Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
“We got some prints,” Cullen adds. “We’ll run them, see if they belong to anyone that wasn’t supposed to be here, but it looks to me like the wind pushed the door open.”
“Impossible,” Sarah murmurs, shaking her head. “I know I closed it tightly.”
“Without a camera set up, we can’t know for sure.” Cullen turns to me. “Do you have cameras out here on this building? It might have caught something.”
“Actually, I do. I haven’t done the same for the guesthouse because I didn’t want to infringe on the tenant’s privacy, but there are about to be some changes there.”
I pull my phone out of my pocket and bring up the security app. We spend the next twenty minutes combing through footage, and then we see it.
“There,” Hawk says, pointing at the screen. “They tried to stay out of camera range, but those are tires.”
“And feet,” I agree grimly, and watch as feet walk around the car but then disappear.
“They’re in there for about ten minutes,” Cullen says when we see the feet return, get into the car, and drive away.
“Do you recognize the shoes?” I ask Sarah, but she’s already shaking her head no.
“They could be on a man or a woman,” she says slowly, leaning in to get a better look. “It’s kind of grainy.”
“It’s just sneakers and jeans,” I mutter in disgust. “She’s right. I can’t tell if it’s a man or woman.”
“Well, at least we know that it was a person and not the wind,” Luna says brightly, and then deflates when we all glance her way. “I’m trying to look on the bright side.”
“We have the prints,” Cullen says. “And we’ll monitor the area closely. It was probably random. You’re tucked back in here, where no one can really see what’s happening from the street, so it doesn’t surprise me that you’d be a target, but we don’t usually have much B&E in Huckleberry Bay.”
“Just call us if you need anything else, or if you think of something that might help,” Hawk adds before the officers walk to their cruiser and leave.
Just then, Wolfe and Zeke drive up and hurry out of their vehicle toward us.
“What did they say?” Wolfe demands as he pulls his fiancée into his arms. “Just the wind?”
“No,” I reply, my jaw set in grim lines. “There was someone here. Right before I got home from work.”
“But you caught them on camera, right?” Zeke asks. He’s Wolfe’s business partner and best friend, and has quickly become a friend to all of us.
I simply shake my head. “Not a clear shot, no. I’ll have security installed tomorrow, including cameras. In the mean time, you and Petunia will stay with me.”
Sarah’s gaze whips up to mine. “Oh, you don’t have to do that. I’m sure we’ll be just fine.”
“I wasn’t asking,” I interrupt. “Someone broke into your house, on my property, Sarah. You won’t stay another night in there until I have the proper security in place. I won’t risk you.”
“I’m sure that I could stay with Luna.”
I narrow my eyes, and without looking away from her, say to the rest, “Give us a minute, will you?”
“Sure.” Wolfe leads the others away, and I lean into Sarah, speaking low.
“I won’t touch you or do anything that you don’t want me to do, Sarah. But I’ll be damned if you’re going to stay anywhere but with me. I have plenty of space for you and the cat. You’re safe with me. And damn it, I want you here.”
Her lips tremble, but she firms them and nods her head once. “Thank you. We’d love to take you up on that.”
“Thank you,” I reply softly, and turn to the others who are in a small group at the end of the patio. “Thanks for coming to help, everyone. Do you want to come in for dinner? I can order something.”
“Starving,” Zeke says with a nod, only to be hit on the back of the head by Wolfe. “What? I am starving.”
“Please stay,” Sarah says. “And will someone please go into my house to get Petunia’s food and dishes? Her litter box?”
“Done,” Wolfe says, and he and Zeke walk to the house.
“I’ll text Apollo and June, let them know we’re here,” Luna says, her phone already in her hands. “Hopefully, Apollo has service now.”
“This is great,” Sarah says as she and Petunia follow me into the house. “It’ll help me keep my mind off of it. I know you didn’t plan to have a houseful tonight, so I’m sorry about that.”
“Friends are always welcome here,” I reply and get to work putting away the food I’d drug out to cook.
The steak, I discover, sat in the heat too long, and is a lost cause, so it goes in the trash.
“Let’s order burgers from Gordy’s,” Luna suggests as she and the guys join us. “We’ve had a lot of pizza lately.”