Chapter 11
Chapter
Eleven
Nell opened the apartment door before Ryder finished lowering his hand from the second knock. He had watched the light disappear behind the peephole, then heard the deadbolt turn. She stepped aside just long enough to let him through before she locked the door again.
Nell wrapped both arms around him and he held her close. Her hair brushed his jaw, but her body was trembling. Relief hit Ryder hard, but his wolf stayed tense, alert to the fear still running through her. He kept his arms around Nell until she loosened hers.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she said. “I just hate that you drove all this way because I scared myself.”
“It was my choice.” Ryder touched her cheek, then let his hand fall. “Show me what you found.”
Nell led him into the living room and pointed to the dining table.
“The laptop was turned toward the window when I came home,” she said. “I know it sounds totally obsessive, but I usually leave it square to the table.”
He knew Nell had that habit.
“Was it open?”
“No. And I couldn’t find any sign that someone had used it.” She looked at the laptop. “I might have left it askew. I just don’t remember.”
Ryder could hear how badly she wanted that to be the explanation. “Was there anything else?” he asked.
“My sock drawer was open.”
Ryder walked into the bedroom and opened the drawer.
“I save cash in there and it was all there.”
He looked at her and then checked the bedroom window locks.
“The account I got kicked off just got into my head,” Nell said. “Then a van stayed behind me for a few turns, and I came home ready to see a threat.”
Ryder wanted her to have scared herself. He wanted the laptop and drawer to be ordinary lapses in memory. But he wasn’t the kind of man who didn’t take threats to his mate’s safety seriously. “I’m not finished checking.”
She studied him for a moment, then nodded. “Okay.”
Ryder went to the front door and crouched by the lock. He found fine, nearly parallel scratches crossing the metal beside and beneath the lock.
“Nell.”
She joined him in the door. “What?”
Ryder pointed. “See those lines beside the lock?”
She leaned closer. “I guess.”
“Someone could have opened it with lock-picking tools.”
Nell folded her arms across her middle, and her face went pale.
“I’m staying with you tonight,” Ryder said.