Chapter Ten
Brenda had called Janey. It had taken every ounce of strength she possessed not to collapse into tears just listening to her daughter’s sweet voice.
She hadn’t been able to tell her anything about what happened, but she had spoken to Mallory afterward and explained the horrifying events to her.
Brenda was so very grateful that Janey was away from this nightmare.
She wasn’t sure her heart could take having her daughter caught in the middle of this.
The idea that Scott didn’t seem to care infuriated her. If he cared, he would be here helping to set this business to rights.
Focus on the task at hand.
She had gone through her bathroom already. Now she considered her bedroom—the one she had once shared with Scott. If he were going to hide something in her home, the home they had once shared, where would he put it?
She gazed up at the ceiling. The light fixture was the fan type with blades and lights surrounding the decorative metal housing that held the motor.
Ben had checked the blades, top and bottom, as well as the exterior of the body, just as the police had.
Taking the metal base apart might be necessary if they found nothing anywhere else in the house.
Then again, the idea probably wasn’t even reasonable since Scott hadn’t been particularly handy with repairing or installing items around the house.
He always called someone. She couldn’t see him disassembling a ceiling fan and reinstalling it just to hide something.
She doubted he would have a clue where or how to begin.
Moving on, she once again checked behind every piece of furniture.
Inside drawers as well as beneath the bottoms. She picked through socks and underthings and the array of items in each drawer.
In the pockets of jackets and slacks that hung in her closet.
Underneath the mattress and the bed linens.
Inside the pillow covers. She checked behind hanging photos.
Inside the framed ones lining the top of her dresser.
There just was nothing to find.
Frustration twisted through her. What the hell had Scott been thinking to take something from the cartel and believe he could get away with it?
Had he taken whatever they wanted back for the FBI?
She found it strange that Agent Cummings hadn’t shown up after the door was blown off her car—the driver’s-side door.
She could have been killed.
Before she could stop the memories, she had flashes of Ben wrapping his arms around her and protecting her from the fall to the unforgiving concrete floor.
She shivered as much from the remembered feel of his arms around her as from the shock of the explosion.
He had protected her…putting himself in the path of any potential flying debris.
He had helped her through the moments that followed while she struggled to come to terms with the new level of her nightmare.
“Any luck in here?”
She jumped. Whipped around to face the door, hand on her chest.
“Sorry.” Ben held up his hands. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I’ve finished up in the living room and kitchen area.”
Brenda steadied herself. Wow, he worked fast. But then, this house wasn’t filled with memories for him. Those memories distracted her, filled her with emotions she couldn’t quite sort just now.
Okay, she shook off the thought. He’d been through the main areas already. That left only the hall bath, the guest room and Janey’s. “Nothing here.” She drew in a deep steadying breath. “I was about to start in Janey’s room.”
He gave a nod. “I’ll take the bathroom and your office if you have no objections.”
“Sounds good.”
He disappeared from the door while she lingered in the middle of her room. How many times had she said the words sounds good the past couple of days? When the truth was, none of this sounded good. Nothing that had happened in the past forty-eight hours was good.
Move on, Brenda. Steeling herself, she walked out of her room.
In the hall, Ben was busy checking behind the framed photographs she had hung so liberally along the walls.
She liked passing the images of Janey from birth until now.
Each morning as she walked from her bedroom to the kitchen she smiled at all those captured moments.
She didn’t mind the extra dusting. She was glad he’d thought to look there as well.
She made her way to Janey’s room, and for a long moment she just stood there taking in the sight of her little girl’s space.
Her dolls and toys were scattered after the search by the police, but seeing the disorder reminded her of a long afternoon with Janey enjoying her toys.
Why give a child dolls and other things if you weren’t going to allow them to play with them?
It was often messy, but it was the best kind of messiness.
Scott never approved, but he didn’t have the final say.
Brenda got to work. The dolls were first. She checked each one, though there were not many good places to hide anything on or in a Barbie.
Once all the dolls were put away, she fixed her attention on the little wood kitchen set and all the goodies that went with it.
Nothing unexpected. Then she checked the slew of stuffed animals.
No holes or tears or repaired places where something may have been inserted.
Nothing on, inside or behind any of her daughter’s furniture.
A last look through the closet and she turned to leave the room, her heart aching at the idea that it could be days yet before she held her daughter in her arms again. She missed her so.
Her gaze snagged on the Barbie Dreamhouse. Had she checked it well enough? She had moved all the furniture, looked it over carefully before putting it back. The police had turned it over and looked beneath it.
Before her mind was even made up, she was already moving toward the big pink plastic house.
She started with the slide, removing it from the house first. Piece by piece she removed each part behind or under which there could potentially be something hidden.
The elevator on the opposite side from the slide was last.
Brenda eased from her knees to her bottom to sit on the hardwood.
The elevator was partially loose, tilted just a bit.
Came off easier than she’d expected. When she turned it over her breath caught.
An address had been written on the back side where it connected to the house, rendering the words and numbers completely hidden before she pulled it free.
Bradley Street. She wasn’t familiar with the location, but she thought it might be in the Merrimack Mill Village. A quick check of the map on her cell phone gave her the exact locale. She had been right. The old Merrimack Mill Village was a local historic district. She had been to the area.
Moving with new purpose, Brenda snapped a pic and then quickly put the pieces of the house back together.
Janey would be horrified if she came home and found it partially disassembled.
Once all was as it should be, Brenda got to her feet.
Ben was no longer in the hall, her office or bathroom.
She found him in the kitchen speaking quietly to someone on his phone.
She could barely restrain herself. They needed to go to this address.
Maybe someone there could provide an answer or at least point them in the right direction.
Telling the police was likely the right thing to do, but she absolutely refused to do so until she’d checked it out herself.
Maybe it was wrong, but she wasn’t entirely satisfied with the way the authorities, local and federal, were handling things so far.
No one except the Colby Agency had told her that Scott really had been at the Los Angeles airport.
Why was that? Surely the FBI had found the same information.
The only possible answer was that they were keeping information from her.
As much as she disliked the idea of sounding paranoid, she was certain of it.
The reason was fairly clear. To Shelton and Cummings, she was a suspect rather than a victim.
Whatever they were thinking, she couldn’t dwell on the uncertainty of it. She had to do something. Brenda gathered her handbag and tucked her phone inside. By the time Ben’s call ended she was ready to go. They would need to use his car since hers had been towed to the lab.
Hers had been damaged by a bomb…meant to cause her harm.
She shuddered and suddenly wondered what her neighbors were thinking.
The police had been to her home repeatedly.
Anyone who lived nearby had no doubt heard all manner of rumors about the explosion even if they hadn’t heard the actual explosion.
Thankfully there had been no school today so only the teachers and staff had been on hand and suffered through the necessary evacuation.
Numerous houses on either side of hers had been temporarily evacuated as well.
All those people had waited at the end of the block until her entire property was searched for additional threats.
So horrifying and humiliating. Everyone around her now knew there was something strange and nefarious going on at the Devers home.
After Scott’s supposed death, so many had come by offering condolences and providing casseroles and soups. She cringed at the idea of what they would think when they learned the truth.
Hopefully she wouldn’t run into anyone who had questions.
The reporters had been bad enough those first two weeks after the explosion at the firm.
If they got a whiff of the change to Scott’s status and the escalating events at her home, they would be back.
She desperately hoped that didn’t happen anytime soon.
“Did you find anything?”
His question startled her. Jeez. She had to stop getting lost in thought.
“Sorry again,” he said with an apologetic expression.