Security Risk

by MEGAN MATTHEWS

  “What?” I tense and push myself against the house ready to run once she gives the word.

  “I think your back door is wide open.” She sticks more of her body around the corner. “I’m going in.”

  “What?” I whisper at her, but she’s already gone.

  I trot behind her, jumping up all three steps of the back stoop.

  “I’m so sorry, Tabitha.”

  “How…” my words trail off as I take in the destruction of my kitchen through the back door.

  I reach out for the handle preparing to go in, but Katy pulls me back. “Don’t touch anything. We need to call the police.”

  With the way things were thrown around the room in a chaotic fashion, I spend a moment wishing it was a raccoon after all. Broken china is scattered on the floor from the plates and glasses tossed from the cupboards. Pots and pans are pulled out from open drawers as if someone reached in and dumped them out with a swipe of their hand. The dining room table and four chairs lay on their sides in the open area of the room. Raccoons don’t have enough strength to knock over an antique wooden table.

  Do they?

  No.

  Not a raccoon, but a Benny. A Benny who let me leave his hotel room tonight. A Benny who told me he believed I didn’t have his stupid diamonds in my house.

  Because he knew.

  “What’s going on back here?” a deep voice asks from the shadows.

  Katy and I both scream. I bolt toward the other side of the porch ready to scale the railing and run when Bennett steps out of the shadows.

  “Bennett! You ass. Don’t sneak up on people,” Katy yells at him, her hands on her knees as she gains control of her breathing. “We’ve had a rough fucking night.”

  “Yeah, I noticed. You okay, Tabitha?” Bennett stands at the base of the porch looking into the house. With his dark wash jeans and black fleece jacket, he’s almost hidden. “You two call nine-one-one and wait out front. I’ll go in and check out the place.”

  “What if someone’s inside?” I ask walking down the steps past him.

  He touches me on the shoulder giving it a small pat. “Let’s hope so.” He smirks and it looks sinister with the flow from the porch light.

  Bennett and I stand next to one another, me using him more to help keep myself up than anything else. Katy dials nine-one-one from her cell phone, her eyes wide still surveying the damage in shocked dismay. She doesn’t understand Benny. I should have dropped her off at home. What was I thinking when I drove here with Katy?

  Right, I wasn’t thinking after my talk with Benny. If Katy wasn’t here, I’d pretend like the entire thing never happened. Pick up the mess and tell no one. Now the police will get involved. Police ask questions. There’s no way to talk her and Bennett out of reporting this and then acting like they didn’t see anything. They’ll have questions too. There’s no way to keep this between Ridge and me now.

  What will Benny think if he drives by and sees a slew of cop cars sitting in my front yard?

  “She said they’re sending someone and to meet them out front.” Katy slides her phone into her back pocket and walks down the steps.

  “Wait in the car and tell whoever shows up I’m here.” Bennett jumps up the three back steps and squishes his large body through the open door.

  I follow Katy around to the front of the house and start up the car to stay warm until the police arrive.

  “What the hell is Bennett doing over here?” she asks once we’re settled.

  I answer with a shrug, and a half-hearted one at that. There are no cars in Ridge’s driveway or mine, but I imagine Bennett, on his way to see Ridge, saw Katy hiding in the shadows and checked up on us.

  “Hey, it’s going to be okay.” Katy reaches around and gives me a half hug.

  It’s then I realize I’m crying again. Nothing like earlier tonight, but small tears track down my face. “Long day, right?” I laugh, but sniffle midway.

  A new song on the radio starts up, a melody I’ve never heard. By the time it finishes, a single police cruiser with its lights on pulls into my driveway beside my car. An officer in a tan uniform steps out and approaches us.

  “Ladies. Tell me what you’ve got going on here.”

  Thankfully Katy takes the lead and gives the man she addressed as Officer Joe the rundown of what happened and that Bennett is inside. It doesn’t take long.

  “I’ll clear the area. Do you have a key for the front door?” he asks, lowering down on his haunches next to my open car door.

  I turn off the car and give him my entire key ring too tired for anything else.

  “You ladies stay here. I’ll be right back,” Joe says, twirling my keys around his finger.

  Katy and I sit in silence while Joe is in the house. I’m sure Benny’s responsible for this mess and he’s long since gone but it’s nice to have people looking out for me. Even if they don’t know why.

  I keep my eyes on the house and wait for one of them to open the front door. There’s a quick tap on my car window. I let out a small scream and Katy jumps so high she’s almost in my lap when she comes back down. Another cop dressed in a matching tan uniform, definitely not the dark-haired Officer Joe, opens my car door.

  “What the fuck, Law, you don’t sneak up on people like that.” Katy leans over my center console to yell at him.

  His forehead crinkles in annoyance and he shakes his head at her but doesn’t appear put off by the comment. “Katy Kadish, fancy meeting you here. The first crime to happen in Pelican Bay in the last two months and somehow you’re involved. Who would have thought?”

  “I’m here for my friend, Tabs.” She points at me with her thumb.

  “Were you involved in any way?” he asks, his words laced with skepticism.

  “No.”

  “Have you given a statement to the responding officer?”

  “Yeah, I told him what happened. We didn’t see anything besides her trashed kitchen.” Katy opens her door and steps out of the car, but I’m not ready to leave the small wind break I have in the vehicle.

  “Have Officer Peters take you home. I’ll call you if you need to go to the station and fill out a formal statement.”

  She scoffs. “You’re sending me home?”

  “It’s cold and there’s no reason for you to be here. More units are on their way. Joe says the place is clear. I’ll take Ms. Thompson inside and ask her questions there. The less bodies disturbing the scene the better.”

  “Whatever, Law.” She leans down and gives me another hug, her body half in and half out of the car. “I’ll call you tomorrow, Tabs.” She walks to the end of my driveway and the fourth police car pulls over on the side of the street. My yard now teems with police vehicles. When the hell did they get here? The whole town will hear about this by tomorrow morning. Hell, who am I kidding? Tonight.

  The cop leans over the car door and reaches a hand out. “Come on, let’s get you out of the cold.”

  Light from the porch spills over the officer as we get closer to my front door. He’s tall, but everyone in this town seems to be. They put steroids in the water, I swear. His height isn’t what makes me give him a second glance, but the strong form of his jaw and thick set nose. He reminds me of Ridge. I stare at his eyes to check for the family blues, but his are more mocha colors, what you’d consider a good shade of hazel.

  The front door opens as we approach. Officer Joe and another deputy stand together in the living room in front of the fireplace. The room was tossed — at least that’s what they call it on police shows. The couch is tipped over on its front, the bottom slashed and torn.

  “Boys.” Law snaps his fingers at the two other officers and points to the couch. They work to flip it over giving me a spot to sit. Which I immediately take. “Give me the run down.”

  Officer Joe looks down to the small notebook he pulled from a pocket. “Easy B&E. The perp broke a side window to gain access to the back door. The house has been tossed.”

  Ha, I was righ
t.

  “Looks as if most of the attention happened to the kitchen,” he continues.

  While the two talk I sneak glances around the room and Joe’s right. There are a few books pulled from shelves, a few knickknacks knocked to the floor, and the drawers of the desk pulled out, but compared to the kitchen, it’s not as bad.

  “Couple of boxes knocked over in the attic, nothing much up there.” Bennett jumps down the last two steps from the ladder you pull down to access the attic. “They cased the place though. Hit every room looking for something.”

  Yeah, I understand how a missing million dollars in diamonds would make a man check everywhere. I’m sure Benny walked away with some cash, but I’m too tired to worry right now. I won’t be able to search until everyone leaves, anyway.

  The officer I walked in with sits down beside me on the couch. “Who would have such horrible feelings toward your kitchen, Ms. Thompson?”

  I shake my head and blow out a breath. “Katy thinks it’s a raccoon.”

  He rolls his eyes. “I bet she does.” He reaches into his shirt pocket and hands me a card with Law Anderson, Investigator, written in standard black font.

  “Your name is Law and you’re a cop?”

  He laughs like he hears this question often. “It’s actually Lawyer. Almost as bad. After three generations of police officers in the family, my mom hoped I’d take a different path.”

  A couple billion bad puns about him being the law in these parts flit through my head, but I figure now isn’t the time to joke.

  “How do you know Katy?”

  “We go way back. Went to high school together. I tried to arrest her for cheering for the Broncos one playoff season.”

  “You arrested her for being a Broncos fan?”

  “Tried to arrest her.” He puffs his chest out. “This is Maine. You don’t root for the Broncos… and it was annoying.” The front door opens behind me. I don’t turn, but Law shakes his head at whoever enters the room. “She’s also my cousin.”

  “Ahhh.” That explains a lot from the last few minutes.

  “Ridge.” Law gestures with his head the way men do to one another and I turn.

  Sure enough Ridge stands behind me, his arms crossed at his chest, eyes narrowed at Law. He’s dressed like Bennett with dark wash jeans and a black fleece jacket. It’s like the hot guy uniform in these parts. They must buy their clothes in bulk. Color wouldn’t kill them, but I can’t complain about the way it highlights Ridge’s rough and tough image. Everything about him screams dangerous guy, but I see past it. He’s more than a rough, sometimes bossy Fugitive Recovery Specialist. Below those layers he’s protective, kind, and caring. A great guy to his family, dedicated to his job, and the guys he works with. Ridge is the guy you bring home to your mother. If you had one who cared.

  “What are you doing here Anderson?”

  Law shrugs. “You made it pretty clear Ms. Thompson was someone you’d taken an interest in. When I heard her name on the police radio, I came to meet the woman who invoked interest from our very own Ridge Jefferson.”

  Ridge takes the business card from my hands and shoves it in his back pocket. “You won’t need that.”

  “I assume from your presence at my crime scene, your henchman called.” Law points to Bennett talking to an officer in the kitchen.

  “He did,” Ridge answers, but his eyes are on me, searching for something. I don’t know what.

  “Wonderful.” Law doesn’t sound like he thinks it’s wonderful. The exact opposite really. “Well I’m done with Ms. Thompson tonight. I want you to come back tomorrow and make me a detailed list of anything you find stolen.”

  I nod, but the odds of it happening are slim. Most of the items in the house were Aunt Gertie’s and I can’t report the money as stolen. What would I do, walk into the station and report Benny stole the money I stole from his boss?

  Law stands from the couch. Ridge takes his place and slides closer. “Are you okay?” With my face in his hands, he rubs his thumbs across my cheek bones.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Just shaken.”

  “Stay here. I’m going to check in with Bennett and then take you home.” He lets go of my face but gives me a soft kiss on the forehead.

  “I am home.”

  Ridge scrunches up his forehead. “I mean my house. You can’t stay here.”

  Oh right. Broken kitchen window, mass destruction, potential robbers. He has a point.

  Ridge stands at the edge of the kitchen talking to Bennett and I have one of those stupid mushy girl moments. If this were a Hallmark movie, time would slow and the camera would zoom in on the way he stands, one hand on his hip the other gesturing with Bennett as they talk.

  Ridge walks into a room and commands the attention of those around him. He’s larger than life. There’s someone great under the black clothing and gruff personality. He rode in here like a knight in shining armor on his white steed, sword out, ready to conquer my marauders.

  Well. Except his horse is a black extended cab truck, and he isn’t carrying a sword or wearing armor, but the sentiment’s the same.

  His expression falls, and he turns with a scowl. “Tabitha, let’s go.”

  Crap.

  “Are we going somewhere?” I ask jumping in his truck.

  Ridge starts the vehicle but doesn’t put it in gear. “It’s time for you to answer questions.”

  Double crap.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Without another word Ridge starts his truck and drives over the grass between our shared yards, stopping in his driveway. The headlights illuminate the front of his detached garage door until he turns off the truck, but he doesn’t move.

  “Tabitha, I want to be perfectly clear with you. When we step out of this truck, I will only accept the truth. All of it.” He stares out the window waiting.

  My stomach clenches and fresh tears well in my eyes. You’d think by now I’d be dry. I nod and put my hand on the door, but I don’t open it or get out.

  “I need to hear you say the words,” he says, his eyes set on the garage.

  “I promise.”

  The door slams as he jumps out, but I don’t move. Once I leave the comfort of this truck, my ruse is finished. There’s no way a guy like Ridge will get messed up with a girl like me. I’m not carrying baggage. I’m hauling a whole freight train of complications.

  Ridge stops beside my window, nodding once like an executor leading me to the guillotine. He opens my door and I begin the long walk to the end of whatever we’d started here. I wipe the tears from my eyes and he holds the front door open, the temperature outside no longer the coldest thing.

  “Sit.” Ridge points to his black leather couch and I waste no time. Once I get this out, I’ll be faced with cleaning up my house and figuring out where I’ll get a million dollars to give Mario. One thing at a time.

  First, break up with possible boyfriend.

  He doesn’t sit next to me on the couch and take my face in his hand, plastering kisses on my forehead like he did earlier. No. Now Ridge paces. Removing his black fleece, he throws it on the seat of a matching black leather chair. “Who the hell are you?”

  I can’t keep the stunned shock from my face and jerk back like he’s hit me. “I’m exactly who I said I am.”

  Ridge stalks toward me, his eyes narrowed, and his jaw set. He leans down to my level and shakes his head. If it were anyone else, I’d be terrified with the fierce pissed off look in his eyes. But he’s not a guy to hurt a woman. “I’m giving you one chance to tell me... everything.” At least I don’t think he is.

  I open my mouth, but he abruptly stands, a hand swiping out in a shut up manner. “But since you have problems with the concept, I’ll tell you what I’ve already learned.”

  Despite his comment he doesn’t talk right away. The single sound in the room is one of my sniffles as I wipe tears from my cheeks and try to get my breathing under control.

  With his hands on his hips, Ridge sums up my lif
e. “Tabitha Thompson born March 2, 1991. Graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree in community service. You dated Mario Fanelli for four years until two weeks ago you left in the middle of the night leaving behind most of your clothing and a short good-bye letter. Tonight you met with Benny Romano, a known associate of Mario, in his hotel room at Clara’s. You were in his room for eighteen minutes when you exited looking distressed.

  “You returned home tonight to find your home broken into. No large items were stolen although it’s obvious the perpetrator searched for something. Whether they found what they wanted is still unknown. There was, however, a note left for you on the kitchen counter. ‘Time’s up’ written in red ink.”

  He finally sits down in the chair, squishing the jacket he’d thrown there earlier. “Do you want to fill in any gaps?”

  With a deep breath I do as he asked. I tell Ridge about Mario, our relationship, my leaving, the money, and even the USB with the files I downloaded. Somewhere in the middle, my tears silently picked up again, sliding down my face in their earlier tracks. By the time I make it to Benny’s threats at the auction, I’m sniffling between every other word. It’s annoying. Who the hell cries this much? But Ridge doesn’t flinch or seem irritated.

  “So where are the diamonds, Tabitha?” Ridge asks when I run out of story to tell.

  “I get you won’t believe me, but I don’t know. The money is divided up in the house. There are a few stacks in an air vent, in the attic, the freezer, and a hidden drawer in the desk. I have the USB, but I swear to god never diamonds.”

  “Why is he so sure you have them?”

  I sniffle and take a moment to wipe my eyes. “Believe me. If I did, I’d hand them over.” My stomach tightens with memories of Benny’s promises if he didn’t get his diamonds soon, but I don’t want to throw up so I stay positive. Too bad there’s nothing positive right now. I’m too tired to process any more emotions. Even my bones are tired and heavy.

  “Where did your ex get a million dollars in diamonds?”

  A headache starts behind my left eye, probably dehydration from the water I’ve cried out today. “I have no clue. Mario deals in pizza and high end pasta. He owns a few restaurants in the city. They’re known for their marinara sauce not diamonds.”