AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She bristled. She rarely let people get under her skin, but this cop was doing it. She wanted to explain—she had the proceeds from the house after her divorce, she had eight months of vacation and sick leave accrued that she cashed out, that she was living mostly free of charge with her dad. But she didn’t say a word. It was none of his damn business.
The two officers exited the townhouse the way they came in. “No one is inside. No signs of violence. Should we lock up?”
“No, I’m going to do a walk-through, look to see if he took luggage or other signs that he is fleeing town, or any sign that he may have been threatened,” said Detective Quincy.
Such a search was in a legal gray area, Regan knew. If Quincy found anything that might connect Grant to Madeline’s murder, it would be thrown out as an illegal search.
“Let me help,” Regan said. “I was here earlier, I’ll know if something is out of place.”
“No.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I am allowed in. I’m the one who gave you access.”
“It’s not your house,” said Quincy. “And I could have gone in on a welfare check, no questions.”
“If Grant came in while I was at Madeline’s, I’ll know.”
“Would you?”
She didn’t comment.
Quincy scowled. “Stay with me. No wandering, no touching. If there’s any sign that something is rotten, I’m calling in the crime scene investigators to do a full and thorough search and processing.”
“In that case, you should know that because I was here earlier, my prints are going to be on doors, the refrigerator, his office.”
“You had dinner?”
She shook her head, gave him a half smile. “You can tell a lot about a person by the contents of their refrigerator.”
“What did his contents tell you?”
“That after we divorced, he still didn’t teach himself how to cook.”
Nothing appeared out of place until they reached Grant’s office on the top floor.
“Hold it,” she said.
The detective stopped.
If Regan hadn’t been in this room only a few hours ago, she wouldn’t have noticed what was missing.
“His laptop is gone.”
“Are you sure?”
“I left here around seven twenty, seven twenty-five maybe. His laptop was on his desk, closed, plugged into the wall. The charger is gone. And his laptop case.”
“He could have come home after you left, took his laptop.”
“You cannot assume that it was Grant. The evidence at the front door suggests a break-in. Someone else could have taken it.”
But it could also have been Grant, and they both knew it. The break-in could have occurred before or after he stopped home—if he came home. Either Grant came back for the laptop andthensomeone broke in during the three hours Regan was gone, or Grant hadn’t come home and a thief took the laptop.
“Do you have gloves I can use?” Regan asked. “My prints are already all over the desk, but I want to see if the files in his locked drawers are gone.”
“Are the drawers locked now?”
“I don’t know.”
