Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

B y the time Nate arrived at Thompson Family Farm, Destiny PD had cleared the store, and Bailey had started to walk through the building to see if anything had been stolen. From what little he'd seen of the interior, it might be difficult to determine if anything had been taken. Displays had been knocked over, drawers dumped onto the floor, and even the pictures on the wall had been ripped off and smashed. Combine that with the FOR SALE sign on the front gate, and it was clear someone was getting bolder. Not a good thing.

He was grateful he had Seth and Jordan and their game of cornhole to keep him distracted because he was angry . Mostly, he was upset that someone had once again targeted Bailey and her family, but he was also frustrated with her. He had to find out about the vandalism from a friend of a friend. After yesterday, he couldn't understand why she hadn't called him.

When he arrived, two police cars were already at the store. Bailey spotted him and gave him a look that ping-ponged between relief and guilt. He'd volunteered to keep the boys occupied and hadn't had the chance to talk to her yet.

Seth retrieved the bean bags and handed the blue ones to Jordan. "Let's play again." He motioned toward the cornhole board. "You go first, Jordan. You can stand closer if you want to."

Jordan dropped the four blue bean bags on the ground at his feet, then reached down to grasp one with his chubby little hand. With his tongue peeking out in concentration, the first one he threw didn't come near the hole. The brothers took turns tossing their bean bags until they were out.

"You two are getting good at this." Nate walked over and counted the bags that had gone in the hole as well as those that had landed on the board. "Seth won by two, but you're getting better every time, Jordan. Do you guys want to play again?"

"Nah." Seth wrinkled his nose and flopped onto a wooden picnic table bench. Several of them were arranged in the area outside the store. He looked at the door and frowned. "How much longer do you think it'll be?"

"I wish I knew, buddy. They're going as fast as they can in there."

Another car pulled into the parking lot. Nate waved as Jenny got out and walked over. She put a hand on Jordan's head. "Hey, guys. You staying busy?"

"We're trying." Nate raised an eyebrow.

Jordan set his bean bags on the picnic table. "I wanna go home."

"I bet you do." She nodded toward the store. "I've got these guys. Why don't you go see how it's going?"

"You sure?" Nate really didn't mind sitting with the boys, but he would like to find out where they were in the investigation and make sure Bailey was okay.

"Absolutely. We're good."

"Thanks, Jenny." He slapped the top of the picnic table with one hand and turned to go inside. There were two different officers taking photographs of the damage.

Detective John Paris was talking to Bailey in the back of the store. Nate picked his way through the mess on the floor until he reached them.

"Walker." Detective Paris gave Nate a nod. "Good to see you."

"You, too." Nate looked from him to Bailey. "I'm so sorry this happened to you. Have you guys made any headway on finding out who's responsible?"

"Not yet, unfortunately." Paris frowned. "It looks like they came in through the front door. Most likely using a crowbar. Officers have dusted for prints, but given the number of people who come in and out, it's going to be hard to know which prints to focus on."

"I knew I should've installed cameras. They just seemed so unnecessary at the time." Regret tinged Bailey's voice as she crossed her arms in front of her. "It's going to take forever to get this cleaned up. I'll be lucky if I'm able to re-open the store before the end of the season." She leaned against a nearby display and picked at her bottom lip.

Nate wanted to encourage her, but there was no denying how much of a mess the place was. "Can you tell if anything is missing?"

"If they took something, it's not obvious. I don't leave money here overnight, and I make sure to take home anything personal. This feels…vindictive." Her chin rose. "Did you see the for sale sign that someone put out front?"

"Yep. I have a hard time believing that two separate individuals decided to mess with your place on the same day. They must be connected."

Paris nodded. "I agree." He motioned to the chaos around them. "Between the damage to your goat pen and now this… They're clearly trying to send you a message."

"I don't like being pushed around. This is extreme and a big jump from destroying a fence." The muscles in Bailey's jaw flexed.

Nate wondered the same thing. This was escalating fast, and he worried about Bailey and the boys.

Paris looked over his notes. "They might have trashed the place so that it's harder to see what was stolen. Or maybe it's a disgruntled customer? Even if it's directly related to someone wanting to buy your place, this kind of damage would suggest it's not to purchase the business itself."

That made sense. Most people wouldn't damage what they were trying to obtain. If Bailey wasn't able to get all of this cleaned up in time to open on Friday, then she'd have to let customers know. It could potentially harm the business longterm, which would be counterproductive if that's why someone wanted the place.

Man, he wished she didn't live out here alone like this.

The detective must have been thinking along the same lines as he spoke to Bailey. "I'll have patrols drive by regularly for the next few days. That said, your property is large. It would be a good idea to install cameras around your home and the store if you can. Anything to deter someone from coming on your land. Sometimes even putting up warning signs about home security will help because it's just enough to make a would-be thief second guess breaking into your home. "

Nate noticed the way Bailey shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.

She gave a barely perceptible nod. "Thanks. I'm going to check on the boys. Then I guess I'd better start going through everything so I have some numbers for the insurance company tomorrow." With that, she moved toward the door.

Nate waited until she was outside before speaking with Paris again. "I'm worried about them. Whoever's behind this is getting bold. Dangerous."

"I tend to agree with you. This is officially my case now, and I intend to do everything I can to figure out who's behind this. In the meantime, you might encourage Bailey to take the boys and stay with family or friends. Just until things quiet down a little."

"I'll do what I can, but she's not the type to back down." It was a personality trait of hers that he normally admired greatly.

"I get it. Trust me. Eve's like that. Won't back down until she's solved the problem. Then again, she says the same about me." He chuckled. "At least we can't hold it against each other."

"Very true." Nate laughed.

Detective Paris and the county's medical examiner, Eve Marks, started dating back in April, though they'd been friends for some time before that. It wasn't until they worked on a case that involved a serial killer who'd set his sights on Eve that they realized how they felt about each other. If Nate were a betting man, he'd wager that Paris would pop the question by the end of the year.

"We'll have officers finish cataloging photos of any evidence they find. Then I'll have a couple of them go around the perimeter of the farm. See if there's any obvious point where the trespasser is gaining access to the property. We'll check the for sale sign for fingerprints, too." He pocketed his notebook. "If Bailey isn't willing to leave her home, maybe a relative can come stay with her. I really don't like the idea of her being out here with the boys alone."

"Neither do I."

The problem was that she had no family in the area, and she wasn't overly close to the family she did have. There was no way Bailey would call them up and ask them to travel to Destiny.

He had an idea, but he wanted to talk to Jenny in case his first choice of options fell through. One way or another, he had to figure out a way to convince Bailey to let someone stay with her for a few days.