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She shook her head. “It’s a book shop. There’s nothing there but books. Other than Patterson, it doesn’t make any sense and even that seems like a stretch. What does he gain by doing this? It’s not like I’m going to close my shop.” That idea suddenly had some merit, but she shook off the thought. “He must know that. It seems like a waste of time. Does he think if he keeps doing something like this, I’ll stop trying to get him to switch his logo? And why does the logo mean that much to him? It’s crazy.”
It was completely bewildering. She could not fathom why someone would do that to her shop. There was no logical reason. No upside to it. She propped her elbow on the table and rested her forehead on her cupped palm as her heart rate slowed. The whole thing just didn’t make any sense but sitting out here wasn’t going to fix it.
She looked up at Hawk. “Hang up.”
“What?”
“Hang up. You said yourself they aren’t going to take fingerprints or do any forensic testing. What’s the point in calling them? They’ll just waste my time questioning me instead of doing anything helpful.” She stood. It hadn’t taken long for rage to replace shock and fear, making her knees steady again. “Hang up,” she demanded and then, grabbing her stuff off the table, she stalked toward her store. Hawk followed her but stayed outside. He seemed to be making another call.
She opened the door and immediately growled. It was going to take days to get everything back the way it had been. Books were strewn all over the floor and hanging off shelves. Pictures had been yanked off the walls as well and smashed on the floor. No section of the store had been left untouched by violence except the two tapestries. They still hung on the walls like book ends. It made her feel immensely better that the one covering the doorway to Gramp’s apartment was still hanging straight with no signs of damage. Everything could be fixed. This was going to be costly for her, but it could all be put right again.
She dumped her stuff on the checkout counter and made her way behind it to hang her coat on the stool. Turning around, she let out a long breath. For the first time ever, the shop was going to have to be closed. There was no way she could keep it open. She mentally ran through what she had on the calendar for today. Shit, she had a story time for the little ones that was always popular, and she had the teen writing group that liked to come in and hang at the back.
She thumbed through her phone and made the requisite calls to cancel the events the best she could. She posted the temporary closing on social media and hoped between that and word of mouth most people would find out that she was closed before they left home.
She wanted to call Emily, who worked the cash on weekends, but the young woman was on vacation. She’d left town on Thursday and wouldn’t be back for a week.
Putting down her phone, Remy looked out through the window. Who was Hawk talking to? His mobile was pressed against his ear and he was scowling. Not that whom he was speaking to was any of her business. She had enough on her plate. Still, he looked damn fine in his jeans and black winter jacket. Even with the harsh look on his face, he was fine. He’d been so solid when she’d leaned against him. His warmth had helped to keep her on her feet. She owned him one for sure after all this. Maybe she’d offer to take him out to dinner as a way of saying thanks assuming he didn’t have a girlfriend. She snorted. A man that good looking, no friggin’ way someone hadn’t snapped him up.
She shook her head as if to clear her mind and turned on some music. Usually, she had the satellite radio tuned to a top forty channel, but instead the harsh twang of Austin Davis came through the speakers. He was doing some sort of interview. God, but he was an annoying asshat. Way too right leaning for her. Like into the weird conspiracy theory zone. He’d been in the senate for a couple of terms now as she understood it, but he’d just started gaining momentum in the last few years. He was everywhere these days. With a grimace, she tuned it to a new channel and soft jazz came through her speakers. Squaring her shoulders, she immediately got to work picking up books and stacking them on any flat surface. She put the damaged ones on the front window seat after moving the pillows and the rest on top of the shelves. Once she got a section off the floor, she’d put them on the shelves in order. She needed to be able to walk around the room first.
Remy glanced at the book in her hand. A thriller. She snorted. Her life resembled a thriller novel at the moment. Too bad she couldn’t just put the book down, or even turn the page.
She stacked another pile of books on a shelf and then leaned against the shelves for a moment. The floor in this area was clean. Now she just had to put the books in order. It was going to be a long day, or possibly two.
The sound of the door opening reached her ears. She turned to find Hawk standing in the doorway.
“Do you want some tea?” she asked instead of, ‘who were you talking to?’Which was what she really wanted to ask.
“I called Lacy, who put me through to Gage Callahan. Do you know him? He’s Logan’s brother. They run Callahan Security along with a third brother, Mitch.” Hawk closed the door behind him and descended the stairs. “Sorry, didn’t think. Of course you probably know that since you’re close with Lacy.” He came to a stop beside the checkout counter, where she stared at him, her mouth agape. Once again, she was very conscious of his size. He seemed huge to her.
Her thoughts switched back to Lacy. She hadn’t told her friend any of this and now he’d ratted her out.Great.Lacy was going to be wild at her. “Um, I haven’t met him, but I know the name.” She jammed her hands into her pockets while she tried to remain calm.
“Anyway, I talked to him, and he’s sending some video equipment over. I think it’s only wise to install some in the store until we know what’s going on.”
Okay, now he’d done it. This was just too much. “Wecan’t afford it. Besides, my grandfather never wanted cameras. He used to say that no one wanted to be spied on while they were picking out a good book.”
Hawk narrowed his eyes. “That might have been your grandfather’s stance on it, but he’s no longer here, and you’ve been attacked and broken into twice in the last two days. You need some security in here.”
She glared at him. “As I said, I can’t afford it. The business does well enough, but I can’t do anything crazy, or I’ll go under. Security systems are too expensive.” She wasn’t going to think about the money her grandfather had left her. It gave her hives every time she even contemplated where he could have gotten that kind of cash.
Hawk sighed. “I really think—"
“I don’t care what you think,” she snapped.Enough!Where the fuck did he get off sticking his two cents in. She was done with being nice.
“That’s no way to speak to someone,” a voice said from the doorway.
“Gus,” Remy said, immediately chagrined. “What are you doing here?”
He looked around bewildered. “Carol from the dry cleaners down the block called. She said the police were here last night. She didn’t call until this morning or I would have come over sooner. What happened here?”
She quietly fumed. Carol was the nosiest woman on the block. She should have kept her mouth shut. Remy cleared her throat. “Someone broke in.” Just looking at the mess made her heart burn in her chest. Her grandfather would be so upset.
“Why didn’t you call me?” he looked at her accusingly.
She frowned. “I didn’t want you to race down here and try and help. You should be taking it easy. I know how much the store means to you too and seeing it this way is…hard.” Devastating was the word she wanted to use but she didn’t want to upset Gus. He was the same age as her grandfather and quite frail. He was also the closest thing to family that she had left.
“They made a mess, didn’t they?” He turned to her. “Do you have any idea who did it?”
