Page 49 of Securing His Obsession

“Yeah, there’s one. It should… fuck!”

Damon’s stomach dropped. “What? What’s wrong?”

Wilt pointed to the screen, which had been split to show the various cameras, and the one that was labeled “Back Yard” was black instead of showing Margot’s yard. “Is it broken? Did she know about that? How long has it been out?” He fired the questions off, knowing that it was impossible for Wilt to answer them, but he couldn’t keep them locked in.

“No idea. But let me try something.” He shifted, wincing at the movement, and Damon felt like an asshole demanding him to do things when he was hurting.

“Stop, you’re not helping your recovery by staying at the keyboard. You’ve already done more than you should’ve.”

“It’s fine. And if I went home while this shit was happening with Margot, then not only would I never forgive myself, Indigo wouldn’t be happy with me either.” A chime sounded, and Damon immediately went to the front doorbell camera feed, thinking someone had pressed it, but it still showed the brick wall.

“I’ve got a name,” Wilt said, and it all fell into place for Damon.

“For the person who put that tracker in Margot’s car?”

“Yes, it’s an Ivan Darcy.” Wilt looked up at him. “He lives next door to Margot.”

Everything in Damon chilled. “Motherfucker. I’ve met him. He was there the day Margot and I went to her place to collect some stuff before she moved in with him. He asked if she was going on holiday, and Margot, without blinking, said yes.” At the time, he’d been impressed she’d been able to think on her feet. He hadn’t thought too much about the guy, but thinking back on the interaction, Ivan had seemed too interested on where and what Margot was doing.

“We need to go to Margot’s place. I’ll contact the others to meet us there.” Wilt was already typing out a text to Reed, Andy, and Steve. Chris would’ve been another one they contacted, but he and his wife Lindy were currently spending six months in Colorado, where Chris had lived before moving to Perth and getting married to Lindy.

Damon studied the feeds, willing Margot to appear at the front door. Or laugh so that he could hear and know she was okay. Even singing off key like she did when she had her earbuds in and was cleaning the kitchen.

All he heard was the surrounding nature, and beneath it all, a deathly silence that didn’t bode well.

Twenty minutes later Damon, Wilt, Andy, Steve, and Reed congregated at the top of the driveway which led down to Margot’s unit. Her car was still there, and Wilt had transferred the feed to his laptop. Nothing had changed in the time it had taken them to drive from the office to Margot’s place.

He and Wilt had arrived before the others, and he’d been all set to march down to the unit, but Wilt had held him back. It had been the longest five minutes for the rest of the team to turn up, but Wilt had been right, he needed to wait for backup.

“What’s the plan?” Steve asked, deferring to him. Which surprised Damon, considering he would be anything but impartial, or rational, when it came to how the operation would be run. But his boss had given him the lead, and he needed to call on the unemotional state he always fell into when on a mission.

“I can’t do much,” Wilt said. “I’ll see if I can find any camera feeds around here to plug into should we need to.”

Damon nodded. “Andy and Reed, why don’t you knock on Ivan’s door. See if he’s home, and if he’s seen or heard anything. Bearing in mind he was the one who planted the tracker, so anything he says can’t really be trusted—my gut is telling me he’s at the bottom of why Margot isn’t replying to my text, but until we know for sure, we need to tread carefully with him.”

Both of his friends inclined their heads. “We’ll proceed with caution and look for anything that might be out of place.”

“Steve, you and I will go to Margot’s and check everything out.” He looked around at his teammates who were his best friends. “Ready?”

They all nodded and put their comms in their ears. Damon headed down the driveway with Steve by his side, while Wilt went back to the car to be prepared to use his computer skills should they need them. Reed and Andy headed toward the other long driveway of the property next door.

Damon reached Margot’s car and peeked inside. It was neat and tidy, and there was nothing to suggest anything untoward had happened to it. He squatted down to look under the car to see if anything had been done to it. He couldn’t see anything, but he would need to get right under it to be able to tell for sure. “Car looks clear.”

“The front yard looks undisturbed. No footprints in the dirt or any indication that there’s been an altercation.” Steve listed it all off without emotion.

If something had happened at the front of Margot’s unit, he would’ve seen it on the cameras. Not to mention the weeds were still visible, so it was clear she hadn’t done what she’d said she wanted to do.

Damon tried the handle of the screen door and found it locked. He pulled his lock picking kit from his back pocket and dealt with the lock efficiently. There was no noise coming from inside.

He crossed the threshold and scanned the living room. Everything was in place, and the scent of pine and bleach lingered in the air. “The back camera is the one that’s not working. We have no idea if it was tampered with or if there’s some other issue. Let’s clear the house to make sure before we head out. Kitchen’s through there, and I’ll take the bedroom.” Damon was sure Margot wouldn’t want her boss looking in the room where she slept, even if Steve looked it over with a clinical eye.

The bed was stripped of linen, and he noticed the clean sheets on the corner of the bed, ready to be put on. He made his way through to the bathroom and the other bedroom. All of it was clear. No sign of a struggle or anything.

He met Steve in the laundry, where the sliding door was slightly ajar. “Everything’s clear,” he said to his boss.

“Same.” Steve studied him closely, and Damon met his gaze steadily. “Ready?”

“Yep.”