by T. L. Haddix
He slipped the notebook back into his pocket. “We’ll figure it out. I’ll follow you out to the farm.” He turned away, then stopped to look back at her. “I’m glad you’re okay, blondie.”
Beth smiled tiredly. “Thanks.”
Once he was in his truck, he flashed his lights at her. Following as she pulled out of the parking lot, he had to make a concerted effort to relax his jaw. When she’d made the joke about
him offering his couch, he’d almost offered his bed, instead. Just for a few minutes, as he drove behind her, he let himself wonder how it would have turned out if he’d made the offer, and she’d accepted.
Chapter Six
Sunday morning, Beth drove into town with her parents to survey the damage on the apartment. As she unlocked the door and led them inside, she saw that someone, probably Jason, had swept up all the broken glass from the hall. In the stark morning light, the rest of the destruction looked even worse.
“I guess I was hoping some magic restoration fairy would come along last night and fix everything.”
Her father walked over and gave her a quick hug. “We’ll get it straightened up, honey,” Richard told her.
Her mother had made her way through the mess and was now heading back into the living room. Jackie had a determined look on her face, and seeing it, Beth started to feel a little better. She felt a rush of gladness that her parents were the people they were.
“Garbage bags in the kitchen?” Jackie asked. Beth told her yes and went to the cabinet to pull them out, careful to avoid stepping in the mess from the countertops. She handed several bags to her mother.
“What’s the plan?”
“Your father and I will start in here and in the bathroom and gather up all this broken stuff. You head into one of the other rooms and go through your paperwork, clothing, whatever needs sorting, and we’ll have this cleaned up before you know it,” Jackie said as she passed some bags to Richard.
Beth grabbed her in a hug, tight and quick, and then headed toward the office without a word. By the time Jason and Chase showed up, she’d made significant progress in getting the office set to rights, and her parents almost had the bathroom livable again. Richard answered the door and let her brothers in, and Beth poked her head around the office door to greet them.
“Hudson Cleaning Service,” Jason said in a sing-song voice. When he saw the pile of garbage bags stacked in the hall, he whistled low. “Dang, you guys are smoking. Don’t even need us.”
Chase walked over to where she stood. He looked at the room behind her, his face tight with anger. Not speaking, he ruffled her hair gently before going into the living room.
She turned and laid the stack of papers she had been sorting down on her desk, then followed him. “Were you guys able to pull anything useful last night?” she asked Jason.
“The lock didn’t show signs of being forced, so whoever came in used a key or picked the lock. You’re probably going to want to replace it, just in case. As to the fingerprints? There were lots of prints, but they were mainly just ours, Lauren’s, and Annie’s. I’m sorry, sis.”
Beth sat down on one of the undamaged bar stools, quietly absorbing the implications. “I was hoping for something, but I’m not surprised.”
Jackie came into the room in time to hear Jason’s words and, with her hands on her hips, frowned. “Well, we know that none of us is responsible for this. What does that mean? That you didn’t find any fingerprints? What do you do now?”
Jason’s frustration was evident. “There isn’t a whole lot we can do, Mom. This building doesn’t have security cameras, does it, Beth?”
“No.”
“We can’t pull the security tape, since it doesn’t exist. With no prints and no solid evidence, the investigation stops here. None of her stuff was taken, so we can’t expect any help from the pawnshops. The only thing we can do is just keep our eyes and ears open and hope that this was just a random break-in.”
“There has to be something more you can do,” Jackie said, incredulous. “Couldn’t it have been kids?”
Jason hesitated, and Beth stepped in to explain.
“Mom, the fact that they didn’t leave fingerprints means they probably wore gloves, and kids wouldn’t do that. Since they didn’t take anything that I’m aware of, this was probably a personal hit at me more than anything else. Whoever did this – they didn’t want to be caught. We won’t know who it was unless they want us to know. There’s nothing Jason or the sheriff’s department can do.”
Jackie walked over and pulled out the other bar stool, sitting down beside Beth. “I guess I knew that, honey. I just don’t like it. Why don’t you guys take all these bags out to the dumpster? Those perfumes are getting to me.”
They nodded and did as she asked, and once they were alone, Jackie turned to her daughter.
“You’re staying awfully calm about all these shenanigans. I know it has to be bothering you, seeing your belongings thrown around like this.”
Beth moved her shoulders and leaned back against the counter as she looked around. “I’m trying to focus on the smaller picture and getting it cleaned up. Not on what was destroyed. I’ll have plenty time to panic about that later, I suppose. Wish they hadn’t broken my bowl, though. That really burns me, Mom. I looked for that stupid thing for so long.”
Jackie tucked her arm around Beth’s shoulders and squeezed. “I know, honey, but that bowl can be replaced. It might take a little time, but you’ll find another one. At least they left the bookshelf with your grandmother’s pitcher intact.”
“That shelf is attached to the wall. Guess pulling it down was more trouble than they thought it was worth.”
As they heard the men coming back Beth stood and stretched. She went to the refrigerator, getting out soft drinks and several bottles of water. “I think I’m ready for a break from the papers. I’m going to start getting clothes sorted.” She headed to the bedroom. “I’m just going to wash everything. Even if they’re not damaged or dirty, I don’t think I could wear them without washing them. They wouldn’t feel clean.”
Jackie followed to help as the men loaded up again with bags and went back out, closing the door behind them. She stopped in the doorway when she saw the perplexed look on her daughter’s face.
“What’s wrong?”
Beth shook her head and looked around at the piles of clothing. “I can’t find my underwear.” She held up a couple of the sleep shirts that had been near the top. “They were in the same drawer as my sleepwear, at least the camisoles were. Panties and bras were in the next drawer down, but none of them are here.” She met Jackie’s gaze and saw that her mother understood the implications of the missing clothing.
“Have you looked through all of this?” Jackie asked as she moved across to one of the piles and sorted through it quickly. After not finding any underwear, she moved to the next. Beth did the same, and they soon had all the piles turned over. The lingerie was nowhere to be found.
“I don’t like this, Mom.” She pulled out the drawers that were still in the dresser. They were empty, their contents on floor as well. “Let me check the dryer.”
She walked into the hall to the small closet where the washer and dryer were located. The clothes she had left in the dryer were undisturbed, mainly t-shirts and casual clothes, with just a few pieces of underwear thrown in. Slamming the door back, she cursed, startling the men, who had come back in and were taking a short break. Just to be thorough, she checked the laundry hamper and saw that the few items in that basket were also intact.
“What’s wrong?” Chase asked.
“My underwear is gone.” She looked at Jason as she spoke. He slowly straightened from where he had been sitting, his face going blank.
“All of it?”
She nodded. “Except for a few things that are in the dryer and the dirty clothes.”
“I’d better call Ethan,” Jason said.
Beth cringed at the thought, but knew he had no choice. Th
e missing underwear changed things drastically. “Go ahead. I’m going to take one more look in the bedroom.”
When she came out, Jason was putting his phone back on his belt.
“He’s going to add it to the report. He’s also going to run all the registered sex offenders in the area, see if this fits any of their MOs.” He gestured around the apartment as he spoke, obviously angry. “That’s all we can do at this point, damn it.”
Beth moved toward him. “No one expects you to do more, Jason.” Her parents and Chase echoed their agreement.
“Yeah, well, maybe I expect me to do more, Beth.” He turned and slammed out of the apartment.
She started after him, but Richard stopped her. “Give him a few minutes, honey. He needs to cool down some.”
Forcing herself to not follow her brother, she went to the washer and got a load of clothes going. As the tub filled with soapy water, Jackie walked over to Beth and touched her arm.
“Why don’t I show you what we were able to salvage in the bathroom and start a list? You’re going to need to run out and get some things this afternoon.”
She allowed her mother to lead her into the bathroom, and they went over what was left. After a few minutes when Jason hadn’t come back in, she excused herself to go look for him. She left the apartment and headed to the door at the end of the hall that led onto the roof. The tendency to go up when sorting something out was one she and Jason shared.
Opening the door, she looked around. Jason was seated at one of the patio tables the building’s residents used in warm weather. She sat down next to him, and for a little while, she just looked out over the view, not speaking. The renovated three-story building sat halfway up the hill that led to the bluffs overlooking the town, leaving the view of the town and the river below unobstructed. After a few minutes, she spoke.
“I never get used to seeing you in cop mode. You’re always so danged happy-go-lucky, so laid back. But Deputy Hudson? He’s like a different person, so cool and competent. When I see you do something like searching the apartment last night, it hits me that we’re adults now.”
Jason grunted and stretched his legs out in front of him. “It’s who I am, Beth.” There was a serious note in his voice she didn’t hear very often. “A lot of people don’t expect it of me. They think just because I’m a doctor’s son and half my family is as rich as Croesus that I don’t take my job seriously, that I’m just playing at being a cop.” He turned to look at her, something dark in his expression.
Beth reached over and laid her hand on his arm. “I understand, believe me. I can’t tell you how many short-term reporters we’ve had at the Journal over the years who’ve had the opinion that since I’m the owner’s granddaughter and all, I must just be there to keep the family name in the business, especially when they find out how young I am. They aren’t able to get their heads around the fact that I’ve worked there since I was twelve years old.”
“I know you understand. I guess it just gets to me. You’re my sister, you’ve had this horrible invasion of your home, and my hands are tied. There’s no way I can figure out who broke into your apartment unless we get really, really lucky and someone comes forward with information, and that means I can’t protect you.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about this. You know the world doesn’t work that way. I know you’ll do whatever you can, and that’s what’s important in the long run. And I can protect myself.”
He shot her a look. “I know. Being unable to help, though, that’s hard to accept,” he said as he sat forward and scrubbed his face with his hands.
“Well, I suppose we could sit up here all day, moaning about how we can’t do anything, or we could go back downstairs and clean up my apartment.”
He looked over at her for a long moment before he smiled. “You won’t let me feel sorry for myself at all, will you?”
“Nope, not in the least.”
As they headed back to the door that led inside, he teased her. “On the bright side, at least I don’t have to tell my sweetheart that all my underwear’s been stolen.”
Beth turned to him, eyes flashing. Half amused, half horrified, she tried to keep her face stern. “Ethan is not my ‘sweetheart’ and you know it, Jason Hudson. I’d better not hear you use that word around him, hear me?”
Jason just grinned and held the door open for her to pass. “By the way - I think we both owe Mom some money for the Swear Jar,” he said.
When the Hudson children had still been young, Jackie had decreed a family moratorium on cursing. Anyone who broke the rule had to pay a fine, which was deposited into a large jar in the kitchen. When a certain level had been reached, they would cash out the jar and use the money to help a local charity or needy family. Even though the children were all grown now, Joely being the last child to leave the nest when she started college two years ago, Jackie still expected to them all to contribute and use the honor system.
Beth agreed. “I may have to take out a loan before the day’s out in order to pay my fine.”
As they reached her apartment, Jason sighed. “You and me both, sis, you and me both.”
Chapter Seven
Sunday evening, Beth was puttering around her now-clean apartment while she waited for Jason to show up. At dinner earlier, her parents had tried to convince her to stay at their house until Friday, when she was scheduled to have an alarm installed.
“I appreciate the concern, but I really just want to go back to the apartment. I can’t let this person run me out of my home,” she’d told them.
Jason had stepped in. “Tell you what. If you want, I’ll stay with you until Friday. I can sleep on the couch.”
“You’d do that for me?” Beth was touched that he’d even offer. She hadn’t wanted to admit it, but she was very relieved she wouldn’t be alone for the first few nights.
“Of course.”
“Good, we can have a slumber party – I can do your nails, wax your legs…” When the rest of the family laughed at Jason’s consternation, he’d just rolled his eyes and put her in a playful head lock.
“Come near me with wax or nail polish, and you’ll regret it.”
Just to mess with him, once she’d gotten home, she put what had been salvaged from her cosmetics stash on the counter in the kitchen. When the doorbell rang, she hurried down the hall and looked through the peephole. Instead of her brother, though, Ethan stood on the other side of the door. Surprised, she opened the door.
“What are you doing here?”
An overnight bag in one hand, hanging bag in the other, he met her stunned gaze with a sheepish look. “I heard you needed a bodyguard.”
She stood back and let him in. “Sort of. Where’s Jason?”
“He got called in. Robbie Bailey had a family emergency.”
“Nothing serious, I hope,” she said as she led him into the living room.
“No, I don’t think it is. Nothing life-threatening, anyhow.”
Beth wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself, much less with Ethan. She’d never expected him to show up, especially not to sleep on her couch. As he stood there, bags in hand, she cleared her throat and pointed him toward the closet in the hall. “I cleared out some space for Jason. You can put your stuff in there.”
He moved to the closet, his expression guarded as he turned to her. “Are you okay with me staying here?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” She stepped into the kitchen and got three pints of ice cream out of the freezer, then gathered the other ingredients for a sundae together. “You like ice cream, right?”
“Sure.” He slid his shoes off and joined her in the kitchen, taking a seat on one of the barstools. Dressed in a soft t-shirt and worn jeans that hugged his muscles, he presented a very appealing picture. It was all Beth could do to not drool as she opened the ice cream.
As he watched her assemble one large sundae in a serving bowl, Ethan snickered. “You planning to eat all that on your own, blondie?”
“I guess you could twist my arm. I thought you couldn’t cook.”
Beth laughed, licking whipped cream off her fingers. “This is not cooking. This is assembling, and I can assemble with the best of them.” She pushed the finished sundae across the island to him, along with two large spoons. After putting the perishable ingredients up, she pulled out the other barstool and sat. Her tired muscles protested, and she groaned.
“This has been the longest day,” she told him. “Not only did we have to clean this place up, but I had to shop and buy so much new stuff. All the couch cushions, my pillows for the bed, and all the food. I threw everything out. Literally every single bite of food I had, down to the salt and pepper. I was afraid to keep anything.”
He winced. “That had to hurt a little.”
She agreed. “It did. But my homeowner’s policy should cover most of the cost, once they’ve paid.” Scooping up a spoonful of coffee toffee ice cream with a large piece of toffee inside, she offered it to him on her spoon. He took it, but a small drop of hot fudge fell off and landed on his chin. Without stopping to think about what she was doing, she used her thumb to wipe the fudge off, bringing her hand to her mouth. When Ethan’s eyes widened, she realized what she’d done and flushed, looking away.
He cleared his throat and stood, going to the other side of the island. “Do you have any water?”
Inwardly cringing, she gestured to the fridge with her spoon. “Sure. In there, if you want it cold.”
“Cold is good.” He grabbed two bottles, handing her one. “So what’s the plan tonight?”
Beth grinned. “Well, I was going to torture Jason with a manicure and leg waxing, but somehow I can’t see you going for that.”
Ethan looked at her, then at the cosmetics on the counter. Poking through the nail polish options, he picked up a bottle of hot pink, sparkling color. “I don’t know. This would look pretty good on me, don’t you think?” When she just narrowed her eyes at him, he laughed. “I don’t even know what all’s involved in a manicure.”