* * * *
Sephanie stepped out of her house with her jacket over her arm. She stopped dead and stared wide-eyed at the sidewalk. Paint splattered the paved path. Across the splashes of color, words jumped off the gray wall. BITCH slashed across her wall in glaring orange. The letters of WHORE seemed to glow a luminous green. Even amid all the other pigment, SLUT blazed off the wall, a sparkling yellow taunt. She didn’t understand it. Who would do this? Why? How?
She turned around to go inside to report it and again stopped when she saw the same words and more scrawled across her home’s walls. The glaring green and orange slurs jarred her. Her house had motion-activated outside lights. Whoever had done this would have been in plain sight for a long time. Someone had spent a huge amount of time doing it.
She took a deep breath and stomped inside. Confusion whirled through her mind, and she felt numb. At the moment, the feeling was a blessing. She could think clearly about what she needed to do. That wouldn’t last long. She had a few calls to make. The first went to the local office of the Planetary Police Force. She reported the vandalism and told them she’d be waiting for the officer. While she waited, she called the store and told them she’d be late. Then she called her brother.
Cooper would nag her for days if she didn’t call him about this. She was all too happy to humor him this time. To be truthful, she wanted someone here with her. The fact that someone had been outside her house long enough to create this amount of mess made her distinctly uncomfortable. She rubbed her palms on her pants as her anxiety built.
She thought for a moment about also giving Kassius, Berenger, and Teague a call. The date had been wonderful. She worried her lower lip. They would be there for her, regardless of the fact that she’d sneaked out on them. Still, it had been their first date. Should she contact them? She decided against it, even though their presence would reassure her.
She didn’t understand this. Why would anyone do this to her house? They’d destroyed the walls of her home! Had she angered someone? She couldn’t think of who or what she’d done to inspire this action.
The officer arrived first in one of the official gray Duce skimmers. It set down on the community landing lot. The logo on the side and front of the skimmer drew her gaze. She waited while he climbed out of the police vehicle. The man had glossy black hair and dark brown skin. His brown eyes swept over the walkway and the house.
The tag on his gray uniform read Officer N. McCord. She stopped on her steps. There wasn’t any paint there, but it covered almost everywhere else. Officer McCord walked on the grass, not on the walkway.
“Ms.…Lindsey.” He hesitated over her name as he looked at the small pad device in his right palm. “Why don’t you step over here, and we can talk?”
He held out his hand, and she took it to step onto the grass. He guided her away from the walkway. She looked back at her house and shook her head. The paint seemed glaringly bright against the gray walls. She balled her fists at her sides. Her house! The thought of the damage to her home enraged her.
The paint wasn’t wet and didn’t appear to come off when stepped on. She’d walked on some of it but hadn’t found a trace on her shoes. She concentrated on her breathing to get her emotions under control.
“You can call me Sephanie, Officer McCord.” She would probably be here all day. That only reignited her anger. Finding someone to clean the walls and then the actual removal of the paint might take a while. Fortunately she had a good manager, but still she didn’t like skipping out on a day she’d scheduled herself to work, even if she did own the business.
He nodded. “Sephanie, this is more than I expected after I was told to go take a vandalism report. I’ll get another officer and one of our investigators here to scrape samples of the paint, at least. The damage and cost to clean and repair this will probably take this crime above simple vandalism.”
She didn’t know what he thought that scene investigator was supposed to find. Her gaze followed him as he went back to his vehicle to call in for that investigator. He seemed to be doing more in the skimmer than talking. As he returned to her, her brother’s black skimmer landed in front of her house.
“Expecting someone?” Officer McCord slanted a look at her before his eyes locked on the vehicle.
His hand hovered at his waist where the disturber hung. The nonlethal weapon was used by most law enforcement, but an arc-burst gun also sat in a holster within reach. Considering the restriction on weapons on Darmain, the disturber usually worked. It caused violent stomach cramps in addition to nausea and allowed the user to get to safety or secure the person causing trouble.
“That’s my brother, Cooper. He’d give me trouble for days, if not weeks, if I didn’t contact him or his marriage partners, Paine and Lawson, about something like this,” Sephanie said and remained still. She didn’t want to distract the officer while he was tense.
“His partners?” Officer McCord seemed to relax.
“Cooper’s in the Planetary Defense.” She watched her brother and Paine get out of the vehicle and stride over to the officer.
Cooper and Paine introduced themselves to Officer McCord. All three men crossed the small distance to her. She still couldn’t think of anyone who would do this or any reason someone would be this mad.
Her brother walked over to her and hugged her. He stood beside her, and Paine stood to his left as they faced Officer McCord.
“Do you have any idea who would do this?” Officer McCord peered at the slurs written on her house.
“No, I don’t know of anyone or any reason someone would do this.” She glanced back at her house. Frustration and anger grew, tightening her muscles and making her restless to look for whoever would do this.
“Anything new in your life? Maybe you fired someone? Did you recently break up with someone?” Officer McCord’s head cocked to the side, and he watched her.
“I haven’t fired anyone. I didn’t recently break up with someone. I haven’t had serious dates in a while. The last serious relationship I had ended the other way around. They broke up with me. The only thing new in my life is that I went on a first date with someone last night.” She shrugged. In spite of the way she’d left Kassius’s house the night before, Kassius, Teague, and Berenger wouldn’t have done this in retaliation. It wasn’t their style.
“Did the date end with a kiss or an ‘I don’t want to see you again’?” Officer McCord raised a brow.
She blushed. There was so much more than a kiss. “It ended with kisses.”
“Would anyone think they had a claim on you or maybe your date?” Officer McCord keyed the information into the pad he held.
“It was actually dates, plural, but no. I haven’t dated anyone seriously in a few months. The men I’ve dated in the past month have known my interest wasn’t serious. And my dates from last night, I don’t think so. I only know they weren’t dating anyone recently. We started dating last night, and there hasn’t been a public buildup to it. I don’t know how anyone would know about it.” She bit her lip.
“You’d be surprised what some people can know about another without their knowledge.” Officer McCord gave a small smile. A big cargo skimmer pulled to a halt in front of her house. “As for the breakup, I’ll want their names. Was it a rough breakup? Do you think they’d do it?”
She gave him the full names of the last ménage group she dated. “They wouldn’t do this. They’re married now and not even in the city, although I don’t know where they are. I do know one of them is in the PD and probably isn’t on the planet. My brother said the request for transfer was rushed, and that usually ends with the guard being put into the first available open slot, which is most often on the space-bound rotation.”
“I’ll check their location.” Officer McCord nodded.
He went over and met the person who climbed out of the skimmer. He talked with the young man while the investigator opened the back hatch. The officer pulled out a big black-handled box. Images were taken of
the words scrawled across her home and walkway. He did a thorough job. He took scrapings of the paint off the walkway and off her house. He removed multiple samples of each pigment decorating the paving and siding. That were a lot of samples, because whoever had done this appeared to have brought every color they could find.
She watched him but had to look away when the damage began to make her so angry she couldn’t stand still. She focused on the trees and bushes that blocked her sight of the neighbor’s yard. The sound of another skimmer descending and landing beyond the officer’s dark gray vehicle drew her attention to the landing lot.
She glanced at the skimmer to see who it was. She’d supposed another officer had arrived to help, but recognized the sleekly built, dark green Duce immediately. Kassius. Was it only him, or were Berenger and Teague with him? She didn’t have to wait long to discover the answer.
The hatch popped up, and Berenger climbed out of the side closest to her. She saw movement on the other side. At least one of the other men had come as well. What she didn’t understand was why they were there.
Yes, she’d expected to see them sometime today, but not there. She grimaced when she noticed they were all three there.
“Who are they?” Officer McCord walked over to her.
“They are my dates from last night.” She glanced over at the three men walking toward them.
“They don’t seem happy.” He raised an expectant brow.
They didn’t look happy, but then again, they didn’t appear angry. She shrugged. “Well, probably not, but they’re not mad to this level. I left early and didn’t tell them. So more irritated than anything else.”
“I’d be irritated about that too.” Officer McCord shook his head. “What are they doing here?”
She explained she had no idea.
“I called them while we were coming over here. They’re serious about her and needed to know. I was fairly sure she wouldn’t do it herself,” Cooper volunteered.
“First date, Cooper. It’s too early to be serious.” She scowled at her brother. While she wanted to be serious about them, she also wanted to take it slow.
“They don’t know about this now but learn about this damage later, especially if something else happens, and you’ll find out how serious they are. And don’t try to play games with me. I know you, and you wouldn’t let them get that close to you unless you were at least a little serious about them.” Cooper folded his arms across his chest.
“Why didn’t you call us?” Kassius walked over the lawn to stop in front of her.
“I called him, which is apparently as good as putting out an ad.” She pointed to her brother and then waved at the mess on her house and walkway. “I don’t know what all this damage is about. Maybe they vandalized the wrong house. I haven’t made any enemies, as far as I know.”
“You should have called us.” Berenger stepped forward. “And don’t think we won’t be talking about you leaving without waking us this morning. I was looking forward to waking up with you.”
“Again, I called my brother, so I wasn’t alone. First, because he’ll go telling my mother crazy stories if I don’t, and second, because he’s a bigger nag than anyone I know.” Sephanie turned a glare on her brother.
“I’m sure calling your brother was a good idea in the sense it saved you some trouble from him, but you should have called us. We can give you a harder time than him if you don’t start sharing with us.” Teague stepped around Kassius and cupped her cheek.
She rolled her eyes. “It was our first date, Teague, in spite of what you’ve said about wanting to court me. That’s barely begun. It takes more than one date to build enough of a relationship for me to feel comfortable calling for help.”
“You’d better get comfortable with it. If anything like this occurs again and you don’t contact us, you’ll have a few parts of you that are uncomfortable and red.” Teague glowered at her.
She stared at him. He’d threatened to spank her, and he’d done it right in front of a Planetary Police officer. On top of that, the officer hadn’t reacted, not so much as a blink. Men! The officer might be part of a ménage—most police were—but he could at least give a token gesture of cautioning the men.
Chapter Seven
The entire incident seemed surreal. Sephanie wished it was over but knew after the police finished, she’d have much to do. She wanted to scream or hit something but had to stand there and wait. If she let the anger out, she wouldn’t be able to control it. The police were still there. She wanted them to see her as a sane woman, not crazy.
How long will this investigation take? The stress built slowly. A headache began to pound at her temples. Aside from the wait, she had to find someone to clean up this mess. Once the paint was off the walls, she'd have more trouble to handle before she went to work. She’d still have to deal with Kassius, Berenger, and Teague and kill her brother, or at least yell at him for interfering.
“Know any good cleaning services?” She looked at the group gathered around her. She tried to keep her tone light, even though her throat felt tight.
“Actually, yes,” Berenger said. “There were two incidents at my shop where I needed a cleanup company. We’ll call them when the officer tells us he’s releasing the scene.”
She waited with them until the officers and techs were finished. Officer McCord once again walked over to them. She hoped they could start cleaning this today. She didn’t want to leave that mess on her home any longer than necessary.
“We’ve documented the scene and gathered samples. They’ll be analyzed. We’ll be doing a few more interviews of your neighbors to see if anyone saw anything. Unless we find a witness, it will be difficult to track down who did this.” Officer McCord gave them a nod. “You can start cleaning this up. I know of several services that would do it, if you need recommendations.”
“I know of a cleaning service.” Berenger stepped forward, blocking her view of the officer.
“We’ll contact you if we learn anything,” Officer McCord stated before he walked out of the yard. He and another officer stayed. They began walking over to her neighbors.
She’d seen his expression and had been around her brother enough to know this case would probably languish unsolved because of lack of witnesses and evidence. It wasn’t exactly a high-priority situation. Yes, the amount of damage done was significant, but with no bodily injury or obvious threat of future injury, other cases took precedence.
“I’ll call the company to come start cleaning this mess.” Berenger walked over to the skimmer, where she assumed he would use the holo-comm unit there.
If he’d given her a moment, she’d have let him in the house to use her holo-comm. Her gaze followed him until he slid into the skimmer. She continued to stare after him, but her attention turned when her brother stepped up to give her a hug.
“Paine and I are leaving now, but if you need anything or there’s more trouble, call me. I know Teague, Kassius, and Berenger will take care of you.” Cooper stepped back and smiled.
“You know I could handle this myself. I’m not in any danger here. I’m not convinced this paint is intended for me, but even if it is, this prank is juvenile and harmless.” She frowned at her brother. There was no reason for anyone to guard her.
Paine gave her a hug. “Cut your brother some slack. We can’t be sure if it is a mistake, and regardless of that, he’ll be extra vigilant because of the recent threats against him. The man behind them is in a cell, but the memories are still fresh.”
Paine had a point, and she hadn’t thought of it that way. She gave a small nod. She could be patient with Cooper, but six months from today, she wouldn’t be so tolerant. Her brother and his partner walked to their skimmer and were gone a short while later.
“Since Officer McCord is done and your brother is gone, we can talk.” Kassius clasped her arm and turned her to face him.
“Seriously, there’s all of this to take care of, and I don’t know if the cleaner Berenger
knows is available to help.” She flung her arm out to indicate the walkway and her house. “And how do you know Officer McCord?”
It was possible the cleaners wouldn’t be able to clean the paint today. If they couldn’t find someone to do it, she’d have to try to get it off herself.
“If they don’t, we’ll find another service to do it,” Kassius said, as if it would be easy to find someone available on short notice. “As for Nate, I’ve met him before. Once at a club, and the other time he was looking for someone and came to the orchard.”
Berenger walked back to them from their skimmer. “The cleaners will be here shortly. They’ll look at the damage, test it to see what they need to do, and give an estimate of price and how long it will take to clean the damaged area.”
Hearing that, she heaved a sigh of relief. She’d find the money to cover it.
“Will they be able to do the job today? It makes me furious to see it there. I’d rather they attacked me instead. At least then I’d be sure it wasn’t some mistake.” She ran a hand through her hair.
“We’ll ask the cleaners about that, but they seemed to understand you would like this off your home and walk.” Berenger strolled over and stood beside Kassius.
When Teague stopped on the other side of Kassius, she knew they wouldn’t delay the discussion of her leaving their house this morning any longer. She sighed.
She planned to call them from the bakery this morning. After she’d slipped out of their home, she’d thought she would be at the bakery by the time they located her. They wouldn’t have been able to argue there. She expected them to have time to cool down before they were able to talk.
“Before they get here, we will talk.” Teague’s hazel eyes glittered, appearing harder than she’d seen them before. “Who was the man who picked you up this morning?”
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