Ride With Me (Paige and Jace) novel Chapter 94

CHAPTER 58

CHAPTER 58

The phone rang just after six the next morning. I had only been awake long enough to shower,

brush my teeth, throw on a pair of jeans and a Lawson Customs shirt and pour myself the first

coffee of the day. Diesel lifted his head from his bed the moment the ringtone echoed through the

apartment.

I glanced at the screen and it was Mia. She never called this early.

“Morning.” I said and her voice was unusually tense.

“Paige, can you get here now?” She asked.

“I’m upstairs.” I said.

“I know. I waited outside because I didn’t want to go in alone.” She said as she took a slow breath

and the coffee mug was already forgotten.

“I’ll be right down.” I said.

I grabbed my keys, slipped my pistol into the concealed holster Uncle Will had insisted I own years ago, and headed downstairs with Diesel close behind.

Mia stood beside her car, her handbag still over one shoulder. She looked tired, and she kept

glancing toward the workshop as though expecting someone to walk back out.

“You stayed?” I asked and she nodded.

“I saw somebody moving around inside after I locked up.” She said.

“Why didn’t you call me?” I asked.

“I wasn’t completely sure what I’d seen. I kept telling myself it was my imagination but it wasn’t.”

She said and she looked genuinely frustrated.

Together we unlocked the front office and nothing looked unusual. The reception desk sat exactly where it always had and the coffee machine remained on the counter. The chairs hadn’t moved.

For a brief moment I wondered whether we were worrying over nothing. Then Diesel walked straight toward my office and his nose stayed low to the floor while he sniffed carefully around the doorway before stopping beside the filing cabinet and his ears lifted.

The soft growl that rumbled through his chest was enough to make my stomach tighten and I

walked into the office. Someone had been here and the top drawer of my desk wasn’t fully closed.

I never left it like that.

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The filing cabinet stood open by only a few centimeters. Several folders sat slightly crooked and tiny details. Details most people would never notice but I noticed.

They searched the office.” I said and Mia stepped beside me.

“They were careful.” Mia said.

“Very.” I said.

Nothing had been smashed and nothing had been thrown onto the floor. Whoever entered Lawson Customs hadn’t come looking for money.

They had come looking for information and I slowly checked every drawer. Customer records remained untouched. The cash tin sat exactly where it belonged. Uncle Will’s old calculator rested beside the computer.

Nothing obvious was missing. That somehow made the whole situation worse. Someone had entered my business without making enough of a mess to reveal what they wanted. So I reached for my phone.

“I’m calling the police.” I said.

Within forty minutes an officer was dusting the office for fingerprints while another photographed

the desk.

The responding officers remained professional, although their expressions suggested they were just as puzzled as I was.

“No forced entry. No damaged locks. No stolen electronics.” He said and the older officer looked

around the room.

“Strange.” The older man said.

“I agree.” The other one said as he closed his notebook.

“It almost looks like someone searched for something specific.” The older man said.

Those words stayed with me long after the police finished taking their report.

By midmorning the Iron Vipers arrived. Jace came through the front door first. He crossed the workshop in only a few strides before stopping in front of me.

“You alright?” Jace asked.

“I’m fine.” I said.

He studied my face for a second longer before nodding.

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“Show me.” He said.

led him into the office while Derek and Cole quietly examined the windows and rear entrance. Jace crouched beside the filing cabinet before carefully opening each drawer.

“They didn’t rush.” He said.

“No.” I said.

“They knew what they were doing.” He said.

“I thought the same thing.” I said and he looked toward the shelves lining the office wall.

“What would someone search for without taking anything?” He asked and I leaned against the desk.

“I’ve been asking myself exactly that.” I said.

His eyes slowly drifted toward the hidden doorway concealed behind the storage shelves in the rear workshop.

“They didn’t find the basement.” He said and I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.

“No. They never moved the shelving.” I said.

“Good. If they’d found it, we’d know.” He said as he stood again.

“You think so?” I asked.

“They wouldn’t leave without searching everything.” He said.

His calm confidence eased some of the knot in my stomach and Derek wandered into the office

carrying a small evidence bag.

“Found this outside the rear door.” Derek said.

Inside sat the broken tip of a black plastic zip tie.

“Interesting. It wasn’t there yesterday.” Jace said and Derek nodded.

“They came prepared.” Derek said and the room fell quiet and Jace looked back at me.

“I don’t think they wanted money.” Jace said.

“I don’t either.” I said.

“I think they were looking for documents.” Jace said.

My thoughts immediately jumped to the basement. To Uncle Will’s journals. To the missing pages we had already discovered.

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