Johan's Joy (Heroes for Hire #22) - Dale Mayer Page 0,60

or if somebody had been here recently. But the bathroom was completely clean, with no sign of water in the tub or shower. It looked like that’s how he left it for guests.

Heading into the master bedroom, he stopped to study the layout. A huge round bed was the centerpiece, so the guy had probably thought he was some kind of Don Juan. Even had thick red velvet bedding on top. Johan winced at the garishness of it all. “Hope that worked for you, buddy,” he muttered.

But considering Barlow hadn’t had a steady relationship in a long time, Johan didn’t think it could have. He wandered around the room, checking behind the pictures on the wall. He opened the dressers, seeing nothing but standard clothing and things he would expect to see in anybody’s room. In the closets were multiple suits, all high-end yet flashy, and almost as if someone had put every item of one outfit up together. The ties and shirts were with the suits, as if Barlow took everything off the hanger and got dressed, then put it in the laundry, and it all came back that way.

This bathroom looked a little more lived-in than the other one. Johan found shaving gear, some over-the-counter medication for headaches on a side counter, shampoo in the shower, toilet paper on the roll, and more stacked up behind it. So this was the bathroom that Barlow used the most.

Johan headed to the night table on what would be the spare side first and found it empty. He walked over to the other side, the one Barlow should have been using all the time, and found it empty as well. That surprised Johan. Where was his laptop? Where was Barlow’s e-reader? Where was the phone, the chargers, the simple things in life that made all the electronics work these days? It made no sense to have none of that here, unless there was another place he stored his electronics, or if somebody had come through and taken it all. Johan sent a quick message to Ice. Her response made the most sense. The cops had picked up the electronics.

He turned his attention to the bed, lifting the pillows. Then, on a whim, he flipped off the bedding, so he could see the sides of the mattresses, and then, on his knees, checked under the bed. Nothing. He lifted the top mattress, lifted the box spring, and bingo, an envelope was taped underneath.

He quickly detached the envelope, put the bed back together, so it looked the way it should, then headed back out to look for any electronics. But he couldn’t find anything.

Finally, back in the home office, where Barlow should have had a laptop on his desk, Johan stopped and looked at all the big portraits and heavy paintings on the walls. He quickly lifted several of them, looking for a safe, and found it in the wall behind the office desk. He removed the painting, standing it up on the floor, then quickly texted the two men outside about what he’d found. Even though he hadn’t had a chance to open the envelope yet, he wanted to try to crack the safe first.

Tyson texted back. I’m coming in. Galen will stay on guard.

Johan waited for Tyson to show up, pointing out the safe. Tyson’s eyebrows shot up, his hands already in gloves too. “That’s relatively new,” he said, rubbing his hands together.

“So, does that mean you want to take a crack at it first?”

“Oh, I so do,” Tyson said with a big grin. “May I?”

“Go for it,” Johan said. “I’ll go through this envelope while you do that. By the way, the cops have collected all the electronics.”

While Tyson worked on the safe, Johan turned and opened the envelope. What he pulled out made him whistle in surprise.

Distracted, Tyson turned, just in time to see photos of several men in tight grips, obviously making love. These were deeply sexual images in black and white. “Blackmail?” Tyson asked.

“Maybe,” Johan said. “Nothing else in here but the photos.”

“And they were taped under the bed?”

“Yes,” Johan said. “Not easily accessible but hidden for safekeeping.”

“Maybe you better turn this place over a little bit further and see if anything else like that is hanging around.”

“My vote is to check inside the safe first,” Johan said.

Just then, Tyson’s nimble fingers popped the combination lock, and the safe made a distinctive click. He reached over, dropped the lever, and opened the safe. Inside were stacks and