Page 1 of Tide and Seek (Dr. Maxwell Thornton Murder Mysteries #8)

Maxwell

It was the perfect day. Royce and I were at my new house, outside, enjoying the day. I was floating in my beloved pool, relishing the gentle lapping of water against my skin and the distant call of meadowlarks in the trees. I felt truly content, not something I was prone to.

Royce sat nearby on a lounge chair, and there was a little blond boy on his lap.

While I generally had an aversion to children, the presence of the child didn’t bother me.

Even Grumpy was there, lying at Royce’s feet, chewing on a stuffed toy squirrel.

I was pondering how perfect the moment was when the little boy suddenly looked over at me.

He opened his mouth, and a jarring ringing sound came out.

Startled awake, I opened my eyes and realized the ringing was coming from my cell on the nightstand, not the child.

I wasn’t outside in the pool. I was in bed, and it was the middle of the night.

Beside me, Royce stirred at the sound of the phone but didn’t fully wake.

I rolled over and grabbed the cell, clearing my throat.

“Hello?” I said softly, hoping not to wake Royce. He didn’t wake, but Grumpy, who slept at the end of the bed, gave a little groan.

“This is Bright-Eyed Security. We’ve received an alarm signal from your property at 2470 Coral Reef Rd. Can you confirm if everything is all right?”

It took me a moment to recognize the address as my Malibu beach house. “Um… I don’t live at that property. It’s a vacation home.”

“I see. I’m afraid to inform you the alarm has been triggered.” The person spoke to someone off the phone and then returned. “We’re monitoring the cameras at this time, and it does appear there’s someone inside the home.”

I sat up, heart racing, and squawked, “Really? They’re inside the house?” I was no longer concerned with waking Royce. I had many valuable pieces of art and collectibles in my beach home. Purchasing art and especially antique medical devices had been the one thing I’d occasionally splurged on.

“Can I get your security code, sir, just to verify we are indeed speaking with the property owner?”

“Oh, uh…” I glanced down at the caller ID on my cell to be sure I was speaking to the actual alarm company and not being scammed.

“Security code?” I frowned. I’d lost so many papers in the fire at my old clinic and had no idea if that information had been one of those things.

“I don’t remember the code. But what does it matter about the code?

You can see someone is inside my house. Can you please call the police and send someone over there? ”

“The police have already been contacted, sir. May I ask your mother’s middle name? Perhaps we can verify your identity that way.”

I gave him my mother’s middle name and answered a few more security questions, all the while wondering what sort of damage the intruders might be causing to my beach home. I felt indignant at the idea some stranger was pawing through my personal belongings.

Royce was awake now and sitting up in bed. He flicked on the light beside the bed. He looked groggy, and his blond hair was sticking up messily. “What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice still thick with sleep.

“Someone broke into my beach house.” I sounded flustered. “They’re inside right now.”

“Really?” Royce ran a hand through his hair and then climbed out of bed. He stood there, looking like he wanted to do something to help. I’m sure that was the policeman in him. But what could he do? We were hundreds of miles away. “Are the police on the way?”

“Supposedly,” I murmured, my anxiety ramping.

The person on the phone came back on the line. “Mr. Thornton, the police have arrived on scene. The person who broke into your home was gone by the time they arrived.”

“Is there any damage?” I squeezed the phone tight, waiting for the response.

“The door was forced, but I’m afraid I have no further information at this time.”

Then what good are you?

I was very proud of myself that I didn’t say that out loud. The old me certainly would have. Instead, I politely asked, “The police are still there?”

“Yes. The police will process the scene and be in touch with you. We, of course, will cooperate fully with their investigation and hand over any security video if requested.”

“Okay,” I mumbled, feeling a bit lost as to what my next step should be. I opened my mouth to ask that very question, but the person on the phone spoke over me.

“Thank you so much for choosing Bright-Eyed Security for your personal home security needs.” A click followed their little speech.

I scowled down at my phone. “That’s it? Seriously?”

Royce moved around the bed to me. “What did they say? Did they catch the perp?”

“No. They weren’t very helpful at all.” I set my cell back on the nightstand and got out of the bed, grumbling, “Apparently the crook was gone by the time the police arrived.”

“Damn. Did they do any damage?”

“Apparently they forced the lock on the door. Other than that, I don’t know. The alarm company didn’t tell me much. They said the police will process the scene and get back to me. Is that normal? Do they usually just call you with horrible news and then you’re on your own?” I groused.

“Pretty much.” Royce nodded. “The average security company is really just monitoring the situation as it happens. The police will conduct an initial investigation, looking for signs of forced entry. They’ll check surveillance footage if possible, and they might search for any suspects in the area.”

“Okay. God. I need to call the insurance company.” I rubbed the back of my neck, anxiety eating at me. “But I don’t know if anything has been taken yet, or if there’s any real damage. Should I even call my insurance lady until I know that stuff? I’m so far away. Should I fly there tonight?”

Giving me a patient smile, Royce moved to me, slipping his arms around me. “Take a deep breath, Max. It’s going to be okay. You don’t have to fly there tonight, okay?”

I hugged him back, grateful for his quiet strength. “I have a lot of treasured stuff in that house,” I muttered.

“Do you?” He pulled back, brows lifted in surprise. “Treasured as in sentimentally?”

I wasn’t insulted by his obvious disbelief I might have had a sentimental bone in my body when I’d lived in LA. I barely had one now. “No. I, uh… I meant treasured as in monetarily valuable. I have some select art pieces and old antique medical equipment there.”

“Antique medical equipment?” He grimaced. “Is that a thing people collect?”

“Of course,” I said enthusiastically. “My prized possession is an antique, circa-1800s brass binocular microscope.”

He drawled, “You don’t say?”

“I do say.” I moved away from him, feeling antsy. “I bought it off eBay. That microscope is very valuable. I paid almost six thousand dollars for it.”

He gave a low whistle. “That’s a pretty penny to spend on something that just gathers dust.”

“I know.” I sighed. “But I made very good money back then as a surgeon. Most of it I invested, but I enjoyed buying little gifts for myself too.”

“Well, hopefully you have an inventory list of what was in the beach house. The police should create a report detailing the incident. You’ll need that for your insurance and any further legal actions.

I think you should call an emergency restoration company to secure the scene.

Wouldn’t want anyone running off with your beloved brass microscope. ”

“Good heavens, no. That would be a disaster.”

His lips twitched. “Your insurance company might have a contract with someone. They could point you in the right direction.”

“Good idea. I’ll ask them. Will the police have a real detective investigate the break-in?” I grimaced. “Or is something like this not important enough?”

“It’s possible a detective may be assigned to follow up on the case.

If so, they’d most likely want to interview witnesses, maybe talk to known burglary suspects in the area.

” Royce gave me an apologetic smile. “Of course, I’m just guessing.

I don’t know anything about how the Malibu Police Department operates. ”

“I suppose that’s true.”

He rubbed his jaw. “I can call them tomorrow morning, if you’d like—follow up with them. They might talk to me as a professional courtesy.”

“Oh, that might be helpful.” I perked up. “You could get the scoop from your cop buddies.”

He smiled and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. “Not sure they’ll share everything with me. But they might be receptive to a fellow officer of the law. Can’t hurt to try.”

“That would be great.” I joined him on the bed, clasping my hands in my lap. “What should I do next? I feel helpless being so far away.”

“Calling your insurance company is the priority. I don’t think you need to fly out there tonight, but it might be useful to go in the next couple of days. You could maybe meet with the police, see what they can tell you. You might want to upgrade your security system too.”

“Upgrade?” I laughed humorlessly. “Why? All the alarm company really did was tell me I’d been broken into. It didn’t keep those ruffians out. I’d have done better to hire a college student to live there while I’m away.”

He gave me a tolerant smile. “I understand your frustration, but if the alarm company hadn’t alerted the police, it’s possible the perps might have stuck around longer and done more damage. It’s good you had a security company monitoring the property, Max.”

“I guess.” I exhaled tiredly. “God, I’ve been so busy lately. I really don’t want to fly out to LA.”

“You could probably handle a lot of this remotely. But personally, if it were me, I’d go there in person. It’s harder for the police to ignore you if you’re there in their face. Not that I think they want to ignore you, but you know how it is—the squeaky wheel and all that.”

I groaned. “I have so many patients to see this week. Why couldn’t this have happened when I had more free time?”

Royce shrugged. “Ain’t that just how life goes?”