“Daddy, come back.”
“Just a minute, Princess.” He put his hand on Kendall’s shoulder. “I’ll pitch a few more balls to her and then we’ll come in. Go make that call.”
“Okay. It’s probably a false alarm.”
He wasn’t so sure about that. She’d sent the email this morning, and now her alarm had been triggered. He didn’t believe in coincidences. He played with Livie for five more minutes, then brought an unhappy girl inside. Kendall was sitting on the sofa, staring at her phone as if she could will it to ring. “Were you able to get a hold of him?”
She set the phone on the coffee table. “Yes. He’s heading over now.”
“Good.” He put his hand on Livie’s head. “Time for the princess to have a bath.”
Kendall stood. “I’ll do it.”
“You need to listen for him to call back. I’ll get her in the tub if that’s okay with you.” He wanted to get Livie bathed and in bed so he could concentrate on Kendall. He didn’t like it when she was upset.
“It’s okay with me. Livie, Daddy’s going to help you take a bath, okay?” She sat back down and picked up her phone.
“I don’t want a bath. I want to play with Ruby.”
“You must not be a princess, then.”
She put her little hands on her hips and scowled at him. “I am a princess, Daddy.”
“I don’t know. Princesses like taking baths because then they smell good. If you want to be stinky, you can’t be a princess.”
She took a moment to think about that before saying, “I want a bath so I smell good.”
“That’s my girl.” Another lesson he learned about kids. They fought you on taking a bath, but once they were in the tub it was fun and games and they didn’t want to get out. He finally got her bathed, in her pajamas and in bed. Of course, she had to have story time. As soon as her eyes closed and he knew she was asleep, he went to Kendall.
“Nothing yet?” he said.
She shook her head. “That’s not a good sign, is it?”
Probably not. “Let’s wait to hear from Rossi before thinking the worst.” He wanted to find the man stalking her and who’d kidnapped Livie, have him arrested, and then she’d be free of the fear hanging over her. After that happened, he only hoped she’d still want him in her life.
“It’s hard not to think the worst when—” Her phone chimed, Rossi’s name coming up on the screen. She picked it up, then put it on speaker before answering. “This is Kendall. Cooper is with me, and you’re on speaker.”
“Detective Rossi here. Where are you?”
“Myrtle Beach. Is everything okay at my house?”
“No, there was a break-in, Kendall. Some things of yours were destroyed. I need you to come here to see if anything was taken.”
“Damn. When is this going to stop?”
Cooper put his hand on her leg reassuring her he was here for her. “How did he get in?” She had a doorbell camera, but he doubted they’d be so lucky to have the person’s face on camera.
“Through a window in her daughter’s bedroom. He probably thought the window wouldn’t be alarmed, but fortunately, it was.”
Kendall gasped. “What if we’d been there?”
“You weren’t,” Cooper said, and squeezed her leg before asking Rossi his next question. “How long did it take the police to get there?”
“Seven minutes.”
“Time to search through her things and do the damage.” She’d never feel safe there again. Maybe that would help convince her to stay in Myrtle Beach with him.
“I really do need you to come back, Kendall,” Rossi said. “When can you be here?”