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“Do they still make those?”
“Beats me, but I’ll try anything at this point. I’ve got to get inside.”
Gabe grinned. “I’m starting to believe this is really your house.”
“Trust me…it is. Why else would I be trying to get inside a place that looks this tired? See that tree over there? If you look real close, you’ll notice notches on the trunk. My brother did that after I fell and broke my arm. He was mad.”
A broken finger. A broken arm. Like his late wife, she was delicate, breakable, fragile. “At you or the tree?”
“Just mad. That’s Zach. Better to attack the tree than the snotty cousin who pushed me.”
Gabe gave the statement its due consideration. “I think I like your brother.”
“Me, too.” She flashed that smile again. “He’s a cop.”
“Who wouldn’t approve of breaking and entering.” He cupped his hands. “You don’t look like a burglar, anyway. Hop on. I’ll lift you up.”
“Are you sure?”
He cocked his head, eyebrows raised in amusement. “Only if you’re sure you’re not a burglar.”
She laughed and he got that sinking feeling again in his belly. “You’re now my accomplice.”
Cute.
After checking the bottom of her shoe and dusting away a couple of chunks of gravel, she gingerly placed a black and pink Nike runner into his laced fingers, steadied herself with a hand on his shoulder and hopped a couple of times to get her momentum.
“Ready?” he asked.
She nodded. “The crime spree begins.”
Really cute.
Gabe hoisted and she scrambled up the side of the house like a spider monkey. Gabe stood below, feet braced and arms ready in case she slipped. The athletic Brooke clung to the facing, shoved the window up and tumbled forward with a squeal and a laugh.
Her head poked back out the window. Some of the ponytail had come loose and dangled in her eyes. “Come around to the front. I’ll let you in. We’ll steal the good silver.”
“If someone hasn’t already.”
She gave a quick look behind her. “Eek!”
Appreciating her humor, Gabe guided A.J. past a showy purple flower bush the falling blonde had barely missed and around to the covered front porch. Elevated three steps up the porch was enclosed an additional three feet by a limestone half wall. A couple of flat-topped pillars stood sentry on either side of the steps. In one corner of the concrete space a green metal chair rusted. A dried-out flowerpot grew cobwebs. Leaves had piled along the edges.
No one had lived here in a while, which made him all the more curious about his new neighbor. She’d come into town for a funeral. Was she staying longer or heading back to where she came from? And why did he care?
A.J. spotted the dangling wind chime and pointed. “Hold you, Daddy,” he said, his baby talk indicating the desire to be picked up.
Gabe obliged. Just as A.J. touched the swinging metal discs, the doorknob, an old brass handle that had seen better days, rattled.
“Ta-da.” Brooke stood in the open doorway, dimple activated. She swept the bandaged hand over the top of her head and smoothed loose hairs. “Come on in. The coast is clear. If I had a burglar, he didn’t take anything…that I know of. You’ll have to excuse the place. I just got back last night. My cousin has been looking after things around here, but the house still needs a lot of cleaning.”
Gabe and A.J. went inside. Except for a low chair and a couch, the furniture was covered by sheets and the room smelled as musty as an old cellar. “Back from where?”
A shadow crossed her face. “Colorado Springs. I went to college there.” College. She was young. “Dropout or graduate?”
“I graduated in May.”
“Congratulations.” A.J. kicked against his sides. Gabe lowered him to the floor. “So you’ve come to the metropolis of Clayton to job hunt?”
“Right. Between breaking and entering and directing all that traffic downtown, I’m a busy girl.” She indicated the flowered chair. “Sit if you want. I gotta grab a water. Want one? Or coffee? I don’t have much in the cupboards yet, but I picked up a few things yesterday, including instant coffee. A little refreshment is the least I can do after you helped further my life of crime.”
