Chapter 10 #2
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.
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.”
Several of Darby’s neighbors provided video footage from the previous night. He was careful to keep his eye on the house as he moved from door to door. He wasn’t taking his eyes off her, in case the person who’d broken in last night returned.
Clay forwarded several videos to Cooper and spoke with many of her neighbors, who offered their well-wishes.
“She’s such a sweet lady,” one woman said of Darby. “Let her know I’m praying for her and David.”
He assured her he would pass that along.
She’d spoken as if she was alone in the world, but he’d seen differently since this all started. She had people who cared about her.
His cell phone rang. Cooper. “Were you able to identify the guy already?”
“That might not be necessary. I got better footage of the car your suspect got into. I recognized it from other footage I saw yesterday at Foster Auto. The car is a Mercedes-Benz S Class. It was rented three days ago to a man named Grant Rushton.”
Clay recognized the name right away. “That’s Darby’s uncle … the one who’s contesting the will. What was he doing at the car dealership?” There was only one reason he could think of, and it burned him up.
“I’ll turn my focus to digging into his background.” Cooper ended the call and Clay pushed his cell phone back into his pocket.
Made sense Rushton would be searching Darby’s house if he was looking at ways to try to get his hands on her bank account information in order to steal the inheritance he believed he was owed. And, with Brent’s assistance, he knew just where to look.
A Range Rover turned into Darby’s driveway, causing Clay’s pulse to increase.
His hand hovered over his weapon as he hurried back to her house.
Darby appeared from the back and headed for the vehicle.
She smiled as she waved to the driver. Then he spotted Scout on a lead beside her.
A woman got out. Darby hugged her then gave Scout one last rubdown before she handed him over.
He took a breath, realizing it was only Scout’s owner, coming to claim him.
Darby had told him she was coming by, but everyone he saw now was a potential suspect until he knew differently.
He relaxed then greeted her, marking certain to give Scout a pet before his owner loaded him into her vehicle and drove away.
Once they were gone, Clay and Darby returned to salvaging what they could from the house, loading up her car and his pickup.
She’d rented a small storage room at a store-it facility, so they took the few belongings and unloaded them there until she could make other housing arrangements.
They took the clothes and bedding to a laundromat.
The place was empty as they entered, so they had use of all the machines.
This meant they could clean more items in less time.
He stuffed blankets and pillows into the washers while Darby handled the clothes she’d gathered.
Once they were all going, she joined him on the hard, plastic chairs along the wall.
It was as good a time as any to raise the subject of her uncle meeting with her ex-husband.
“Darby, I heard back from Cooper. He recognized the vehicle of the person who broke into your house last night and searched your room. He’d seen the car in previous feeds … from the car dealership.”
Her eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
“The car was a rental. Cooper spotted the same vehicle at the car dealership the previous day.” He didn’t want to see the look of disappointment he knew was coming, but he had to plow through. “The man who rented it was named Grant Rushton.”
She covered her mouth with her hands as she mulled over the news. It wasn’t surprise he saw in her but resignation. “I didn’t even think they knew one another. I met him only once, when I was a teenager.”
The buzzer on one of her machines sounded.
Darby jumped to her feet and ran to it, opening the washer door.
She pitched the clothes into the dryer a little more forceful than necessary, indicating her irritation.
“I didn’t like him then either. He had a constant, ugly sneer on his face.
I should have known he was involved and that he’d pulled Brent into it. ”
“We have to question Brent again.”
Darby stopped and looked at him then turned back to her transferring. After she’d closed both machines and started the dryer, she sat next to Clay again. “This is getting overwhelming. I don’t think I can face Brent again. He’ll insist he’s not involved.”
And do his best to win her over. That cynical thought popped into his head before he had the good sense to bury it. “Will you be tempted to believe him?”
She might. He didn’t like the feeling that knowledge gave him. He did his best to push away his jealousy.
But not quickly enough. Her eyes narrowed as she called him on it. “He was my husband, Clay. I used to love him very much. It’s hard to believe he could do something like this. I know he’s desperate, but killing me? That doesn’t seem like something he could do.”