Three police cars were already at the house by the time they pulled up. Though Clarke was itching to run, not walk, to the house to get inside, he parked between two patrol cars and stayed put. His job was to protect Everleigh first. To figure out who was out to get her, second.
“I guess this means it wasn’t someone I know well,” she said, her gaze never leaving her house as lights could be seen going on and off and officers searched every room.
“Unless it is. They could have an accomplice,” he told her. She wouldn’t want to hear what he was thinking, but he knew she’d want the truth. “Over half the people who were there had already left by the time you got the call. And they all knew you were going to be occupied for the rest of the night.”
“I didn’t get any vibes from anyone that they were after me. Or even resenting me.”
He hadn’t, either, to be honest.
He could tell her about what he had discovered, but held his tongue for the moment. Evidence of Fritz’s philandering might prove crucial information, but at the moment, they needed to deal with what was going on at her house.
It wasn’t long before Grace Colton, his rookie cop cousin, was tapping on his car window. With her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail and in her dress blues, he could almost begin to believe the twenty-five-year-old wasn’t a kid anymore.
“It’s all clear,” Grace said, after a brief serious glance at him—almost as though daring him to smile at her. “Chief says you’re free to go in, but asks that you don’t touch anything until CSI can get here in the morning. Perp entered through the back door. There’s some disarray, but we’ve searched the place, under beds, in closets... No one is there. The guess is that your neighbor saw the person leaving, not arriving.”
He nodded. Thanked her. And absolutely did not crack a smile. He might remember when Grace had been in diapers, might even have changed her a time or two, but she’d earned her stripes since and deserved his respect.
Turning to Everleigh, he wanted to suggest that they head to his home—save whatever faced her at her house for the morning—but asked instead, “What do you want to do?”
Whoever was after her wasn’t going away. And wasn’t backing off.
He wanted her safely up in his condo, not out on a dark street, or in a home that had just been broken into.
“I want to go in.”
“It might be easier in the light of day.”
“I want to go in now.”
Of course she did. She’d take it on and deal with it. Didn’t matter if it was scary. Or dangerous. “You’re sure?”
Her nod didn’t surprise him.
The depth of his fear for her did.
* * *
She didn’t plan to stay long. Had no desire to hang out at a house she was beginning to think she was going to sell rather than ever live in again for any length of time. But she had to see the damage for herself, assess what had happened so that she could factor it in with everything else as she tried to assimilate and figure out her new world. She had to step inside the space to reclaim her home from whoever had vandalized it.
Clarke was there to protect her as she did so, she knew.
She didn’t kid herself about that one.
She’d still have gone inside, even if he wasn’t. But without him, she’d have waited until it was light outside, and everything seemed less creepy.
As it was, Clarke seemed more inclined to linger than she was. A quick check through every room was all she’d wanted. He was checking out Fritz’s den as though he was cataloging everything in sight.
“This room got most of the attention this time,” he said, studying the place intently.
She’d noticed the same. The kitchen hadn’t been touched at all, it seemed. Nor had most of the other rooms. Her bedroom drawers had taken another tumble. The mattress was pushed off the bed.
All was fixable in less than an hour.
There was no reason for tears to be pushing for release. Things had been much, much worse the day before.
“We have to figure out what his killer would be after. What got Fritz murdered.” He shook his head.
“He owned a failing small health club and personal-training business. He had no partners and no enemies that I know of. We’ve been over this already,” she told him, wanting the answers as badly as he did. Worse.