Page 50 of Finding Love

“Sit.” Ryder motioned towards the sofa.

She set down his laptop, and Willy snuggled in her lap and instantly fell back to sleep.

Ryder turned on the screens with the push of a single button. Instantly, scenes from all over the house flashed on them.

“Son of a…” Ryder said, getting her attention.

Then she noticed the dark figure moving quickly on one of the televisions. It took her a moment to figure out where the scene was. The person had crossed the backyard and was sliding open the glass door in the dining room. They watched as they moved in the darkness.

The figure raced across the small dining room and quickly moved into the office, where he grabbed something off Ryder’s desk. Then they raced back through the house and out the open glass doors.

The entire time she’d watched, she’d held her breath. It had taken less than a minute before the figure disappeared out of sight on the back lawn.

“Shit.” Ryder groaned. “That was my laptop case.” He sat down on the desk.

“Who?” she asked, realizing her throat was dry.

“I didn’t get a good look. Maybe the security firm has a better view,” he suggested. “How the hell did he get in the back door?” he growled and to her horror, he moved over and opened the secret door. She must have made a sound of distress because Ryder turned to her.

“It’s okay,” he said. “He’s obviously gone.” He motioned to the screens.

She noticed then the screen that showed that there were two uniformed police officers standing just inside their front door.

“But what if he comes back? Your laptop is here.” She held it up.

Just then, Ryder’s phone rang, and he answered it as he stepped out into their closet and started to pull on a pair of pants.

Brook didn’t want to talk to the police with just the comforter wrapped around her, so she quickly pulled on a pair of yoga pants and a sweatshirt and followed Ryder and Willy downstairs. She left the laptop in the safe room, concerned that whoever had just broken in would come back.

“Whoever it was, they knew exactly where to look for what they wanted. They knew the layout of the house. Knew where my office was,” Ryder said almost ten minutes later. All of the lights in the house were on and the officers had checked every room and closet.

Even though Ryder had assured them the intruder was long gone, they insisted on making sure the residence was secure.

“Do you always leave your laptop on the desk?” one of the officer’s asked.

Ryder was silent for a moment, then shook his head. “No. A lot of the time it’s there, but not always.”

“Anything on there that’s important or that you can’t recover?” one of the men asked.

Brook remained silent but wondered why Ryder wasn’t telling them that his laptop was safe and sound upstairs in the safe room.

Ryder shook his head slowly. “I have backups.” His gaze landed on her, and she understood that he wanted to keep it a secret that it hadn’t been taken. “Back at the office.”

“You should keep everything up on the cloud,” the younger office suggested.

“Thanks,” Ryder said firmly. “If you’re done…” He motioned to the front door.

“We’ve got security watching out. There’s only one road in and out of this place,” the officer said. “We’ll let you know when we catch them.”

“Right,” Ryder said, opening the front door and waiting until they both left.

“Who do you think it was?” Brook asked when they were alone.

Instead of answering, Ryder walked over and shut off a couple lights. She followed him into the kitchen where he poured them each a glass of orange juice.

“My first thought was Mark. But I’m not sure he’s out of jail yet from earlier today. You can bet first thing in the morning I’ll be checking on it.” He leaned against the counter.

The two uniformed men had checked the back door when they’d arrived. Unfortunately, when she and Ryder had rushed inside to avoid the rain earlier, she wasn’t sure she had locked it. She couldn’t even remember who had shut the glass doors, Ryder or herself.