A bathroom and the second bedroom were destroyed.School supplies were strewn all around, and the closet was trashed.Every plastic tote had been opened.Every filing cabinet emptied.
The desk had been pulled away from the wall.
Goldie dropped to her knees beside the overturned desk.“No...”She shoved papers aside with both hands.“No...”
I crouched beside her.“What?”
“I left them...”She pulled open an empty desk drawer.“...right here.”
My stomach sank.
The folder was gone.
She looked up at me.“They found them.”
I didn’t answer because she was right.The copies were gone.
Twister appeared in the doorway.“All rooms are cleared.”
Magnum came in from the back.“Garage is clear.”
Swift shook his head.“No one outside.”
Goldie stood so fast she almost lost her balance.“Nova!”She bolted toward the front of the house again.I caught up just as she stumbled into the living room.“Novalea!”
Silence.
Twister’s phone buzzed, and everyone froze.He looked down at an unknown number.His jaw tightened, and he opened the message.He slowly started reading off the message.“You made us do this.”
Nobody spoke.
Another message came through.
“Now leave before you really regret it.”
Goldie covered her mouth.
His phone buzzed again, but this time he wrinkled his brow.
“What is it?”I asked.
He turned his phone to us, and showed us a picture of Hodge standing outside the clubhouse with a coffee in one hand, talking to Nugget and Magnum, taken from across the street.
Hodge frowned.“The hell...”
Swift stepped closer.
“When was that?”
“Thursday,” Magnum said immediately.“I remember because Nugget dropped his coffee five seconds later.”
The room went quiet again.
“They’re watching us,” I said.
Twister nodded once.“They’re telling us they’ve been watching us.”
The house suddenly felt smaller, like eyes were still on us.
