But Not For Lust by BJ Bourg (comprehension books .txt) 📕

Baylor and I met at the opening to the kitchen. I took the lead from there and slipped silently down the hallway. It was darker in the hallway, so I was forced to reach out a hand for Baylor’s flashlight. Using it to illuminate the path forward, I searched every inch of the hardwood floor directly in front of me before taking each step. I was relying on Baylor to keep an eye on the closed doors ahead of us, of which there were four—two that opened to the left, and two that opened to the right.

After a painstaking process, I reached the first door to the right and opened it to find a bathroom inside. It was empty. Next, I reached the first door to the left and found it to be a bedroom. It was also empty. The next door to the left was another bedroom and the last door on the right was a closet. Both were empty.

When we’d cleared that closet, I handed Baylor his flashlight and shook my head.

“Where in the hell can they be?” I asked as we backtracked. I stopped on the front steps and stared up and down the street. “Did you say the shed was locked?”

“Yeah,” Baylor said. “The door and window are both locked.”

“Could you see in the window?”

He shook his head.

Still trying to figure out where Ty and his mom could be, I followed Baylor under the carport and to the back of the house where the shed was located. It was a small wooden structure—roughly twenty by ten—and there was only the one window and door that faced south, which was the same direction the front of the house faced.

After knocking repeatedly and getting no response from inside, I tested the door knob, trying to force it open. It held fast. I then pushed up on the window, but it was locked. I banged on the window and called out to Ty and his mom, but there was no response from within.

I paced back and forth under the back patio. Mrs. Richardson’s car was parked under the carport, so I knew they hadn’t driven anywhere.

“Did we get any emergency calls out here last night?” I asked. “Maybe an ambulance was called and they didn’t notify the police department?”

“It’s a thought.” Baylor picked up his radio and asked Beth to check with the ambulance service and the volunteer fire department to see if they had been called to the residence.

While waiting to hear back from Beth, I circled the shed, banging on the walls as I did so. I thought about kicking the door open, but I didn’t have a warrant and I wouldn’t be able to articulate an emergency situation that would justify swift entry into the shed.

“Anything?” I asked Baylor when I’d returned to the front of the shed.

“Not yet.”

I fished my cell phone out of my pocket as I walked back to the camper. I searched the ground carefully as I walked. If I could find blood—even a tiny drop—that might help me obtain a warrant to search the shed. The house and the camper had been wide open when we first arrived. That fact, the scattered pizza—which indicated a possible struggle—and the report from a concerned citizen would’ve all been enough to develop justification under the Exigent Circumstances exception to the Fourth Amendment, but that would hardly apply to the locked shed behind the house.

“Hey, Susan,” I said when my wife picked up. “Do you know if Carol Richardson has any family in town? I need someone to give me permission to search a locked shed behind her house.”

“What’s going on?”

I explained everything we knew thus far. She was thoughtful for a moment. Finally, she said Melvin might know.

“I’ll call him and get right back to you,” she said before ending the call.

I felt Baylor walk up behind me. “Well?”

“They’ve received no reports to come out here last night,” Baylor said. “Beth even contacted the sheriff’s office to see if maybe Ty had been locked up or something, but they’ve got nothing.”

I made a search of the outside of Ty’s camper, but found nothing that might explain his disappearance. I stopped on the western side of his camper and looked toward the back of the street. His mom’s property was situated on a corner lot, and the driveway to the blue house on the other side of the cross street was empty. The house cater-corner to hers was dark gray and there was an American flag flying high above it. That driveway was also empty.

I walked to the street and saw that there were two cars in the driveway of the trailer across the street. After waving to get Baylor’s attention, I pointed in that direction. “I’m going talk to the neighbors. Maybe they know something.”

He nodded and headed for his cruiser. As I strode under the shaded carport toward the front door of the trailer, he moved his cruiser into Mrs. Richardson’s driveway and stood there waiting. I could tell he was itching to get inside that shed, as was I, but we needed to do it legally.

  CHAPTER 7

I knocked on the door to the trailer across from Mrs. Richardson’s home and immediately heard footsteps approaching. When the house door opened, the storm door sucked inward and a young lady stood there holding a baby in her arms. She wore workout tights and a loose-fitting T-shirt that read, Wine a bit…you’ll feel better.

When she smiled and opened the storm door, I could hear another child crying from somewhere inside the house. It appeared she had both hands full, but her pale face was pleasant and she seemed in good spirits when she asked if she could help me.

“I’m sorry for bothering you, ma’am,”