“Whoever it was is gone.” He shoved the pistol back into its hidden holster at the small of his back. “I’ll call the cops while you look around and see if there’s anything missing.”
A humorless laugh shook her to her core. “How can I even tell?”
Her home wasn’t much, but it was hers. And now…
“Hey.” A warm palm was suddenly there, guiding her eyes back to his. “It’s going to be okay.” His intense stare searched hers. “I’ve got you.”
Natalie’s pulse spiked, realizing this was nearly the same position they’d been in when they’d sort-of kissed. But now…
Now all she wanted to do was fall into his arms and cry.
“I’m going to call it in, sweetheart.” Logan made sure she was listening. “Now you can’t touch anything, but the police and your insurance company are both going to need a list of anything missing. So while we wait, if you can start looking around and making a list of anything that jumps out at you, it’ll save time down the road.”
“And then?”
With his hand still cupping her cheek, the man who’d become her rock said, “And then you’re coming home with me.”
6
“Thanks for the call, Detective.”Logan held the phone to his ear. “I appreciate the update.”
Seattle Detective Travis Knox had called to say the techs working the scene at Natalie’s house had offered sincere, “Wish I had better news. That’s not to say we’re blowing off the break-in. But you have to understand, without prints or some other type of evidence leading us to a specific individual, the chances of finding the individual or individuals responsible aren’t great.”
Unfortunately he understood all too well.
“What about the other?” Logan went to the fridge and looked inside.
“All evidence points to those two crimes being unrelated.”
“You really believe that?”
There was a slight pause before Knox answered with the standard, “What I believe is irrelevant. I have to go where the evidence takes me, and right now it’s telling me one has nothing to do with the other.”
Logan wasn’t convinced.
“You said the neighbors reported not seeing or hearing anything. What about security cameras?”
“The house across the street has a doorbell camera that faces Mrs. Garrison’s house, but it came up empty.”
Of course it did.
“So whoever it was came in through the back.”
“That, or maybe a window that had been left unlocked,” Knox concurred.
Only one problem with that last theory…
“Natalie doesn’t leave her windows unlocked,” Logan informed the other man. “Windows or doors.”
A brief pause fell over the conversation before the law enforcement official. “At the scene, you said you and Mrs. Garrison—”
“Natalie.”
The man had been calling her by her married title all fucking night, and every time Logan heard it, he found himself wanting to punch the respectful detecting square in the throat.
“At the scene, you told me you andNataliewere just friends.”
“We are.”For now.