Page 22 of Rattler’s Revelation (Demon Dawgs MC: Las Vegas #6)

We find the manager waiting for us in his office.

He’s only a few years older than me, which makes me think he’s either an employee or a relative of the owner.

He has an earnest face and appears agitated.

He continuously runs his hand through his dark brown hair until it’s spikes in every direction.

“I spoke to a detective, and he told me what you needed. I have everything here, including the letter Nadine left informing me of her move. Do you think something happened to her? I knew something was wrong. She loved that apartment, and she left Thor behind. She never would have done that.”

“Who’s Thor?” I ask.

“Her turtle,” the man says, gesturing toward an aquarium with a red-eared slider inside.

“She loved that turtle. She left it outside her neighbor’s door, which didn’t make any sense.

Madilyn doesn’t like pets. She doesn’t like anything, really, but especially not pets.

Luckily, Madilyn brought it to me instead of dumping it outside. ”

“We don’t believe Nadine left on her own,” I tell him. “You talked to Detective Rafe. He’s my uncle. I’m Officer Randy Sterling, and these are my friends, Bianca Lake and Rattler. What’s your name?”

“Oh! I’m sorry. I’m so upset. My name is Theodore Moore. Teddy to my friends. My uncle owns this place. I work here while going to UNLV where I’m studying to be an architect.”

“Detective Rafe said you had video of the men moving Nadine’s things?” I ask after we shake hands with Teddy.

“I do.” Teddy picks up an enclosed envelope and hands it to me.

“I put the original letter from Nadine in there. It’s in a plastic bag in case you can get fingerprints.

I put another piece of paper with my fingerprints on it, just in case.

However, my prints should be on file. I had to register them when I took this job.

There is a USB drive containing the footage.

I included all the footage from the last time I saw Nadine until several days after Madilyn brought me Thor. If you need more footage, let me know.”

“Wow, that’s great. I’ll let you know if we need anything more.

We were hoping to interview Nadine’s neighbors to see if they heard or saw anything that might help.

We believe someone came into Nadine’s apartment and packed up her belongings,” I say.

“You mentioned Madilyn. Is she at home? Maybe she saw them.”

“You think the person who made her disappear also went into her apartment and packed up her things?” Teddy asks, appalled.

“That’s the scenario we’re working with,” I tell him as he leads us to the elevator.

“Would it help if you looked inside her apartment? I can get the key.”

I stop walking and stare at Teddy in surprise. “I don’t understand. Are you saying Nadine’s apartment is still vacant?”

Teddy shrugs. “I haven’t rented it out to anyone yet. I was hoping Nadine would come back. She paid her rent through the end of the month.”

“Yes, we’d very much like to see her apartment,” I say, keeping my excitement down, even as I share expectant glances with Bianca and Rattler. We may not find anything in her place, but maybe this is the break we need.

Teddy runs back to his office and returns with a keychain containing several keys. We enter the elevator and ride it up to the third floor. When we exit, Teddy leads us to Apartment 3C. He inserts a key into the lock, opens it, and takes a step back.

“Have you been inside?” I ask him.

He nods. “Once, to look around. I didn’t believe it when I read her note, so I felt compelled to check. I didn’t touch anything but the door handle.”

I pull out three pairs of gloves and put one on while tossing the others to Bianca and Rattler. “Put these on before you touch anything. Teddy, if you could stay outside, that would be helpful.”

“You want us to search the place?” Rattler asks.

“Yeah, do a quick search. I’m going to call Rafe and have him order a forensic team to do a more thorough search.”

“What are we looking for?” Bianca asks as she opens the kitchen cabinets.

“I don’t know. I don’t expect to find anything, but I can’t shake the feeling that something is here for us to find. If that makes any sense.”

While Bianca searches the kitchen, Rattler and I examine the remaining furniture in the living area.

There’s an empty entertainment center, a coffee table, two end tables, and a couch.

We search through drawers and under every surface.

Rattler checks the cushions. We even lift the entertainment center, but find nothing hidden underneath or behind.

“I didn’t find anything in the kitchen,” Bianca says, passing through and stepping into the bathroom.

“Yeah, we’ve come up empty, too,” Rattler says. “Bedroom?”

I nod and follow him inside the bedroom.

It isn’t as large as Rattler’s room at the clubhouse, but it is large enough for Nadine to have a desk, a bookcase, a dresser, and a full-sized bed.

I’m resigned to failure until Rattler and I pull the desk away from the wall.

Taped to the back is an envelope. I yank it off and open it to find a USB drive inside, along with a notebook.

“Bianca!” I call out as I hand Rattler the USB drive so I can sit on the bed and flip through the book. Rattler sits next to me.

“What did you find?” Bianca asks as she steps into the room. Her eyes widen when she sees what we’re holding. She sits on the bed on my other side.

I only have to read the first page to know we may have caught that break I was hoping for. “Nadine was following Walt, well, she called him Max. She was also following another guy, Todd.”

“I think that’s the name Tommy was using,” Rattler says. “I forgot to tell you that I talked with Chill last night before we hooked up. She said the guy you identified as Tommy was working at the casino under the name Todd. You said she was following them?”

“Yeah, she mentions how Max tried to talk her into quitting. He told her he had a better job for her, but she kept putting him off. When other workers started quitting, she decided to follow Max and see where they were going. She took photos. They’re probably on the flash drive.

She writes that she was afraid something bad was happening to the girls and that she was considering going to the police. I wish she had.”

“Did she say where she followed them to?” Rattler asks.

“At first, they only went to the same apartment in town. Nadine wrote down the address. We should go check it out. However, she said that one night they drove out of town and into the desert. She followed them as long as she could, but she was afraid they’d catch on that she was tailing them, so she turned around and returned home.

However, she said she drove out there on her own during the day to see if she could find anything. ”

“Did she?”

“I’m not sure. She’s written down several points of interest. These include backroads and fenced-in properties. She took photos of them and marked their GPS locations.”

“Wow, was she trying to be a detective?” Bianca asks.

“Maybe. We should take this back to the clubhouse and have Spark go through it. He might be able to help us locate where Walt and Tommy took the women,” Rattler says.

“It’s a place to start,” I agree, taking the USB and shoving it into the envelope with the notebook. “I hope this helps us.”

We exit the apartment and find Teddy in the hall with a woman who looks to be in her early thirties. She has her black hair pulled up into a bun, and she’s wearing navy blue yoga pants with a long tunic in various shades of green and blue.

“Officer Sterling, this is Madilyn Montgomery. She was Nadine’s next-door neighbor. Madilyn, this is Officer Sterling with the LVMPD and his associates, Bianca and Rattler.”

“Rattler?” Madily says, glancing up and down Rattler’s impressive form. “You’re a Demon Dawg. Why is a Demon Dawg hanging around with a cop and a stripper?”

Bianca gasps, while Rattler and I glare at the woman. “Bianca isn’t a stripper,” Rattler growls. “Show some respect.”

Madilyn holds her hands up in surrender. “I didn’t mean anything by it. She looks like she could be a stripper. It was a compliment.”

Rattler opens his mouth to respond, but Bianca waves him off. “Don’t worry about it. We have more important things to discuss.”

Rattler doesn’t seem to agree as he continues to glare at the woman, leaving me to question her.

“We believe someone abducted your neighbor, Nadine Hartley. We were wondering if you remember seeing any suspicious men in or near her apartment over the past three weeks?”

“Is this a trick question?”

“No, why would you suggest that?”

“Because he was here with his other Demon Dawg friends. They packed up Nadine’s apartment. I saw them when I was coming home from running a few errands. They ignored me when I asked what they were doing. I think they were the ones who dumped her useless turtle on me.”

“What makes you think they were Demon Dawgs?” Rattler asks.

“They were wearing those leather vests, like you’re wearing.”

“Are you positive it looked exactly like this? It had a dog on the back?” Rattler asks, turning around to show the back of his kutte.

“Huh, now that you mention it. No. There wasn’t a dog. I remember seeing the words Las Vegas and a percent sign.”

“You said one looked like Rattler, what about the other two?” I ask. “Was this one of them?” I ask, showing her a photo of Tommy.

“Yeah, he was one of them. The other was a few inches taller. I say he’s about your height,” she tells me. “Ugly dude. Well, ugly if you don’t like freckles. He was covered with them.”