At the end of the hall, his gaze caught on a scattering of papers in the doorway of the music room. Ryan turned from the bloody mess and walked toward the room. His eyes jumped from the floor to the light switch. After hitting the switch, his heart nearly jumped out of his chest. Everything in the room had been tossed. Sheet music was scattered all over the floor. The books had all been knocked off the shelves. The drawers all sat open. Even the window seat lid was open. One of his acoustic guitars had a large shoeprint through it. Strings of wire littered the floor, and Ryan’s heart stopped. He turned, and, to his horror, the front panel on the piano was propped open. Ryan grimaced. “Shit!” Half of the center piano strings had been cut. “Mother fucker!” Not only cut, but cut out.
“Holy shit.” Ryan left the room and stood outside the bathroom for a moment, not sure what to do. “Bailey?”
“Yeah,” she murmured from the other side of the door.
“When you were here earlier, did you go into the music room at all?”
“No. Why?”
“Um…well…” Ryan scrubbed his face with his hands. He didn’t want to give her another thing to worry about, but he had to tell her. “Uh, no reason. Don’t worry about it.”
He walked away quickly, hoping that would pacify her for a while. After a quick pace up and down the hall, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and called his dad. Since they’d been on the boat the night before, Ryan couldn’t even be sure when it had happened.
“Dad?”
“Yeah? Do you guys need me over there? Is Bailey okay?”
“Oh, uh, yeah. She’s fine. Taking a bath.” He stood in the doorway to the music room, his gaze darting around, looking at the mess. His eyes then went from window to window. The side window was closed, but he was pretty sure he’d left it cracked. He stepped over some debris and looked out. “You didn’t happen to notice anything happening over here last night, did you?”
“Anything like what? With all the fireworks and the neighboring parties, it was hard to hear anything. Why?”
“It looks like we’ve had another break-in.”
“How do you know?”
“The music room has been trashed, but it’s the only room I’ve been able to look at.”
“I’ll be right over.”
Ryan hit the disconnect button on his phone then stepped across the hall and into Bailey’s old room. There wasn’t a bed in this room since Bailey had taken it with her when she’d moved out a few years ago. The dresser drawers sat open, and some things had been tossed around, but nothing too serious. He then walked down the hall and into his room. Having just moved in, most of Ryan’s stuff was still in boxes. The boxes had been moved and opened, but not emptied. So they obviously had a while to look through shit.
Ryan heard the front door open and close, then his dad’s footsteps on the stairs. Ryan nodded at him when he stepped onto the landing.
“Did you call the police yet?” Vince asked.
“No. Not sure there’s much point. It’s not like they’re going to do anything but take a report.”
“Filing a report is important, Ryan.”
He exhaled heavily. “I know. I just don’t think this is something Bailey’s going to handle well.”
“She’s a big girl. You can’t protect her from everything.”
Ryan shook his head in irritation. “Right…” He pulled his phone back out and called the police to report the break-in.
* * *
Bailey lay there until the water grew cold. Then she stood, shivering as she stepped out of the tub. She wrapped a towel around herself and opened the door. The rush of cold air forced her entire body into a shivering fit. She went straight to her mother’s bed and crawled in, still wrapped in a towel. The cool sheets didn’t help at all. She took a deep breath and tried to relax until she heard several pairs of footsteps outside the bedroom door. She held her breath and listened.
Who the hell is out there with Ryan?
She reluctantly lifted the blankets and slid out of bed before limping over to lean her ear on the bedroom door. Several voices and then something that sounded like a police radio. Bailey jerked the door open and faced Ryan, standing there with his hands on his hips, staring down the hall. Bailey poked her head out and looked in the same direction. One police officer was staring into her old bedroom, and a second was staring into the music room.
Ryan looked over and met her eyes. His expression was apologetic.
“What the hell is going on?”
His eyes traveled down her body, and she realized she was still only draped in a bath towel. “Someone’s been in the house.” He turned into the room and guided her back to the bed. “Stay here, and I’ll get you some clothes.”
“Ryan.”
“Give me a sec. I’ll be right back.”
A few minutes later, Ryan came back with a bundle of clothes in his arms. “Here, boxer shorts, sweatpants, and a sweatshirt. They’re probably way too big, but they’ll keep you warm. I’ll go fire up the heater if you need it.”
She shook her head. “No, no heater. This is fine.” She pulled the boxers on, wiggling under the towel to get them over her hips, hoping she didn’t flash him in the process. “What happened?”
“It appears we’ve had another break-in.”
When Ryan averted his eyes, she dropped the towel, praying he didn’t turn around until she had the t-shirt on.
“All the bedrooms have been tossed except for this one.” Ryan glanced back at her. “At least that I can tell.”
“Shit. Shit. Shit.” Bailey nearly fell over trying to force her injured foot into the sweatpants. Ryan reached out and grabbed her. He snatched the pants out of her hands and led her to the edge of the
