Chapter 18 #2
Her eyes wide and frightened, she nodded.
He drew his focus back to the entry. The decorative beveled glass had been shattered and door left ajar.
Moving slowly until he reached it, he strained to hear any movement from inside.
Cautiously, he looked into the house between the shards of glass, giving him a full view into the foyer and what appeared to be a formal living room.
At least, it used to be formal. The sofa and chairs had been ripped apart and their stuffing thrown about the room.
A curio cabinet had been toppled, and the probably very expensive figurines once displayed there were scattered in fragments on the floor.
Pictures lay strewn about in broken frames, the tables upended, and books, magazines, and other items had been left in disarray.
He took her by the arm, steering her through the gate and down the walk to get her back in the car.
He holstered his gun as he hurried around to climb behind the wheel, started the vehicle, and drove away.
Grabbing his cell phone out of his pocket, he instructed it to call John Stapleton, put it on speaker, and set it in the cup holder.
“What’s happening?” Her voice shook as they sped out of the complex and pulled into traffic.
The call picked up after two rings. “Stapleton.”
“John. Colton Blankenship.”
“Hey, Colton. I’m here working on Riley’s case after the new intel you provided earlier.”
“Great. But, listen, we have another problem. We were just at Riley’s townhouse. It’s been tossed. You’ll need to get a team out there. Seventeen-five-three-two Saddle Creek Ln. Gate code five-two-seven-nine.”
Finger snapping sounded in the background. “I need units rolling right now. Lights and siren.” John spouted off the address and passed on the gate code.
“On it,” a voice answered from a distance.
“Sending units now, Blankenship, and I’ll get forensics out there in the next hour. You still there?”
“No. I need to get Riley back to the estate.” He grimaced at the pallor of fear on her face as she stared straight ahead at the road.
“She’s going to need to tell us if anything’s missing. And what information the perpetrator might have found. Once we clear the house, can she be there? Is she up to it?”
“I’ll go,” she answered in a tight voice.
He reached over the console and took her hand. “We’re going to grab a cup of coffee and will meet you there. I’ll call in the other guys since we don’t know for sure the perpetrator isn’t in the area.”
“I’ll see you there.”
Colton disconnected and told his phone to call Mack.
“Blankenship. What’s up?”
Stopped at a red light and keeping his eyes on traffic around them, he repeated the bullet points of what had occurred. “I’m calling Jamison and Paxton to meet us at her place.”
“I’ll take care of that. And I’ll also call Drew Hudson to keep him in the loop.”
“Appreciated.” He accelerated hard through the green light, darting from the left lane to the right and taking a quick turn without signaling to see if anybody followed. Thankfully, all the maneuver garnered was an angry honk from a girl in a red Beetle.
“No sign of anybody still there, right?”
“Not that I could determine, but I didn’t go in. All appeared quiet, though.”
“Okay. Good work getting her off the property right away. She’s your first priority.”
“Copy. Talk to you later.”
He disconnected again and glanced at the woman next to him. “I’m sorry, Riley.”
“Everything’s destroyed?” Her voice trembled as she clutched his hand.
“It looks that way. The living room, at least. I didn’t want to go in and mess up any evidence.”
“Why didn’t my alarm go off? I would’ve received an alert, and it goes directly to the police department.”
“You sure you set it last time you were here?”
Her forehead scrunched. “That would’ve been last Saturday, after …
well, after. I picked up some clothes to get me through a few days, toiletries, laptop, work stuff.
” She took a deep breath and let it out.
“Avery and I had gone shopping together in my car—she lives around the corner—but I was still pretty shaken up when we left the restaurant, so she drove us back here, then out to the estate. I guess … maybe I forgot to set it on my way out. Which is really stupid considering what had just happened.”
“You had a lot on your mind that day.”
“I wonder if they found my safe. In my office. Third floor.”
“Built-in or able to be carried?”
“Not built-in, but it has to weigh over two hundred pounds. No one person could carry it out, especially down two flights of stairs.”
“Please tell me you kept all your essential papers in the safe.”
She cleared her throat. “It’s where I kept all my valuables.
Jewelry, some collectible heirlooms. I kept a copy of my will in there, my passport, birth certificate, and some other personal papers.
But papers with my social security number and other pertinent information were in my files.
They were locked, but those filing cabinets aren’t like a safe. There are ways to get in.”
She swallowed hard. He expected her to cry, to see tears. But as usual, she refused to give in to them. How could somebody so tiny have such an iron will?
“Why? Why would somebody do that? Destroy my home? Why?”
The imploring in her eyes tugged at his heart and fueled his ire. Life was too cruel sometimes to the people who least deserved it.
“If it’s the same guy—and that’s my bet—he’s playing with you. I don’t know why he’s picked you. I wish I did, because we’d be that much closer to finding him.” Assured they hadn’t been followed, he pulled into an empty coffee shop drive-through. “But we will. We will find him. I promise you.”
“Before he finds me?”
“I won’t let him hurt you, Riley.” He leaned in, making eye contact. “You have my word.”