Once they'd reached the driveway, he pulled in, parking on the side of the house covered with bushes and an overflowing garden. It would provide some cover from the road and tree line, keeping the bike out of sight. Now that Adele wasn't right on top of him, he could scent the air more carefully. The tracks he'd sniffed out before were still here, this time stronger. Fresher. They'd come closer to the house at some point in the last few days, only way he'd be able to smell them this strongly from here. Or the visit was more recent than he thought, and the fuckers were still here.
Wary, he glanced around, keeping himself alert as he curled his fingers around Adele's, tugging her with him. He didn't like this, not even a little bit at fucking all. The silence was unnerving, and with the heavy scents of rogues in the air, he felt like he was being watched as they moved.
“Let's head to the back door. We'll get to the office first, grab the paperwork. Then we'll gather anything else you need and get the hell out. I'm uncomfortable with this, feel like we're being fucking watched from every damn direction. Place is too open, we're sitting ducks.”
She nodded, hand trembling as she keyed in the security code before unlocking the door, easing it shut behind them quickly and resetting the alarm code. At least inside, with the alarms going, he knew they wouldn't have to risk someone coming for them as an ambush, unless one was an electrokinetic like himself and could silently break the alarm.
He sincerely hoped he was the only one in the area with that particular ability, otherwise the papers might already be lost.
Leading the way to the office, he tried to look as inconspicuous as possible as he tripped the device keeping the safe closed behind the large piece of artwork on the wall. He didn't want to have to explain how he could open it without a code, key, or anything else visible. Adele's mouth dropped open as it swung outward, revealing the folders within. Quickly, she moved to his side, grabbing for them and spreading them across the desk. As she read through the deposits and notations, she covered her mouth with her hand, tears beginning to glisten at the edges of her eyes.
“I... I didn't want to believe it, Thian. I thought maybe you'd misread, maybe there was something missing, something that didn't add up but was easily explained. But this... there's no excuse for this. I just can't understand why. We had money. He was Mayor. If it was money or prestige he wanted, he had that. Why? Why would he do something so horrible?”
She sank into the plush chair, her head in her hands as she continued staring at the folders, fine tremors working through her shoulders. He didn't have any answers. Some people had no conscience. Others were just greedy fucks who were never satisfied and always wanted more than what they had. The worst ones? They partook of what they aided and abetted. For Adele's sake, he sincerely hoped it never came out that her father was one of those. Knowing he'd abused women would likely be the last straw for her sanity.
Tucking them into the large tote she'd brought just for this purpose, he laid a hand on her shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. He understood she was going through some shit, but she needed to have her breakdown later, after they were safely away from this damn house.
“C'mon. We need to grab your mother's things, and anything else you want, and get moving. We don't have time.”
To his dismay, she had to go through each room in the place, and there were a lot of fucking rooms. Little trinkets and mementos went into the bag, as well as some treasured books, her mother's old camera, and some of her jewelry. The last stop was Adele's room, where she picked up some of her own clothing and necessities.
He assured her he would come back alone with a car later and grab more if she wanted it, or once the situation was dealt with, they'd clean it out for selling and he'd help her move it all to a new place. The only concern right now was anything she didn't want to go missing in the process of the estate probate shit.
Since she was technically considered a missing person at the moment, they couldn't do much with the property, but it wouldn't stop lawyers from trying, as proceeds from the sale had been listed to be donated to several charities in the Mayor's will if Adele didn't want the property and didn't claim it within thirty days of the will being read.
He couldn't guarantee this would be over in that time frame, so he didn't mind taking the extra few minutes for her to gather anything she didn't want to lose. He just hoped it all fit in the tote, as the Night Rod didn't have storage.
Once she'd glanced around one last time to ensure she hadn't forgotten anything she wanted to keep, they stood at the door, Thian taking a moment to take a breath, shoulders squaring. This was it. The bad feeling he'd had this entire time had intensified, the knot in the pit of his stomach tightening with every minute they were in the house. Somehow, he knew they were out there. Watching. Waiting.
Call it instinct, call it a second sense, call it the cat's intuition... Thian didn't know, and didn't care. All he knew was that twenty feet stood between the door and his bike. Then roughly fifty feet between the bike and the road. Unfortunately, there were only around thirty feet between each of those points and his bike. Getting from one to another unscathed would be a goddamn
