"A little.Mostly just…" She stops, shakes her head."I don't even know what I'm feeling right now."
"That's fair.This is a lot."I rub my hand up and down her back, giving her whatever comfort I can.
"It is."She tips her head back to look at me."Thank you for calling it in yourself instead of just letting us walk into it."
"Wasn't going to let you walk into an active scene, Mace.Not a chance."I press a kiss to the top of her head.
It takes almost an hour before Madden comes back down, peeling off a pair of gloves."Alright, we got what we need.No prints besides what I'm guessing is gonna come back as hers once we run it, but whoever did this wore gloves.Knew what they were doing, or at least knew enough to cover their tracks."
"Seems like this guy is a little more sophisticated than we assumed," I say.
"I'll get the report filed tonight, and I’ll attach it to her report from earlier today.If it's him, we'll have enough for a breaking and entering on top of everything else once we can prove it."
"Appreciate it, man."I clap him on the shoulder.
"Yeah, well."Madden glances at Macie, then back at me, and something passes over his face I don't love the look of."You take care of her.Watch yourself too, alright?"
"Always do."
He heads back to his cruiser, and the other units start clearing out one by one.We watch as the taillights disappear down the road until it's just me and Macie standing in the parking lot again, an uneasy quiet settling back in around us.
"You ready to go grab your stuff?"I ask.
She nods, but she doesn't move right away, so I take her hand and we walk up the stairs together, slower this time, no reason to rush now that the scene's clear.
Her apartment still looks like a disaster when we walk in, and it hits different seeing it without the adrenaline of clearing the place driving me.I take in the drawers pulled out and dumped onto the floor.Her closet door hangs open, clothes are yanked off hangers.A framed photo on her nightstand knocked over, glass cracked across her smiling face in the picture.
"God."She picks up the frame, running her thumb over the crack."This was from my graduation from nursing school."
"We'll get you a new frame."It's not much, but it's the only thing I can offer her right now.
She sets it down gently, then starts moving through what's left of her stuff, picking out what's salvageable.I grab a duffel bag from her closet floor, one that somehow avoided the destruction, and start helping her fill it.I want her to get as much into it as she can, because I don’t want her coming back here until she absolutely has to.
"He touched my clothes," she says quietly.
“We’ll get you new ones if you want,” there’s a promise in my voice.“It scares the hell out of me that he knew to come here.”
"It scares me too."She stops folding, and just stands there for a second, staring at the ruined clothes scattered across her bed."I keep thinking if I'd been here, if I’d come home…"
"Don't."I cross the room and turn her to face me, hands on both her shoulders."Don't go there.If you'd been here, we'd be dealing with something a hell of a lot worse than torn up clothes, and you know it."
Her eyes go glassy, but she nods, swallowing hard."You're right.I know you're right."
"C'mere."I pull her into me, and she lets herself sink against my chest, arms wrapping around my waist like she's trying to disappear into me.I hold her there for a long minute, breathing her in, feeling her heartbeat slow down against mine."We'll figure this out.All of it.I'm not going anywhere."
"I know."Her voice is muffled against my shirt."I just hate that you have to deal with this too."
"I don't have to do anything.I want to."I pull back enough to tip her chin up, make her look at me."There's a difference, and I need you to start believing that."
She gives me a small, tired smile, the first one since we found the door ajar."Okay."
We finish packing up what's left, two duffel bags, and a large bag of makeup and toiletries.She’s got enough to last for a few weeks, and if it’s up to me she won’t be back here.I do one more walk-through before we leave, checking every corner, every closet, making sure nothing's been missed, making sure there's nothing else waiting for us that we haven't found yet.
"You good?"I ask, bags slung over both shoulders.
"Yeah."She takes one last look around the apartment, at the mess still scattered across the floor that'll have to wait until later to deal with."Let's go home."
Home.She doesn't seem to catch that she said it, but I do, and my chest goes tight, warm and terrified all at the same time.I haven’t wanted anyone to call my house home since I was trying to get my ex-wife to stay.
