“Looks as though they were searching for something specific.” Officer Adams had come up behind her. He motioned to the top of the dresser. “Check your jewelry box. We need to know if anything is missing.”
“This makes no sense,” she muttered as she went to her jewelry box and opened it. Her grandmother’s pearl necklace and matching earrings were still there. Other than a gold chain she’d gotten for her eighteenth birthday, everything else was costume jewelry. “It’s all there.”
She took a step back and sank down on the bare mattress. “I don’t understand. I don’t have expensive things or a lot of money. I own the house, but that’s about it.”
The officer hovered beside her. “Do you have any idea what they might have been looking for? Anything that might have value.”
She dropped her purse beside her and buried her face in her hands. She felt violated in the worst way. This home had always been her sanctuary, her hope. Now it was tainted with fear. She scrubbed her hands over her cheeks and took a deep breath. “The only thing that has value is my work. And I can’t see anyone else wanting it.”
“You said you’re a writer?” Officer Adams checked his notes.
She nodded and felt her cheeks warming. “Romance author. I write paranormal romance.” She stood and tried to appear professional. “The thing is, I just turned in the galleys for my latest book and have barely started working on the third book. I have about twenty pages and my notes. But that wouldn’t be of value to anyone but me.”
He made a few notations in his notebook before putting it away again. “Okay, if there’s nothing else you can add we’re finished here.”
“You’re leaving?” She wanted them to go, needed them to go so Leander could join her, but for the first time in her life she was afraid to be alone in her own home. Unacceptable. She stiffened her backbone. “Do you need me to sign a statement or something?”
He reached into his pocket and drew out a card. “We’ll file a report. I’ll contact you later today or tomorrow. If you think of anything you can add to what you’ve already told me, please call.”
She took his card and slid it into the back pocket of her jeans. “Thank you.”
He started to leave but hesitated. “Do you have anyone you can call? I don’t expect them to return,” he hurried to assure her. “This was probably the work of kids out for a lark, probably searching for drugs and alcohol.”
“I don’t have either.”
He nodded. “They probably didn’t take the television, because, well…”
“It’s okay to say it. It’s old and basically worthless.” She still had one of the old heavy clunkers. She’d been planning on buying a flat screen this summer if her royalty check was big enough.
He smiled. “Yeah. It wouldn’t have been worth the money to drag it out of here. They probably got frustrated when they couldn’t find anything and wrecked the place instead.”
She nodded, even though she knew that likely wasn’t the scenario. “I’m sure you’re right.” But if it this did involve Hades somehow, what did he want? What was he searching for?
She followed Officer Adams to the front door. His partner was already by their police cruiser. Two other officers strode down the road toward the car parked at the curb.
“They’ve been talking to your neighbors to see if anyone noticed anything unusual,” he told her in reply to her unasked question.
She nodded. Great, now all her neighbors would be watching her house more closely for the next day. Exactly what she didn’t need.
“There was no sign of forced entry, but these locks are old. You should probably get a locksmith out and install some newer ones. You’ll probably sleep better.” Officer Adams motioned toward their car. “I’m going to have to get you to move your car so we can leave.”
“Oh, of course.” With her mind spinning, she’d forgotten she was blocking their vehicle. She patted her pockets, her mind blank.
Officer Adams seemed to recognize her difficulty. “Are they in your purse?”
“Of course,” she repeated and hurried down the hallway. Her purse was still sitting on the bed where she’d left it. She dug for her keys but couldn’t find them. Upending her purse, she dumped the contents on the bare mattress. Everything was there but her keys.
They were still in the car. She’d been in such a hurry she’d left them there.
Officer Adams had joined his partner in their vehicle and they were both waiting on her. The other police car had already left. Most of her neighbors had drifted inside. She hurried to her car and breathed a sigh of relief to see her keys still in the ignition. She started the car and backed out of the driveway. The police car pulled out and headed down the street.
Araminta pulled her car back in, turned it off and this time removed the keys. Her front door was wide open and she hurried inside, slamming the door behind her. She clicked the locks on and scurried to the back door to make sure it was locked.
Not that it really mattered. Obviously the locks hadn’t been much of a challenge for whoever had broken in. They were old locks from the fifties and she’d never changed them because there simply wasn’t that much crime here. She lived in a good neighborhood in a good town.
Leaning against the door, she took a deep breath. She was shaking and her stomach was queasy. Officer Adams was right. She needed new locks, better locks in order to feel more secure, maybe even an attack dog or an Uzi. She swallowed the lump in her throat and wondered if she’d ever feel safe here again.
The refrigerator cut in and the humming sound broke the silence and made her jump. She usually loved being by herself, enjoyed her own company and her books, but now the quiet felt oppressive, almost frightening. She pushed away from the door and went to her office. She’d only caught a glimpse of it earlier. Like the rest of the place, the floor was filled with papers and stuff from the top of her desk. Paperclips, rubber bands and pens were everywhere.
Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them back. There was no time to cry. She had to get Percy back from Mary Jo. With that mission in mind, she headed back to the front door and locked it behind her before hurrying down the pathway and up the sidewalk to the small house next door. They were practically identical in layout, both older two-bedroom bungalows built in the fifties.
The door opened before she reached it and Mary Jo stood there, concern etched on her face. Her name suited her as she had brunette hair, blue eyes and a smattering of freckles. She looked like the girl-next-door, and Araminta had known Mary Jo most of her life. They’d played together as children and, while Araminta had moved away for a short while, Mary Jo had stayed home to nurse her ailing mother. When her mother had passed on, Mary Jo had stayed in the house she’d grown up in. She worked full time at the local grocery store in their bakery department and decorated cakes on the side.
“Is anything missing?” Mary Jo practically dragged her into the house. “I couldn’t tell for sure, not in all that mess.”
“I don’t think so. The police think it was probably kids looking for booze and drugs, and when they didn’t find anything they wrecked the place.” That was as good a story as any and, if she hadn’t met Leander and stumbled into the whole curse mess, she’d probably believe it.
“Well, that’s a relief. You want some coffee?” Mary Jo went to the counter and poured a cup for herself. “I made coffee cake too.”
Araminta shook her head. “No, thanks. I need to get home and start clearing away that mess.”
“I’ll come help you.”
“No.” When her friend simply stared at her, Araminta tried to smile, knowing she’d been more than a little abrupt. “I mean, I think I need to go through this mess myself.” And she had no idea when Leander was going to show up.