AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A moment later, I saw a figure running off to the side of the house.
My heart pounded fast as I raced down the stairs to grab my phone, which I'd stupidly left downstairs. I grabbed it on my way to the front door. I peered through the window next to the door, but I couldn't see anyone, and the dog had settled down.
Then I heard another door open, and Kade walked toward the sidewalk. He was barefoot and bare-chested, wearing a pair of black sweats. I opened the front door and saw a potted plant turned over on its side, broken into several pieces.
Kade turned around and spied me in the doorway. "Are you all right?" he asked as he returned to the house. "I wasn't sure if you had stayed here or gone to a hotel."
"I stayed. I fell asleep." My gaze moved to the pot. "Someone was on the porch, maybe trying to get into the house."
His lips drew into a grim line. "They made a hell of a lot of noise doing it," he muttered, running a hand through his messy hair, his eyes tired. "But they didn't get in."
"No," I said, my heart still racing. "The dog next door started barking. Maybe that scared them off."
"That's what woke me up."
"Me, too." I met his gaze. "This has to be connected to my mother, right?"
"It seems likely," he muttered.
"I should call the police."
He went downstairs to close his door, then came back up the steps and into the main house.
I called 911 and told the dispatcher that someone had tried to break into my house, and it could be connected to an earlier shooting. She said she'd send an officer out to check the property.
"Someone is coming," I told Kade. "But they won't find anyone. The person ran off. I saw a figure in the dark, but I couldn't identify the person. I assume it was a man, but I couldn't even say that for sure."
"The police can look around and make a report and let the detective on your mom's case know what happened. If someone was trying to get in here, they must want something."
My gaze clung to his. "Like what?"
"I don't know. Did you look around? Did you see anything odd?"
"Only odd to me. My mom had clothes from the boutique that I run with my sister. They were new. They had tags on them. She couldn't have come into the shop. We would have recognized her, so she must have bought them online." I tucked my hair behind my ears. "Sorry. That's not what you were asking. Anyway, I saw the clothes, I got tired and laid down on her bed, and I didn't look for anything else."
"Well, there's still time. I can help you," he offered.
"Really? You're not exhausted?"
"I was thinking maybe tomorrow," he amended.
"Oh, of course." I saw flashing lights through the window. "The police are here."
I moved to the door to let in a female officer. I told her what had happened while her partner looked around the house and yard. He returned a few moments later to say that the lock on the side gate had been broken, and it looked like someone had tried to jimmy the back door. He had noticed the same marks on the front door, where the pot had been broken.
I didn't feel better after hearing that information, although I was relieved that my mother's dead bolts had apparently been enough to keep the intruder away.
"We'll report this information to Inspector Greenman," the female officer said. "He'll probably want to talk to you in the morning."
"Thanks for coming out," I said.
"No problem," she replied.
As they left the house, I locked the door behind them, turning to face Kade once more. "You probably want to go back to bed."
"What are you going to do?" he asked.
I hesitated. "Maybe I should go to a hotel."
