Hidden Tracks | ✓

17 | joke is on me

"Ja, dankeschön Schiff. Vielen dank. Wann kannst du es machen? Achso, ich verstehe. Okay, danke noch mal."

I hung up and looked at Soler and Miranda, who were sitting in my room. "Schiff said TIA's IT cell can hack into the restaurant's servers and delete the CCTV footage in ten minutes."

"And what about the employee who's supposed to keep a watch over the live footage at all times? Wouldn't he have seen us snooping around then?" Soler asked.

I looked at him. "I doubt that employee was doing his job properly, because if he was, he would've alerted the restaurant management long back, when we were still there."

Soler sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right."

I raised an eyebrow. "Wow, you actually agreed with me."

He gave me his middle finger salute in return as Miranda laughed.

I turned to her. "Any word from the agency on the ecstasy yet?"

She nodded. "They asked us to keep it for now. Someone from TIA will come and collect the packets by tomorrow."

I nodded and turned towards my bag, where the two packets of ecstasy were lying. This was very powerful evidence, pointing towards the fact that illegal drug activity did go on within the walls of the restaurant.

But would this help us find Caldwell? Would this help us nab those dealers who'd threatened him and Amélie? I didn't know yet.

And ever since our time in Istanbul, I couldn't shake the feeling that the two missing celebrities had more layers to them than we knew of. Amélie had proven to be a blackmailer and god knows what else she'd done. And that meant I couldn't be completely sure with Caldwell either.

But they'd gone missing nonetheless, and it was our job to retrieve them and find the dealers who'd probably abducted them. If the MP and designer had done anything shady it was up to the court to pass judgement, not us.

I was just here for my mission, not to get involved in any other business which Amélie or Mason Caldwell could be a part of.

I looked at Miranda. "So what now?"

Miranda sighed. "We don't really have any other substantial leads yet. When I spoke to the manager at Bon Appétit, I tried to get some info on Caldwell but nothing he said proved to be suspicious, or helpful in any way. He just said Caldwell came down to the restaurant once in a while, either with friends or just to see how it was going. He was apparently very nice with the employees, joked around with them whenever he came."

"Did you ask him if Caldwell had visited the restaurant recently?"

"Yeah, but obviously the manager said no. He said Caldwell had some family emergency due to which he was taking a break from his duties for some time. Same lie which has been fed to the media and everyone else."

I nodded. Yes, obviously the manager would also be under that impression.

So till now the only thing we had was the ecstasy. Nothing else.

"Oh!" Miranda replied. "The manager also mentioned Amélie Beaumont in passing. He said Caldwell had brought Amélie to the restaurant earlier."

I raised my eyebrows. "He mentioned that? Did he seem flustered or kind of nervous when he was saying that?"

"No, he seemed perfectly normal."

I frowned.The manager seemed like the type of guy who was very expressive and easy to figure out, judging by what Miranda had told us. If he mentioned Caldwell bringing Amélie to the restaurant recently, he must've been talking about the night they witnessed the drug deal happening inside the restaurant. The night they got threatened.

If I were Caldwell, I would've definitely informed my restaurant's manager about the drug incident, the fact that some employees were involved in smuggling ecstasy right under his nose. And if the manager knew of this, he would've definitely appeared nervous while speaking to Miranda about that night. Or he wouldn't have brought up the topic altogether.

Some things weren't adding up. Caldwell had to have informed the manager about what he witnessed, right? But then the manager wouldn't have mentioned that night so calmly to Miranda. He also would've disposed of any drugs found in the restaurant, and Soler and I wouldn't have found that ecstasy in the storage room.

Then did Caldwell not tell the manager anything at all? That meant the manager knew nothing about the alleged smuggling which had been going on in his own restaurant.

And the fact that we'd found the ecstasy in the storage room pointed to either of two possibilities: one, drugs were still being smuggled at Bon Appétit, or two, the smuggling stopped after Caldwell and Amélie discovered them, but two packets of the drugs were left behind.

The second option seemed unlikely, no dealer or smuggler would ever be that careless with such valuable goods. So that probably meant the former. Drug activity was still going on.

I was starting to get a headache. All these theories and questions were making me dizzy. Plus, it'd been a long, long day and now it was late at night. I hadn't got proper sleep in ages.

Miranda got up. "I think we've done enough work today. Let's call it a night, and tomorrow we can discuss our next strategy. Good night, Kaia, Marco."

She exited my room after shooting Soler and me a soft smile.

I closed my eyes and lay back in bed. Soler would probably leave right now without even a word. Ever since our fight at the restaurant, and those moments in the cramped room, we'd been on edge around each other. He was probably pissed at me for saying what I said about his "stone cold heart'' and all, and I was definitely pissed at him for everything he said about me.

On top of that, there was the constant reminder of that tiny room and how we'd been all up in each other's personal space. It'd been uncomfortable and...and something else. I couldn't pinpoint what.

I opened my eyes a bit, assuming Soler had left the room after Miranda. But to my surprise, he was still sitting on the edge of my bed. He appeared to be deep in thought, thick eyebrows drawn together, lips pulled down in a slight frown.

"What are you still doing here Soler?"

He looked at me. "What, I can't stay here for five minutes? Will you kick me out?"

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. "God, I wish I could, but right now I don't have the energy to deal with your stupidity."

"You think you're such a smartass," he muttered. "Shut your mouth before you end up saying anything more ridiculous."

"Why don't you shut it for me?"

The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them or make sense of what I was saying.

Soler looked at me, a dangerous glint in his green eyes. "What did you say?" he smirked.

I usually never blushed, but this embarrassment was making my cheeks warm up. This was not good, not good at all. What the hell, Kaia? What possessed you to say that?!

"Nothing," I replied, turning on my side so I didn't have to make eye contact with him and see his shit eating grin.

"You know," he began, "All you have to do--"

"--is ask," I finished. "You think I haven't heard that line before? Dumbass."

I looked at him for a split second, and I could see he was grinning like a devil.

"Well, Winter, you said it yourself. You'd like me to shut your mouth for you."

"Why don't you shut up, Matchstick Marco? Leave me alone and go to hell, where you belong."

Tonight he was getting such enjoyment from my misery, he didn't even get pissed when I called him Matchstick Marco. He just laughed.

"Okay, goodnight, Potatohead, dream of me tonight." I could still hear the grin in his voice.

Asshole.

a/n: what are your thoughts on all the recent developments? how are you liking the story so far?