Sliding the hanger around, she wiggled it until it caught on something. On her second try, she felt and heard the latch pull free.
Bingo.
Once upon a time it would have taken her exactly six seconds to do this. Now, it took her fifteen. Not bad.
After reversing the car away from the garage door, she tested it again and breathed out in relief when it slid upward. Leaving the door halfway open, she grabbed her two plastic bags from the vehicle. One held her bloody clothes and the other all the stuff she’d gotten at the two gas stations.
The lock on the interior door was decent, but she picked it. As soon as she stepped from the garage into the utility room the alarm started beeping. She wavered on her feet, but the beeping sound spurred her into action. She had fifteen to thirty seconds to disarm it.
On the third try she got it right. The code was the day, month and year Vadim had gotten his dog Charlie. Not something most people would know, but she and Vadim went way back. She’d apologize later and yell at him for the code too.
Of course he’d probably yell at her for breaking into his house but she was doing him a favor by pointing out his security flaws. She snorted at herself as she opened the utility room door into his kitchen.
Fully expecting to find Charlie bounding toward her, she frowned at the silence. That was when it hit her. When she’d been ringing the bell and knocking on the door there had been no scuffling inside from the dog. Nothing.
Charlie was almost always here unless Vadim took her to work. “Hello?” Taylor called out, her voice cracking from sheer exhaustion.
No response. She tried calling Vadim again on her burner phone as she stepped farther into the kitchen. She slipped her heels off and froze when she saw a pile of about a dozen gifts on the small table by one of the windows.
Holy shit, Vadim and Angel were still on their honeymoon. No wonder he wasn’t answering his phone. Taylor vaguely remembered him telling her they’d be going away for three weeks. Bora Bora or somewhere.
Iciness flooded her as the last of her energy faded from her body. She’d been banking on Vadim’s help. She blinked rapidly, trying to shake off the new wave of exhaustion and despair threatening to pull her under, the invisible sandbags weighing her eyelids down, making her want to fall asleep right on the kitchen floor.
Bags in hand, she stumbled toward the nearest guest bathroom. She needed to change her bandage and maybe close her eyes for a few minutes. And…she grabbed a bottle of vodka from the pantry on the way. She didn’t know what kind of first aid stuff he had and vodka would kill anything.
And she really wanted a swig because right about now, she knew she was in deep shit.
Chapter 3
Roman scanned Vadim’s property as he pulled up behind an unfamiliar Pinto with a California plate. Frowning, he snapped a picture of the license plate before getting out of his truck. Vadim lived on the outskirts of town with no neighbors for miles. That car had definitely seen better days. Other than the unfamiliar vehicle, everything else looked normal. Just wide-open desert for miles around greeted him. There was no way in hell someone had accidentally stumbled on his place.
No one was supposed to be here. Hell, he hadn’t even planned on coming by. He’d just wanted to get one of Charlie’s favorite chew toys he’d forgotten the other day. He’d brought her by Vadim and Angel’s place a couple days ago because ‘Angel’ was worried about Charlie getting homesick while she and Vadim were on their honeymoon. In reality, Roman knew it was Vadim worried about the mutt. For such a hard ass, V had two soft spots: Angel and Charlie the German shepherd.
Withdrawing his weapon, Roman felt the hood of the Pinto with his free hand. The engine was cool. He ducked down and glanced under the partially open garage door to look inside.
No one was there and Vadim’s Mercedes S-Class sat untouched. Roman crawled under, not disturbing the position of the door before heading to the interior door. If someone had broken in, he’d have them arrested.
Weapon out, he slowly turned the handle then nudged it open with his foot. The door chime dinged, announcing that someone was entering the house, but the alarm didn’t go off, making him tense. Disabling Vadim’s system would take skill unless someone had the security code. The utility room was also empty. Moving on silent feet, he swept through the kitchen.
A pair of high heels with…zombies on them sat haphazardly next to one of the island chairs in the otherwise pristine kitchen. A woman had broken in? Some gifts from the recent wedding were still unopened too. Vadim and Angel had left so quickly after their ceremony they hadn’t been able to open the gifts people had brought to the wedding.