Page 145 of Noel Secrets

Once that was done, she left Clay searching through the rubble and turned to her storage room, hoping to salvage some of her cleaning supplies. She’d have to replace her van and her computer. Thankfully, she had most of her data stored on a data sharing platform, so her business files shouldn’t be lost.

“Yahoo, Darby.” Her neighbor’s voice sounded much more upbeat than the ache in Darby’s head would process. She carried a box of supplies to the rental and found Mrs. Buford standing on the driveway, a casserole dish in her hands. She colored with embarrassment. “I would have knocked, but …”

“But there’s no door. What can I do for you, Mrs. Buford?” She hoped this wouldn’t turn into another complaint fest. It wasn’t her fault someone had delivered a bomb to her door.

“I wanted to bring you something and tell you how sorry I am that this happened. I’m just glad David wasn’t home. I know how scared he can get.”

Darby felt a twinge of guilt for what she’d been thinking when Mrs. Buford had come over to pay her respects. “Yes, me too.”

She took the dish from her neighbor. It was hot and fresh and smelled good. She’d included a bag with some napkins and plastic utensils. “Thanks for this.”

“I know what it’s like living in a hotel and how difficult getting a good meal can be. I just wanted to do something for you.”

“I appreciate that.”

“I also wanted to apologize for all the trouble I’ve given you over the years. A little noise seems like such a small intrusion in the face of this trouble. In fact, I heard a noise last night and realized I missed hearing those dogs. At least they alerted you when someone approached.”

She too was thankful for the dogs. She’d felt better having them with her last night and was sure their constant alertness had given her the peace to rest … along with Clay’s presence in the next room, of course. But Mrs. Buford’s words caught her attention. “Someone here at my house last night?”

“Oh, I don’t know for certain. I looked out and thought I saw a dark figure with a flashlight, but I figured it was just the firefighters still working.”

“What time was this?”

“Early this morning. Around four.”

The hairs rose on Darby’s neck. “Could you see where they were searching?”

“No, I only saw them go inside. They stayed for about fifteen minutes then left.” Worry creased her expression. “Should I have called the police?”

For once, she truly wished her nosy neighbor had placed that call. “Were your security cameras on last night?”

“Of course, but the police already took all the footage from before the explosion.”

“I’d like to see if your cameras picked up someone last night.”

She called to Clay, who hurried over. “Mrs. Buford thinks she saw someone sneaking around the house last night.”

“I can pull up my security camera on my phone.” Mrs. Buford took her cell from her pocket and clicked the app.

Darby gripped Clay’s arm, leaning on him for support. They watched as a lone figure approached the burned-out house, stepped over the police tape, then went inside. He emerged again fifteen minutes later.

Long enough to have searched her bedroom for her bank information.

“Do you mind if I text this to myself?” Clay asked Mrs. Buford.

She agreed. “I don’t know how it’ll do any good. You can’t see the person’s face.”

“No, but I can tell he’s male, and I get a fairly good description of his body shape and size.” He pinched the image on the screen, focusing on something near the edge of the camera’s lens. “It looks as if he got out of that car. If we can identify it, we might be on to something.” He clicked on his phone then put it away. “I sent the video to my friend at the Bureau. Maybe he can make something out of it. Thank you, Mrs. Buford.”

“Yes, thank you.” Darby held up the casserole dish. “For this too.”

“I’m glad I could help.” She stared at the Christmas lights hanging down from what was left of the eaves of the front of the house and shook her head. “David would have loved seeing those.”

Darby hugged Mrs. Buford then thanked her again for thinking of them.

Her neighbor hurried back to her house, and Darby turned to Clay. “Do you think Cooper can identify the car?”

“He’s a computer genius. If anyone can, it’s Cooper. I’m going to run to your other neighbors and try to get better images.”