Page 10

Story: Can't Hold Back

Good. That gave them eight days of not having to worry about her roommate getting caught up in any of this shit. Last year, Shailene got shot during a home invasion, and the last thing the poor woman needed was more danger in her life.

Nate surveyed the damage again. “We better call the police; get this all documented. Then we’ll figure out where you’re staying tonight.”

“What are you talking about? This is my home. I’m staying right here.”

Not if he had anything to say about it. “Would you feel safe here by yourself?”

The look on her face indicated the answer was no, but she said, “Yeah, I guess. Do you think they’ll come back?”

“That’s the million-dollar question. I get the impression they didn’t find what they wanted, and for some reason they seem to think you might have it or know where it is. That makes you a potential target.” Nate glanced over his shoulder at the door. Just a regular lock, with no alarm to speak of. No wonder they got in so easily. And if they got in once, they’d have no trouble doing it again. “Is there anyone you could stay with for the next night or two?”

She hesitated before answering. “There are a few people I could ask. But if there’s a chance I’m in danger, I’d rather not bring that into their homes. If anyone got hurt because of me, I don’t think I could live with myself.”

That was understandable, and he appreciated her thinking of how her situation might impact others. He would have suggested the Six Points safe house, but it was currently inhabited by a software executive and his family who’d become the target of a kidnapping plot.

There had to be somewhere he could take her. He considered offering his place, but the one-bedroom apartment was barely big enough for him. Last he heard, Ryan had guests at his house, and if Dorcas didn’t want her friends endangered, then staying with Nina and Austin was out of the question. And he wasn’t about to ask Larissa to put her family at risk.

That left Wade, who lived in a converted storage area above the warehouse portion of the Six Points building. It was small and Spartan; he claimed to like it that way. But after everything his brother had gone through, Nate wasn’t going to give him a hard time about it.

Decision made, Nate turned to Dorcas. “All right, I’m crashing on the couch tonight. Don’t argue with me about this,” he added when she opened her mouth to object. “You’re not going to be able to sleep if you’re worried about your safety. In the morning, I’ll change out your locks and install an alarm so this shit doesn’t happen again.”

AN HOUR AND A HALFlater, the police filed out of Dorcas’s apartment, leaving her and the guys with the unpleasant task of cleaning the mess.

Wade straightened up Shailene’s room, while Austin tackled the main living area, and Nate helped Dorcas in her bedroom. All the while, the kitten meowed its head off in the bathroom, unhappy about being shut in the small room to prevent it from getting underfoot.

Nate helped Dorcas flip the mattress over so the slash marks weren’t visible and then placed it back onto the box spring. Eventually, she’d have to buy a new one, but this would work for now. “Tell me about the last time you saw your sister.”

“There isn’t much to tell. She came over for dinner, and then we went to the movies.” She waved him off when he picked the sheet off the floor. “I’m not putting those back on the bed until they’ve been washed. Just knowing some strange guy had his hands all over them gives me the creeps.”

He balled up the sheet and tossed it onto the pile of clothes she intended to wash. It was a pretty big pile, consisting of every article of clothing that had been pulled from a drawer or ripped off a hanger. “Did she talk about her job, or any problems she was having?”

“No. Like I said earlier, she never really talked about her work. She said it was boring numbers stuff I wouldn’t understand.”

The tone of her voice made it clear that she was insulted by her sister’s statement, but Nate didn’t say a word about it. He picked up more clothes from the floor, this time two shirts and a pair of thong underwear, and his brain veered down a dangerous path.

Determined to keep his mind out of the gutter, Nate shook his head and redirected his thoughts to the situation at hand. Whoever ransacked both homes was after something, but what? Was it still hidden in one of the homes, or had the thieves found what they were searching for? “So when Rita came over, did she go into either of the bedrooms?”

“No, why would she?” Dorcas pulled one corner of a fresh fitted sheet under the mattress. “She ate dinner, helped with the dishes, and then we left.”

“Did she use the bathroom?”

Dorcas paused at the foot of the bed. “I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

Nate bumped the bedrooms lower on his list of places where her sister might have hidden something of value. He grabbed the remaining corner of the sheet and tucked it into place. “What did Rita do before dinner? Did she sit in the living room while you got the food ready, or was she in the kitchen helping?”

Dorcas laughed softly. “My sister’s a terrible cook. She could burn water if she put her mind to it. We have an unspoken agreement: I cook and she cleans.”

“What did you cook that day?”

“Well, I didn’t really ‘cook.’” She made air quotes as she spoke the last word. “I just put some ribs in the Crock-Pot and let it do its thing.”

A possibility sparked in his mind. “And she cleaned up after dinner?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Just a hunch. Where’s your Crock-Pot?”

“It’s in the pantry; middle shelf on the right.”