Kate and DeMarco gave one another of nod of acknowledgment, an unspoken sign that they would split up and search the house. Given the size and the lack of any sort of cleanliness or organization, it was not a task that Kate expected to take very long. DeMarco headed left, into the kitchen and the thin hallway beyond it. Kate turned to the living room and the single room that sat to the far side of it. The doorway opened to reveal the edge of a bed and more dirty clothes.

Kate had investigated places much worse than this oneplaces rife with cockroaches, mold, mildew, blood, and unnamable sticky substances on the floor. Still, the idea that this could potentially be the home of a man who had not only willingly abandoned a child fifteen years ago but was not capable of murder to get her back…well, it was a little unnerving.

But the more she searched, the less certain she became that Nick Sanders was the killer. She had no idea why he was refusing to tell them where he had been the last few nights. Much of the garage and debris around the house told some of the story: he had been here most of the time, eating frozen dinners and, according to the empty pizza box stashed beneath the coffee table and the hardened crust inside, ordering a pizza within the last three days or so.

When she got to the bedroom, she thought she understood why he was being so secretive, though. While the bedroom was slightly cleaner than the living room, there was still lots of evidence as to how he spent his time. The room smelled of body odor and burnt matches. An ashtray sat on the bedside table, badly needing to be dumped. The table was the sort that had a single drawer built into it. It was partially open, having been closed in haste the last time it had been used. Kate opened it up and saw more than enough reason for a man like Nick Sanders to remain quiet about what he had been up to the last few nights.

There were two baggies and three pill bottles in the drawer. The baggies contained about an ounce of crystal meth each. Two of the pill bottles held cocaine, and the third contained some sort of pills. It wasnt ecstasy from what she could tell. Probably some kind of speed or other methamphetamine if she had to guess.

As she closed the drawer, she saw a little lock box stashed under the bed, one of the corners sticking out. She did not like the idea of sitting on Sanders nasty floor, so she picked the lock box up and placed it on the bedside table. She used her lock-pick set once more to pop the lid of the box open.