Page 48 of Honor ’N’ Duty

Feeling like a voyeur, he swallowed the rising growl of disgust in his throat. “Mrs. Sanderson, was anyone hurt during the break-in?”

“No, thank God.” She shook her head, her relief a palpable thing. “My husband was at work, and I was out shopping. Our children are both home from college for the summer but were out working at their summer jobs.”

That, at least, was good news.

From personal experience, Kade knew the Colon Cartel was comprised of a variety of people with a multitude of specialties. Some had no criminal record at all. Yet. Others had been imprisoned for violent crimes that had left a river of blood and a trail of bodies in their wake.

“What did the police have to say?” He planned to speak with the Rumson PD’s chief himself, not only to hear it directly from her but to inform the department of the likely connection between the two burglaries.

“Not much, really.” She pointed to a tiny camera on the wall over the door. “We have a complete security system with cameras that were supposed to activate any time the alarm is triggered. The police think the burglars knew exactly where the feed wires were and cut them before they broke in. The only thing retained in the video memory of any use is what was recorded before they cut the wire.”

“And what was that?” Kade asked.

“A cable company van pulling up outside.”

No shock there.

The cable company van was the common thread connecting this burglary to the one at Laia’s duplex and to the attempted break-in at his own house. “May I see the video?”

“Of course. Come in.”

After they’d gone inside, Kade closed the door behind them. Mrs. Sanderson hadn’t so much as twitched at Smoke setting foot in the house. An enormous crystal chandelier hung over their heads, the light from which made the tiny specks in the pure white floor tile—Italian marble, Josh had once told him—glitter like shards of ice.

Mrs. Sanderson went to a table in the vestibule, one of the only pieces of furniture that wasn’t broken or still upside down. She pulled a cell phone from her purse, then began scrolling through it. “Here it is. The camera outside the door was triggered when the van pulled up.” She handed the phone to Kade, who held it out for Laia to watch, too.

A white van with a rectangular green sign attached to the passenger door parked by the front stoop. Somerset Cable Company, the same company name on the photos and video that Ashley took outside his house. Only this time, the entire license plate was legible. C90 EMZ.

Kade pulled out his own phone and tapped the tag into a note page. He assumed the Rumson PD had already run the plate, but he’d do it again anyway.

The remainder of the thirty-second video showed two men wearing jeans and matching green shirts with the Somerset Cable logo getting out of the van. Both wore ball caps pulled down low so their faces were almost completely obscured from the cameras, telling Kade they’d cased the house and knew precisely where the cameras were. And they wore gloves. Even if the PD had dusted for prints, he had no doubt that would be a dead end.

One of the men pushed the doorbell. After about twenty seconds, he pushed the doorbell again and knocked. The other man stood guard with his back to the camera and looking out at the driveway. Eventually, when no one came to the door, they both went to the corner of the house behind the bushes.

Kade pointed to the same corner. “Is that where your utility lines come into the house?”

Jennifer nodded. “Yes. The police said that even if we had locked the electrical box, they probably just would have broken off the lock or found some other way to get the cover off.”

“They’re probably right,” Kade agreed. If a burglar had the skills and wanted to break in, there was no stopping them.

Jennifer’s voice trembled. “I don’t understand why they had to destroy practically everything in the house. They made such a mess that I can’t even tell if they took anything.”

He handed the phone back. “Would you mind if we took a look around?”

“What are you looking for, exactly?” she asked.

Kade exchanged a quick look at Laia.

Drugs. Cash. The missing ledger that could put a dangerous drug lord in prison for the rest of his life. “Anything that might give us some leads on who these people really are.” Not a total lie, but hardly the truth, either.

“I suppose it’s all right.”

“Do you mind if my partner comes with us? He’s a trained K-9.”

Mrs. Sanderson looked longingly at Smoke. “May I pet him?” When he nodded, she did. “Our Daisy, a Golden Retriever mix, passed away two years ago. We were about to get another dog. I’m so glad we didn’t yet. He or she would have been home when the burglars broke in.”

Kade could only nod in sympathy. “Smoke.” His dog perked up his ears. “Search.”

Smoke put his nose to the expensive marble tile, sniffing and circling, then moving into the dining room. Laia and Mrs. Sanderson followed closely behind.