Chapter 14

Wednesday Noon …

W alking home, Doreen was in a much happier place. She hadn’t realized just how much she felt the need to help somebody else who hadn’t been quite as lucky as Doreen had been. Not everybody had a grandmother like Doreen had, and most certainly not everybody had a houseful of antiques that would bring her a huge payday. Or the fact that Doreen’s marriage and divorce—or what should have been a divorce—had an awful lot of money and property coming her way too. Between Mathew’s and Robin’s estates, Doreen would eventually come close to being filthy rich. She had been blessed in ways she had no idea were even possible.

So, if a few hundred dollars could make a difference to someone else, then Doreen wanted to make that happen. It would take some effort, some time, and some legal woolgathering and research in order to figure out just what Doreen could do. She would probably need to bring Nick on board to sort it out in a legal sense, but there was time for that. It’s not as if Doreen needed to or even could jump on it right now. Not until her other legal affairs were settled, and she fully understood her financial position anyway. But, in Tammy’s case, there wasn’t a whole lot of time to wait.

Doreen also wanted to confirm that Tammy was sincere and ready. People would say one thing and do another, but it didn’t always have anything to do with the real truth of the matter.

Now at home, Doreen stepped inside through the kitchen back door, letting the animals off the leashes. Mugs immediately started tearing around, barking and barking like crazy. She froze and realized she hadn’t armed the security system. She walked gingerly through the main floor of the house, but Mugs didn’t find anybody. He continued to bark though, obviously distressed. That got to her because Mugs acting this crazy had to be bad. Goliath’s fur was fluffed up as he stalked through the house, sniffing the air. She headed back to the kitchen, and, sure enough, the window was open.

She groaned, staring at it. “I didn’t open that. I know I didn’t.”

She took a moment to really consider it, but she never opened that window. It wasn’t that easy to get to, but somebody had obviously opened it and, with her luck, had come inside. Now, she turned and stared around the rest of the house warily. Were they still inside? That was the question, as she knew the house had way-too-many hiding places. The last thing she wanted was to have somebody jump out at her. She quickly pulled out her phone and called Mack.

“I’m really busy, Doreen.”

“Yeah, of course you are, but it seems I had an intruder in the house. Based on the way Mugs is acting, they could still be here.”

“Crap. I’ll be right there.”

She had to smile when he ended the call and dropped everything to come to her rescue. It’s not that she needed the rescue, mind you, but it was sure nice to know that, when she was in trouble, he would be there, no questions asked. She headed outside and stayed in the backyard as she waited. It was a beautiful day, and sitting outside wasn’t exactly a hardship, which brought up the question of how somebody had known she wasn’t home.

Richard popped his head over the fence and frowned at her. “What’s the matter?” he asked suspiciously. “You look like you’ve been through the spin cycle.”

“Did you hear anything going on at my house?”

“Yeah, sure. Heard you were doing some banging around. I was about to ask you what was going on, but my brother phoned, so I talked to him.”

“I wasn’t home,” she stated bluntly.

He stared at her, his eyebrows shooting up to his hairline. “What do you mean, you weren’t home?” He was confused.

“I just now got home,” she stated, “and my kitchen window was open, as if somebody gained entry that way.”

He glared at the house. “Is somebody inside?”

“I don’t know. I called Mack.”

He gave a sage nod. “Nice to know you’ve got a cop on speed dial.”

She snorted. “Not sure he’s all that happy about it.”

“No, I don’t imagine he is,” Richard agreed calmly. “Yet it’s a good deal for you.”

Just the way he said it made it sound as if he wouldn’t get such a good deal. “It is the cops, Richard,” she explained. “They come when anybody calls.”

He snorted at that. “But they come to some places faster than others. That’s all I am saying.”

She glared at him. “I’m not doing anything to get special attention.”

“Don’t think you have to at this point,” Richard stated, with that wiser-than-thou expression of his. “Pretty sure you’re on everybody’s speed dial at this point.”

She snorted. “It would be nice if I weren’t on a criminal’s speed dial list. No matter what, I want some privacy,”

At that, he burst out laughing. “Now that’s a good point. You do seem to get more than your share of intruders, don’t you? I wouldn’t want to be on their list either. What have you gotten yourself into now?”

She shrugged. “Somebody’s in trouble, all right?” she shared. “So naturally I was asking a few questions.”

He gave an eye roll at that. “Just a few?”

“Yes, just a few,” she snapped and glared at him. “I don’t try to cause problems.”

“You don’t have to try. It happens naturally around you.”

He did have a point there, and she seemed to piss off people these days. All without even trying the tiniest bit. “I wasn’t trying to upset anyone,” she muttered.

“Good because I can’t really imagine the havoc you could create if you were actually trying,” he replied, with a gleeful snort at his own joke. “I hear the cops.”

“How can you tell? There’s not exactly a siren.”

“No, but, hey, with all the stuff going on right now, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if they would use one.”

“Sometimes it’s hard on me though. It seems everybody is always coming here.”

“ Ya think ?” he asked, with another snicker.

He was right. She heard a couple doors slam out in front, and she walked to the side yard and called out, “Mack, I’m in the back.”

He came around to the side fence and looked her over and asked, “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “I’m fine. I’ve just been back here, talking to Richard.” She turned to look back, and Richard, of course, had disappeared. He always scrambled away before any authority was near enough to ask him anything. “Well, I was talking to Richard,” she clarified. She pointed to her kitchen window and then noted Chester had come with Mack. She smiled at him. “Hey, you’re probably just here to see if there’s any leftover pizza.”

He grinned at her. “That’s not the primary purpose of the visit, but if you happen to have any—”

“Nope, sorry. I pretty well ate up all the leftovers.”

At that, Mack nodded. “She’s not lying either.”

Chester frowned at her. “You don’t look like you eat very much at all.”

At that, Mack laughed out loud. “This girl can put away the groceries just fine,” he muttered, as he studied her kitchen window. He turned to her and asked, “Did you go upstairs?”

“I didn’t go upstairs or down into the basement. I pretty much stayed outside after calling you.”

He winced at that. “Fine.” He looked at Chester. “You want to check downstairs?”

Chester nodded, then he headed to the side door of the garage. Mack went in through the kitchen door and headed upstairs. She sat down on the deck and waited.

Mack was down and back out first. He took one look at her, and she shook her head. “No Chester yet.” Mack immediately disappeared.

She stood up, holding back Mugs, who definitely wanted to follow Mack. Goliath was nowhere to be seen at the moment. Thaddeus had been really quiet, worrisome even. She looked over at him, seated on her shoulder. “You okay, bud?”

He looked at her. “Thaddeus is fine.”

She stared. “You can’t possibly know what you’re saying,” she muttered.

“Thaddeus is fine,” he repeated, then gave a quick nod, before he turned and looked off defiantly in the other direction.

“Are you upset with me?” she asked. “It’s not as if I’ve done anything to piss you off lately.”

“Thaddeus is fine.”

She wasn’t sure who he was imitating, but she was worried it might be her. She sighed. “Okay, so I’ve upset you somehow, and I’m just not sure how.” Thaddeus didn’t respond this time. She did remember mentioning Big Guy to Thaddeus a few days ago, and she had yet to bring Thaddeus to visit Big Guy. That could very well be why Thaddeus was upset with her. She vowed to do that soon, but she couldn’t do that today.

Before she realized it, Mack was returning, and Chester was with him. She sighed with relief. “Chester, when you didn’t come back, I was afraid somebody was down there, holding you hostage.”

He shook his head. “That’s a heck of a basement you’ve got there. Too bad you don’t have access from inside the house.”

“Yes and no,” she replied. “So far, having access to the basement would not necessarily have been good, considering the number of times I’ve had people here, inside my home, wanting to do me harm.”

“That’s a good point,” Chester agreed. “You do have a tendency to piss off people.”

She raised her hands. “Apparently even Thaddeus seems to think so right now.”

Mack looked at her. “What’s wrong with Thaddeus?”

“I don’t know, but he’s kind of off.”

At that, Thaddeus gave her a look. “Thaddeus is fine.” And, sure enough, he got the emphasis just right.

Mack started to snicker. “I don’t know, buddy. It doesn’t seem as if you are doing very fine at all.”

Thaddeus walked over and hopped from Doreen’s shoulder to his. “Thaddeus loves Mack.”

Mack gently brushed his feathers and said, “That’s all right, buddy. I love you too.” And the two of them just sat here and had a mutual admiration circle going on, while Doreen and Chester watched.

She shook her head. “Even my bird has fallen in love with Mack,” she muttered.

Chester looked at her, then grinned, and said, “It’s a good thing.”

She nodded. “It is a good thing. It would be a little hard if they didn’t like him. Of course, it’s not that easy if they like him too much either.”

“Surely you can’t be jealous.”

Such astonishment filled his tone that she had to laugh. “No, I’m not jealous at all. I know what this crew is like, and, as soon as you think you understand what my animals are up to, they completely surprise you.”

Chester chuckled and turned his attention to Mack, as did Doreen.

“So,” she asked, “the house is safe?”

“It’s safe,” Mack replied. “I don’t know whether we should try fingerprinting this window or not.”

“I doubt it would be worth your time,” she muttered. “Chances are whoever was here used gloves.”

“But we don’t know that,” Chester pointed out. “The minute they start getting cocky, that’s when we have a chance to capture them. I think we would be better off to check for fingerprints.” And, with that, he dashed out front, then came back with a small kit. “I’ve been packing this around all the time, hoping I could use it.” He looked over at Mack for permission.

Mack shrugged and said, “Sure, fly at it.”

Within minutes Chester crowed and cried out, “Look at this.”

They walked over, and, sure enough, with a dusting of the black powder, a fingerprint was found on one of the window edges.

She sighed in joy. “I don’t remember ever touching this window, so it shouldn’t be my fingerprint. Any chance we can figure out who this is?”

“I hope so,” Chester replied, as he carefully set down a piece of plastic and picked up the black-dusted print.

“That’s awesome.” She rubbed her hands together. “It would sure be nice if nobody would get away with this for once.”

“Hey, nobody’s gotten away with anything so far,” Mack reminded her. “You’ve done pretty well at getting everybody caught.”

“Yet here we are, with a sloppy break-in and getting shot at. Did you find any of the people you were trying to pick up? Any sign of Jed, Tammy, or Frankie?”

Mack shook his head. “No. So far, none of them have shown up.”

She frowned at that. “You know what I didn’t get to do yet, don’t you?”

He asked, “What’s that?”

“I didn’t go to the Taser crime scene, and I need to do that.”

“Not right now,” he stated.

“Why not?” she murmured. “Maybe we’ll find something.” Still, with the guys here, even if Mack wasn’t cooperating, the relief washed over her all at once, and she sat down with a hard plunk on the patio chair. “I’m glad you came anyway, even if I can’t go to your crime scenes,” she muttered.

He frowned at her. “Came anyway ? Really? Obviously somebody tried to get into your house and may very well have succeeded,” he pointed out. “The question is, what were they after?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s not as if I have much. Everything that’s important is in a safe deposit box or scanned, if it’s related to the cases I’ve worked on. Some of those files of Solomon’s are probably the most important things I have here.” She watched Mack, as he tried to control a burst of laughter and failed miserably. She stared at him in astonishment. “What’s so funny about that?”

“We’ve been to an awful lot of break-ins over my career, and the women are typically worried about jewelry, clothes, shoes, handbags, money, furniture, and God-only-knows what else,” he explained, still chuckling. “And here you are, worried about somebody stealing your case files.”

She understood his outburst and responded with a sheepish grin, “Those are all scanned in too, so, even if somebody did take them, I have digital copies of it all.”

“Right,” he muttered, with a nod, no longer smiling. “So, the next thing we have to consider is that they were looking for you.”

That statement wiped the smile off her face as well. “They were after me?”