“If that’s the case, then the government on both sides of the border will really want to know about it,” he said, “because they’re running something pretty heavy that makes them a ton of money in there to handle something like that.”
“Right, so it’s really not all that possible, is it? But how can you be sure?”
“I can’t be,” he said, “but, to the best of my knowledge and my training, nobody has followed us home.”
“Do you think they followed us at all?”
He looked at her and nodded. “They did, indeed, but we lost him in the city.” He pulled into her driveway.
“What about facial recognition and all that good stuff?”
“If they’ve got something as sophisticated as that,” he said, “I would be quite surprised. But again, we can’t assume that they don’t have that kind of backing behind them. It does mean we need to see if they do have something like that and just how serious a business they are trying to hide.”
“Which makes an interesting consideration for the police, doesn’t it?”
“It definitely does,” he murmured. “Still, our problem is all about staying safe.”
“I hear you.” They exited his rental and headed for the front door. As they walked inside, Graynor growled. The two little dogs stayed behind Graynor. She stopped in her tracks, looked at Caleb, and whispered, “Graynor never does this.”
He looked at her, around at the main floor, and murmured, “I suggest you stay here with Graynor, and I’ll take a quick glance around.”
“Sure,” she whispered, “but, if somebody came into the house”—and then she froze—“Fancy isn’t here.”
He nodded, his face grim. “Stay here,” he mouthed.
She reached for his arm and whispered, “Both my rifles are in the master bedroom.”
“Got it,” he whispered back. And he pulled a handgun from under his shirt.
She shook her head. “I didn’t know you had that.”
“I’ve brought it with me, yes with a permit,” he said. “It’s second nature at this point.” And, with that, he disappeared before her.
Chapter 9
Laysha stayed where she was, a hand on Graynor, holding the two smaller dogs, as she watched Caleb disappear into the kitchen area. She was really worried about Fancy. She left the Pomeranian at home because of her sore foot, and she’d be horrified if anything happened to her little one.
“Please, please be okay,” she whispered. She waited, not hearing much noise until she heard Caleb’s footsteps race upstairs. She winced at that because, if she could hear him from the front door, then the intruder could hear him too.
“Be quick,” she whispered. “And find Fancy.”
Just as she was about to give up hope, she heard footsteps coming downstairs. Instinctively she stepped out of the doorway, so she wouldn’t be seen. But, as Caleb came around the corner, she sighed with relief and asked, “Did you see anything?”
“No,” he said. “Nothing.”
She frowned. “No Fancy?”
“No,” he said quietly. “No sign of her.”
She immediately let the dogs in, and, to Graynor, she said, “Go find Fancy.”
Graynor took off like a shot, and she and Caleb followed behind Graynor as he raced toward the guest bathroom.
Instinctively she knew where Fancy was. She crouched down to see behind the toilet. And there Fancy was, quivering in place. As soon as she smelled Graynor’s nose poking at her, she turned and raced from her hiding place, jumping all over Graynor and then Laysha. She picked up Fancy and cuddled her close. “That was scary, wasn’t it?” she whispered. “I’m so sorry, sweetie.” At that, she turned to look up at Caleb. “She’d only have done this if she was terrified,” she said.
“Of course,” he said. “That’s not normal behavior for any dog.”
“Just a scared one,” she whispered. She gently stroked the pup, who even now quivered in her arms. “Wrong decision to leave her home,” she muttered.
“I know,” he said. “It also means that somebody was actually in the house. Do you have any way to tell if anything was taken?”
“I don’t have a security system,” she said. “It’s never been necessary.”
“No, I hear you,” he said. “But I think, at this point in time, we have to consider that that will be a necessity coming up.”
“Not if you solve this,” she said. “I could go back to my much easier way of life.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head, “once innocence is lost, it’s very hard to regain.”
She thought about it and nodded quietly. “I also don’t have the money for that.”
“Well, we have a bunch of things to focus on at the moment,” he said. “We need to get another coat down on the second floor.”
She gasped. “I wonder if he disturbed the fresh coat of stain upstairs,” she wailed.
He looked at her in surprise and said, “Well, the floor was dry when I was up there.”
“And that’s a damn good thing. I’d be pissed if somebody ruined the flooring.”
“But he might have left footprints, which would be a whole different story,” he said. “I’ll take a closer look.”
“You do that. I’m putting on coffee,” she muttered.
“It’s late,” he reminded her.
“Yeah, but we have to put another coat on the floor,” she said. “Otherwise everything is even further behind.”
“I know,” he said. “Do you want to sleep downstairs tonight, and then we’ll do everything right up to your room?”
She winced at that. “I pretty well have to at this point.”
“You do,” he said, “if you want to get this done on your schedule.”
“It’s not even that I have a schedule anymore,” she said, “but I only have so many days off.”
“Right,” he said, “so let’s work on that premise.”
She said, “I’ll make coffee because we’ve got a couple hours to go.”
“Good enough.” And he disappeared upstairs.
She turned around, put on the coffee, and grabbed what she needed to get another coat on. Tomorrow was the wedding, and she hadn’t even given that a thought. The fact that Caleb was still willing to go was huge, although a part of her said she should just forget about
