“Ah, he’ll be okay. Just a little out of sorts. I think he was afraid of showing his horns.”
Camilla chuckled softly but pooched her lip out, too. It wasn’t funny. She smiled as she began planning what she’d do for him that evening. It wasn’t lost on her that she’d capitulated rather easily to Ben’s demand that she stay another night. Be careful. Next thing you know, you’ll be expecting it, and then you’ll be making all kinds of assumptions.
“Do you have a stereo in the living room?”
“Yes. Why?” Quinten kept his eyes on the road, but she could see the speculative gleam in them.
“I have a little plan…”
Ten minutes later, they pulled up to the curb at her house. It’d taken longer to get to her house than they planned because of all the storm debris on the road. There were two sheriff’s department vehicles parked out front as well. The driveway and yard were littered with fallen tree branches and other windblown rubbish. The lights were on inside, and it felt strange to walk up to her house knowing that the sanctity of her privacy had been violated and even now there were strangers in her home, although they were just doing their jobs.
Hank met her on the porch and shook her hand, a sympathetic look in his eyes. Beyond that sympathy, she saw a little bit of steel and reflexively averted her gaze as her “Dom-dar” went off. “Camilla, I’m glad you’re safe and that you weren’t home when the intruder broke in.”
“Thank you, Hank. I am, too. Sorry if I worried you.”
In a lower tone, Hank said, “Three miles in the rain?”
What is it with all these bossy, dominant men popping out of the woodwork?
“I didn’t make it that far. Ben and Quinten found me and gave me a ride home.”
Hank let out a long breath. “The women of Divine are unknowingly giving me an ulcer. I’m gonna have to retire early to give my heart a rest. Next time you break down, will you please stay in your vehicle until help can come to you?”
Quinten had already gone in the house and looked at her over Hank’s shoulder and nodded his head as if to say, “Uh-huh!”
“Yes, sir.” So much for being a self-rescuing princess.
Hank pushed the front door open so she could get inside, and she cringed at what she saw. “They’re about done dusting for prints. Can you take a look around and tell me if you’re missing anything?”
Judging by the state of her formerly pristine little house on Redbird Lane, that was going to be hard to tell.
“Just have a look-see and tell me if you notice items of value aren’t in the rooms they should be in. I know it’s chaos compared to what you’re used to.”
“Sure.”
She made a beeline for her room and moaned when she saw the top shelf of her closet was barren. She whirled around, trying to control her emotions as her eyes darted about until they landed on the shoe box lying on the bed. The mailing address of her old apartment from years ago and cancelled postage was on the outside of the simple box. She clutched it to her and turned when she heard a noise at the door. It was Quinten, with a concerned look on his face.
“Close your eyes, baby.” She stood there clutching the box, and something about his tone convinced her to obey him. He rubbed her shoulders and stroked her hair. “Remember this room the way that it was, and list the things that you had of value in it.” His warm fingertips at her nape helped to center her as she took a deep breath and calmness descended. She took a deep breath and her rapid heart rate slowed its pace.
“Some of the contents of my jewelry box.”
He moved around the room as she stood with her eyes closed and she heard something rustle. “Okay.”
“Sound system on the dresser.”
“Okay.” His tone was smooth, almost leading her in her memory scan around the room.
“Two nice leather jackets in the closet.”
She heard shuffling in the closet and a muffled, “Okay.”
“Also in the closet, there’s a pair of bright-red lizard-skin Tony Lamas with one thousand dollars in cash tucked inside the toe of the right boot.” She opened her eyes when he chuckled and found him standing in the ransacked closet with the boots in question and a roll of bills in one hand. The look of disbelief on his face was comical.
“You had a thousand dollars…tucked in a boot?”
“It’s my emergency fund. Did you see how many pairs of boots and shoes I own? Who’s gonna search every single one?”
“Good thinking, baby. Everything that you mentioned is still here, although…”—he gestured to the jumble—“it’s now on your floor.” He picked up her sweet little surround sound system and replaced it and its speakers on the dresser. “Hope it still works.” He handed her the wad of cash, and they went through the rest of the house in much the same manner.