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She could hear his siren over the receiver and just that and the knowledge he was coming calmed
her some. Churning legs ate up the short distance and she arrived on Anita s doorstep less than a
minute later. She knocked frantically, still checking behind her obsessively. It seemed unlikely that a
burglar would run her down, but at that point, nothing seemed impossible.
Hey, neighbor, wha Anita s smiling face crumpled as she took in the sight before her. Brown
gaze locked on to the knife in Courtney s hand and she took a faltering step back. Jesus, what s going
on?
Someone broke into my house, Courtney blurted, handing the knife over, hilt first. The police
are coming and I need somewhere to wait.
Of course, of course, come in. Anita tugged her into the foyer and called up the stairs to her
husband. Drew, come down here.
You re good? Rafe s clipped voice sounded over the line and Courtney nodded inanely.
Yes. They re here. It s the blue house on the corner.
He disconnected without another word and Courtney slipped her phone back into her pocket. Her
concerned neighbors huddled around her, offering tea and kind words, but she couldn t stop shaking.
She wouldn t feel better until Rafe came. Once he got there, everything would be all right.
And that realization? Was scarier than a robber any day.
&
Thank you so much again, Mr. and Mrs. Brenton. You ve been very helpful, Rafe said and then
closed the door behind him. Courtney was tucked under his arm and although he knew she was all
right to walk on her own two feet, he couldn t bring himself to let her go yet.
You okay? he asked for what had to be the tenth time in as many minutes. She was probably sick
of hearing it, but until the icy fear wedged in his chest started to thaw some, he was going to keep
asking.
To her credit, she answered him like it was the first time. Yeah, I m good. Just shook up some. I ll
be fine.
He nodded grimly, looking both ways as he led her across the street back toward her house. She d
be fine all right, but him? That was another story. He d done a sweep of her house and found it empty,
but someone had definitely been there. The jewelry box on her dresser had been cleaned out and her
mattress had been overturned. The burglar had ignored bigger stuff like the flat-screen TV in favor of
trying for easy-to-carry items and cash. Luckily, Courtney wasn t the money-under-the-mattress type,
but she was out a set of diamond earrings her parents had given her, a set of gold bangle bracelets,
and a brand-new laptop.
When he thought of how much worse it could have been, his guts cramped.
I can t breathe, she mumbled, and he realized he was holding her so tight, her face was smashed
against his underarm.
Sorry.
It s okay. Thanks for getting here so fast. I probably should ve called 911 but&
He didn t care about the why, he was glad she hadn t. He d been able to assemble the crew he
wanted to come check for fingerprints and see if they could get anything on the shoe print. The techs
had left once they got what they needed, but it wasn t looking good. He still had to talk to two more of
the neighbors, but so far, no prints other than the shoe and no one had seen or heard anything. There
had been a rash of robberies a few blocks away and he had a bad feeling this was the same guy, but
they had little to go on, and since they were committed when no one was home, these types of cases
often dropped to the bottom of the pile.
That was good and bad. Good, because this burglar didn t want violence he wanted to get in, get
what he needed, and get out. Bad, because it might never get solved and that meant that a man had
broken into Courtney s home, invaded her privacy, scared the shit of out of her, and made her feel
insecure. And that? That made him want to kill the motherfucker.
You re doing it again. Her voice was muffled and he released her, taking her elbow instead.
I m not going to faint or anything, you know. I m sorry I scared you. I know I overreacted but
You reacted exactly the way you should have. He didn t release her arm, using it to lead her up
her front stairs as he fished around for the key she d left him. You called the police, me, and you
vacated the premises. Textbook. I m really proud of you.
She cleared her throat. Um, thanks. You know, the back door s not locked. I left it open when I ran
out.
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