Breakin' In, page 6
Flora went back outside to grab her overnight bag from the truck, and glanced over to Beth’s house out of habit as she did so. Her eyes widened when she saw Sammy the Basset hound waddling down the road… alone.
She had no idea why the Yorks’ dog was loose, but Beth would be heartbroken if he got hit by a car or lost. Flora ducked back inside to grab the bag of cat treats – she didn’t think Sammy would mind that there was a cat instead of a dog on the front of the bag – then hurried out into the road, hoping no one would drive by until Sammy was safely back at Beth’s house.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The dog quickened his pace when he saw her, his stubby little legs working their way up to a trot. She crouched down to look him over once she met him in the middle of the road. He looked up at her with his droopy eyes, his tail wagging slowly as she stroked his head.
“What are you doing out here, buddy?” she murmured. “You’re not supposed to be wandering around like this, are you? Let’s get you home.”
She stood up and offered him a cat treat, then shook the bag and patted her leg as she started walking toward Beth’s house. He followed her, happily wolfing down the occasional treat she fed him to keep his interest.
Flora’s confusion over Sammy’s presence on the road without Beth turned into alarm as she neared her neighbor’s house and saw that Beth’s front door was open. She jogged the last few meters, tossed a few treats down on the porch to lure Sammy up, then knocked on the open door.
“Beth?” she called out. “Tim? It’s Flora. I found Sammy wandering around outside. Is everything okay?”
There was no answer. After a moment, she pushed the door the rest of the way open and stepped inside. The interior of the house was silent except for the ticking of a clock. Sammy followed behind her, his claws ticking across the floor as he trotted into the kitchen, where he drank from his water bowl. The sound seemed loud in the otherwise quiet home.
There was no sign of Beth in the kitchen, so Flora continued into the living room. As soon as she stepped past the threshold, she froze. While the kitchen had looked normal, the living room was a mess. The drawers on the side table were open, the contents scattered everywhere. The jade statue Beth and Tim had gotten on their travels when they were younger was missing, as were the sterling silver plates Beth kept on a display against one of the walls.
Her worry beginning to take on a more urgent feel, she hurried through the house to Beth and Tim’s bedroom. There, she found that the woman’s jewelry box had been emptied, and on Tim’s side of the room, the chest where he kept his old military awards was on its side, its contents strewn across the floor.
Someone had robbed the older couple blind, but even worse, both of them were missing. There was no sign of either Beth or Tim anywhere in the house.
She checked the back yard and the basement next, but they weren’t anywhere to be found. Either they had been kidnapped, or they had gone somewhere else before their house was broken into. Maybe, just like with the break-in at her house, the thief had waited until he or she knew they were gone to act.
It wasn’t the weekend yet, though, and that was when Beth’s usual bus came. Flora tried to think of who else the older woman might get to give her and her husband a ride somewhere, and immediately landed on Natalie. The two of them had grown much closer since Natalie’s husband passed away, and with Flora gone, Beth probably would have turned to her if she needed something.
She raced back outside, paused to make sure the front door was shut so Sammy couldn’t get out again, then started jogging down the road toward Natalie’s house, not wanting to waste the time it would take to go get her truck.
When she rounded the curve in the road, she was panting. Her physical labor on the house had made her stronger, but she hadn’t done much in the way of cardio exercises, and now she was regretting it.
She slowed to a walk to try to catch her breath and frowned when she spotted Nolan’s delivery van in Natalie’s driveway. Natalie’s car was gone, which supported her theory that the other woman had taken Beth and Tim somewhere.
Was Nolan here to deliver groceries to her? With Natalie gone, she would have expected him to leave them at the door, but his van was sitting empty, and there weren’t any bags on the porch. As she got closer, she realized Natalie’s door was partially open too.
Something was wrong here. With her breathing finally back under control, she eased her way up the porch steps silently and approached the door. She put her hand out to push it, and jerked back when someone kicked it the rest of the way open from inside. She came face-to-face with Nolan, who had a half-full black plastic trash bag in one hand. He froze, staring at her. She stared back.
Before either of them could say anything, she heard the sound of tires on gravel and turned to see a beat-up van pull into the driveway. It looked familiar, but it wasn’t until she saw Duncan get out that she realized it was his and Tucker’s work van. He looked around and seemed to note that Natalie’s car was gone, if the crease between his eyebrows was any indication. When his eyes landed on Flora, he made his way toward the porch. Her feet seemed frozen in place, and Nolan didn’t seem to know what to do either, because he didn’t move.
“Look, I should have said this at the coffee shop, but I’m so sorry,” he said to Flora. “Tucker told me what he was going to do. I told him he was being an idiot, and to leave me out of it, but I didn’t stop him. He wasn’t going to steal anything, he just wanted to poke around the house at night and have some fun. I hate that I didn’t stop him. It’s my fault that he’s dead now.”
“No, it isn’t,” Flora said. “No one could have known what was going to happen.”
He took a deep, shaky breath. “Well, I’m here to pick up the last of our pay from Natalie. She told me she’d have it ready for me. Is she here?”
He had dark circles under his eyes and walked with a defeated slouch, but his eyes were sharp as they glanced between her and Nolan when both of them remained silent.
“What’s going on?”
His gaze fell to the garbage bag in Nolan’s hand. Nolan made to tuck it out of sight behind the wall, but the movement made it catch on the doorframe and it ripped open, sending a mess of jewelry, decorative figurines, and silverware clattering to the ground.
Nolan swore and dropped the bag, jumping back as if it had burned him. Flora’s growing suspicion solidified itself, and she knew for a fact that he was the one who had ransacked Beth’s house. She felt a sharp spike of anger.
“I can’t believe you. Beth is one of the kindest women you’ll ever meet, and you’ve been taking advantage of her. You’ve been using your visits to her house to figure out where they kept their valuables, haven’t you?”
“No, wait, it’s not what it looks like,” he started, but Duncan spoke up before he could say anything else.
“This guy has been breaking into houses?” He glanced at Flora. “Is he the one who broke into your house?”
Nolan froze. Flora realized it all made sense. She took a step back, feeling sick.
“It was you,” she breathed. “Beth told you I was going to be gone all night, and you would have seen the plastic covering the windows when you drove by. You would have known it would be easy to get in and out without anyone seeing you. Only, Tucker was already there.”
“I never meant to hurt anyone,” Nolan said quickly, his voice laced with panic. “I should have been the only one there. When I heard Tucker sneaking in, I panicked. I thought it was you coming back.” He glanced at Flora. “I thought I would be able to hit him with the lamp and get out of there while he was recovering, but it must’ve hit him wrong. He collapsed and I didn’t realize until I heard the news in the morning that I had killed him.
“You killed my best friend,” Duncan said. “I don’t care if you didn’t mean to. He’s dead because of you!”
Duncan lunged at Nolan and the two fell to the ground, throwing punches and elbows. Flora jumped back, clapping her hands to her mouth. Nolan grabbed one of the larger figurines that had fallen to the ground when the garbage bag split open and raised it over his head, and Flora saw Duncan’s eyes widen.
In the split second before it fell, she lunged forward and yanked the statue away from Nolan. He swore, though that was probably more because Duncan kicked him in the leg in the same moment.
Flora kept the figurine with her as she backed away, trying to think of a way to make them stop fighting. The sound of someone else pulling into the driveway did it for her. The two men stopped their fight when Natalie’s car door slammed shut. She froze when she saw the scene on her porch, her eyes flicking between the three of them coldly.
“I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m not surprised to see you involved in it, Flora.”
“Beth and Tim?” Flora asked desperately. “Are they okay? Nolan broke into their house, then he came here.”
“They’re fine. I took them to an appointment for Tim, and just dropped them off in front of their house. What’s happening here?”
“He’s the one who killed Tucker,” Duncan panted as he scrambled to his feet, wiping at his bloody nose as he glared at Nolan.
Nolan looked between the three of them and seemed to realize he was outnumbered. He climbed to his feet as well, then began to back away into Natalie’s house. A moment later, he turned and ran, and they all heard him slam the back door behind him as he exited from the other side of the house.
Natalie just stared after him, looking exhausted. Finally, she sighed and pulled out her phone.
“I’m calling the police,” she said. “I hope the two of you will stay to explain to them what happened. Then, Flora, I never want to see you on my property again.”
Flora exchanged a look with Duncan, who looked a little chagrined. Things could have gone worse, she supposed. She just hoped the police caught up to Nolan before he could do any more harm.
EPILOGUE
Flora gave the paint roller one last push up the wall, then put it down and stepped back to gaze at the newly painted kitchen. Grady leaned against the counter next to her, his arms crossed as he admired it.
“It looks good,” he said. “Are you going to get new counters too?”
“I’m not sure,” she said. “These ones are dated, so I’d like to, but it’s not a priority right now. I need to focus on getting things ready for Thanksgiving. My aunt is going to visit, and I think I’m going to invite the rest of my family too. I want the house to look nice for when they come, which means taking care of the most visible issues first.”
“Let me know if you need any help. You know I’m always happy to pitch in.”
She smiled. “I know. And I appreciate it more than you know. I wouldn’t have been able to do all of this without you, Grady.”
“Yes, you would have,” he said. “You might have needed to watch a few more instructional videos than you would otherwise, but I know you could have figured it out.”
She smiled, touched by his faith in her, and pressed a kiss to his cheek, glad that was something she could now do whenever she got the urge. A lot of the temporary awkwardness between them had faded, and she was glad of it. She knew she would have to talk to Linus at some point – the man had come to her house with flowers, for goodness sakes – but she thought he would understand. He had probably only shown up like that because he had been stood up by his date. For all she knew, those flowers had been intended for the woman who had stood him up, and he wanted to give them away rather than toss them in the trash.
It seemed the longer she lived in Warbler, the deeper and more complex her relationships got. Natalie wanted nothing to do with her, Beth was coming to rely on her for help when other services weren’t available, she and Grady were dating, and Violet was quickly becoming one of the best friends she had ever had.
Leaving was going to be difficult, but she didn’t want to think of leaving right now. She leaned her shoulder against Grady’s and sighed as she admired the kitchen. There was a lot to be happy about right now. She could worry about everything else later.
ALSO BY PATTI BENNING
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Patti Benning, Breakin' In
