before quickly stepping into
the apartment and shutting the door as quietly as I could behind me.

I let out a long breath as I
stood in the quiet room, the large open plan living room and kitchen
drawn out ahead of me. I stayed there by the door for a couple of
minutes, gathering my breath and waiting for my heart beat to slow.

Despite my moral objections to
what I was doing, I couldn't help but feel exhilarated by it all. The
secrecy, the stealth; it certainly got my blood pumping.

The place was messier than I'd
ever seen it, with plates and glasses and boxes of food scattered all
over the place. It seemed that Cade had had little time to tidy up
recently. I moved forward into the main living area and looked
straight over towards the desk in the corner. I saw Cade's laptop as
Annie's advice swirled around in my head.

Computer files are a good
place to start...

I moved quietly over to the desk
and sat down, carefully opening up the laptop. It whirred silently
into life, the blue screen appearing with Cade's username –
Champ91. I guessed the 91 referred to the year of his birth.

Below was a blank space for his
password.
I knew it, I'll never be able to get in.

I sat for a moment thinking
about what he could possibly use for a password. Going by his
username it would probably be something boxing related.

I starting typing in some
combinations but nothing worked. I tried his name followed by his
birthdate, combinations with Zack's name, with his father's name,
with his surname. Nothing worked.

Screw this, it's not gonna
work. I shouldn't even be here anyway. What the hell was I doing!

I stood up and shut the laptop
slowly, making sure it stayed in the position I'd found it, before
carefully positioning the chair back in place. I had no idea whether
Cade was observant enough to notice any change, but I wasn't going to
take any chances.

I breathed a heavy sigh as I
stood in the living area looking out of the window at the rising sun.
I couldn't quite believe that my life had come to this: snooping
round my boyfriends apartment to find dirt to put in a fucking
lifestyle magazine. I mean, how fucking low could I go!

What was next? Was clubbing baby
seals to death going to become my next favorite hobby? Maybe I'd take
to photography instead and become one of those stalker paparazzi
everyone hates? Seriously, I'd clearly lost my moral compass to such
an extent that nothing seemed beyond the realms of possibility now.

I shouldn't be here. I'd sooner
lose my job that do this. This really wasn't worth it.

I turned back and started
walking towards the door, stopping dead in my tracks and taking a
quick intake of air.

Outside, just down the corridor,
I could hear voices. Two men, talking loudly, their voices getting
closer and closer, clearer and clearer, as they approached.

I recognized Cade's voice
immediately.
Holy shit, what do I do?

I twisted my neck this way and
that, my mind thinking quick.
Hide Gemma, just hide.
I
instinctively turned and paced as quickly, but quietly, as possible
towards Cade's bedroom, the only door in the place that was ajar.

I stepped in between the small
gap in the door and dropped to the floor, sliding quickly under the
bed and out of sight. Cade's sheets hung low to the ground,
concealing me completely beneath the frame.

I breathed deep one more time,
my pulse now soaring, as I heard a scratching of metal on the other
side of the front door. I could hear the mumbling of deep voices as
Cade entered with his yet unknown companion.

“
Bro, you need to start
locking your door if you're gonna be out all day.” I recognized the
voice as Kyle's.

“
I could have sworn I did lock
it,” Cade responded, his voice sounding a little confused. “I
dunno, it's all been such a rush recently. Maybe I missed it.”

I kept my breathing shallow as
Cade and Kyle moved in through the apartment and into the main living
room, their voices still clear in the silence of the room.

What the hell was he doing
back already anyway? He'd only left about 20 minutes ago.

“
So how are things going with
Alice then dude? I've gotta say, of all of us, you've got the hottest
girlfriend. Alice is so smoking hot man, I can see why you went
against dad to get her.”

“
Yeah, well, that was a stupid
fucking rule, you know.” Kyle's voice had a bitter edge to it. “I
mean, I loved dad and everything, but he didn't make life easy for me
down at the club.”

“
How'd you mean?” Cade
asked.

“
Well, you know, he had this
whole 'you can't date the staff' thing going on. I mean, I understood
that in a strip club, but he might have wanted to cut me some slack.
You fucked just about every bargirl down at
Nightshapes
when
you worked there and he didn't give a shit about that.”

Oh, that's nice. Just what I
wanted to hear.

“
Yeah, well, there's a
difference between fucking bargirls and fucking strippers. Bargirls
are a dime a dozen, you can find them anywhere. Those strippers you
had working for you though bro, fuck me they're insane. You can't go
messing around with that.”

“
Well that's one thing I don't
miss about dad. At least Crash understands me and Alice now.”

“
Hey bro, mind your tongue
about dad yeah. The guy was a fucking legend.”

“
All right Cade, easy boy.
You'd be the same if you'd been in my position. There's no fucking
way you'd have been able to keep your hands off those girls, no way
in hell.”

I could hear Cade laugh. “Yeah,
well maybe I haven't.” He spoke jokingly with a suggestion to his
voice. I didn't like the sound of it.

“
Well,” Cade continued,
moving around the apartment, “at least Crash got the guy who killed
dad. You were there that night, weren't you?”

My heart-rate began to soar now
as I peered out from behind the sheet. I could just about see Kyle
through the crack in the door, leaning on a chair, nodding lightly,
his eyes downcast.

“
I was there.” he said
quietly.

“
So this Lithgow guy, did he
squirm, did he beg? What a fucking snake. I wish Crash had brought me
along. I'd have loved to have seen that guy suck in his last breath.”

Kyle kept his eyes slightly down
as Cade came in and out of shot, clearly looking for something.

“
Yeah, it was great,” said
Kyle coldly.

Lithgow. The name sounded
familiar, like I'd heard it before. Yeah, that was it, I'd heard
about him on the news. He was this billionaire investor who'd gone
missing and no one knew where. Holy shit, had Crash killed him? Had
Lithgow killed their father?

I heard loud footsteps suddenly
come close as the door opened fast. I dropped the sheet once again
over my eyes and held my breath as Cade came rushing in, opening
wardrobes and drawers.

Shit, what if he looked under
the bed! What would I say? Pretend to surprise him?
I lay still
and closed my eyes, praying for him to leave.

I opened my eyes suddenly as he
spoke again, his voice now close and loud to my ear.

“
Ah, got it.”

He quickly bustled back out of
the door as I stayed hidden behind the hanging sheets.

“
What the hell is that
anyway?” asked Kyle.

“
Oh, just this special
nutrition stuff I need. Coach told me that Steve isn't coming down
today so I needed to bring my own back-up stash.”

“
And who's Steve?”

“
My nutritionist.”

“
Right, yeah. How does it
taste?”

“
All right actually. Frankly
I'd eat shit right now if Steve told me it would help me train
better!”

“
You always did have a way
with words bro!”

I heard Cade laugh as he moved
back over towards the front door. “All right dude, lets do it!”

Kyle followed after Cade as the
door opened and they both walked out into the corridor, their voices
growing muffled again as the door was locked from the outside.

I let out a breath I'd been
holding in for about 5 minutes as my muscles relaxed, my head falling
to the carpet as I lay there, in silence, for a minute or two.

What the hell had I just
heard?

Crash had killed this Lithgow
guy, who'd murdered their father?
This was truly fucked up.

I crept out from under the bed,
my arms shaking slightly as I pushed myself up onto my feet. “I
should never have come here,” I whispered to myself. “This was a
big mistake.”

I quickly moved towards the
front door and pushed my ear against it, listening for movement
outside. I heard nothing but the sound of a distant hoover, the
cleaning lady still hard at work somewhere round the corner down the
corridor.

I unlocked the door and stepped
out again, locking it on the other side, and pacing off towards the
door to the stairwell. I needed to find out more about all of this,
and I needed to do it now.

Half an hour later I sat behind
my desk at work. It was still early morning and the office hadn't
even filled up properly yet.

I took a large sip from my black
coffee and booted up my computer, quickly opening up my browser and
typing the name
Lithgow
into the search function.

The feed was immediately
populated with news articles relating to his disappearance. I picked
out one from the bunch, dated from a couple of months ago.

“
Walter Lithgow, a
billionaire investor based in New York, has been officially declared
missing by his family. Mr Lithgow was last seen in Branton before his
disappearance, and was in town working on a large hotel and casino
project.

Several other investors and
business associates, who were working with him on the project, have
come forward with information detailing his last known whereabouts.
He was last seen leaving a meeting at his offices in the Business
District of Branton, and since then has not been seen, or heard
from.”

I read on, the article detailing
his life in business and the mystery surrounding his disappearance.
Then, my eye was caught as Crash's name suddenly came up.

“
Crash Logan, eldest son of
the recently deceased Charles Logan, is heading up the casino
project, and has pledged his support in the search for Mr Lithgow.
The Logan family is well known in Branton, with the city's newest
hero, Cade Logan, currently performing so well in the ring. Crash has
declared his deepest sympathies to the family, and has made it clear
that he is adamant that Mr Lithgow will be found alive and well
soon.”

I shut down the article and
returned to the search results, looking for more recent news. The
headlines grew more grave as I searched, with Lithgow clearly still
missing, and now presumed dead.

I couldn't believe what I was
reading, what I'd just heard back at Cade's apartment. Why would this
Lithgow be investing in Crash's casino project and working with him
if there was such bad blood between them? If Lithgow had murdered
Charles Logan, why did he start working with his son?

“
Morning honey, you're in
early!” Annie's voice snapped me from my thoughts. I looked up to
see her hovering over me, taking off her bright purple coat and
hanging it on the hook by the wall. I could see her eyes peering at
my screen, filled with articles about Lithgow's disappearance.

“
What are you looking at
there?”

She leaned in closer and
frowned. “Walter Lithgow? Why are you reading about that?”

I hastily closed down the
browser. “No reason,” I said, a little breathlessly, “just
interested.”

“
Is there any more news on
him? Has he been found?”

“
Umm, no, still missing.
They're pretty sure he's dead.”

Annie moved back round to her
own desk opposite me. “Yeah, well that makes sense. I don't think
billionaires just go missing unless someone doesn't want them to be
found.”

She was more right than she
knew.

“
Sooooo,” she said, dropping
her voice a touch, “did you do the deed?”

“
What? Oh, yeah, I did it just
now.”

“
And?” Her eyes were wide
with interest.

I shook my head. “No, nothing.
I couldn't find anything.”

“
So what are you going to do,
you know, about the story, about Mrs Banks?”

I shook my head again, my voice
devoid of any energy. “I don't know. I guess I'll be out of the job
soon.”

“
Well babe, at least you
tried. She'll surely get that. I mean, if there's nothing to find,
there's nothing to find, right?”