Page 144 of Noel Secrets

That was all she needed to finally let go of the fear and grief she’d been fighting. She turned and pressed her face into his chest, and his arms immediately encircled her. He let her cry and didn’t try to stop her.

She was uncertain how long he held her like that, but she’d spent all her tears when Detective Rios approached them again.

“Stay here,” Clay told her as he slid away to speak with the detective. Ten minutes later, he returned with an update.“The fire is out, but the fire department is still watching some remaining embers, then the arson investigator will examine the scene. Tomorrow we can go back in and see if we can salvage anything.” He held out his hand to her. “We’re both exhausted. Let’s go find a place to sleep for the night.”

This time, she took his hand and allowed him to help her down. Thankfully, his pickup had been parked down the driveway and had suffered only a broken side window from the blast. Darby saw that it had now been sealed with plastic and tape. She didn’t yet know the condition of her van … oh wait, yes, she did. Totaled against a tree.

“Where are we going to go?” she asked him.

He rubbed a hand through his hair and sighed. “I don’t know. Someplace that accepts pets.” He called to the dogs, who rallied at the truck. When he opened the door, they jumped into the back seat.

“We could always take Brent up on his offer to put us up,” she joked, causing Clay to smile.

“I don’t believe I was included in that invitation. The dogs either.”

Clay circled around the truck and opened the passenger door for Darby.

She stared out the window as they pulled away, watching her house disappear behind yellow tape and smoldering debris. As they drove into the evening, smoke still clinging faintly to the wind, a wave of sadness hit Darby.

“Everything’s gone.”

“Not everything.” Clay reached over, resting his hand gently on hers. “You’re still here. The dogs are still here. We can rebuild from that.”

She didn’t answer him, but she didn’t pull her hand away either.

The front of the house had taken the brunt of the explosion and fire, but smoke and water had damaged the remainder as Darby and Clay walked through it the next morning. A large cup of coffee and determination were the only things keeping her going.

She salvaged some handcrafted mementos David had created. The ones she’d placed on the Christmas tree were now gone forever. The thought brought a tear to her eye. So many memories lost.

She gathered up her son’s blankets and his favorite pillow and stuffed animal. A trip to the laundromat would make a world of difference and maybe give David a sense of home wherever they ended up. Darby and Clay had spent the night in adjoining rooms at the Sheraton Inn. Not her idea of homey, but she’d managed a few hours of sleep, her exhaustion too great to fight.

“Darby, come look at this,” Clay called as she gathered things from David’s bedroom.

She hurried down the hall, where he was standing in the doorway to her bedroom. What she saw shocked her.

Her room had been tossed. Her mattress lay overturned on the floor. Her dresser drawers opened and clothes tossed out. Even her mirror had been smashed. She gasped at the damage. “Did this explosion cause this?”

His furrowed brow told her he doubted it.

“What about the firefighters? Could this have happened while they were in here?”

“There’s little to no damage to David’s room or the rest of the back of house. Your room shouldn’t be any different. It’s farther away than David’s.”

He was right, but she had never left her room in such disarray. “Then how did this happen?”

“I’ve searched my share of rooms, Darby. Whoever did this hit all the places people hide things. Under the mattress, the dresser drawers, even in the closet and the bottom of your lamps.”

What he was suggesting clicked into place. “So someone was searching my room? For what?”

“Do you keep anything in the house that could give someone access to your inheritance?”

The inheritance money. Of course. “I used to but, once I realized I couldn’t trust Brent, I moved all my bank records and important documents to a safe deposit box. I knew if he found a way to access it, it would be gone to his addiction.” She looked at Clay. “Do you think he was here, searching for it?”

“He’s the one most likely to know where you hide things, right?”

Tears pressed against her eyes. That money had brought her nothing but trouble. “Let me borrow your cell phone. I’d better call the bank and place them on alert.”

Once she was certain her accounts were secured, she went back to work, gathering what clothes and few belongings she could. They would need to cleaned, but at least it wasn’t a total loss. She loaded as much as she could stuff into the rental car she’d gotten earlier that morning—Clay’s idea.