A Billionaire's Redemption - By Cindy Dees Page 0,25
wanted? Had she nearly died...or worse?
The police were noisy as they stomped around the back of the house and eventually came inside, calling back and forth to each other and clearing rooms as they went.
Finally, an eternity later, a knock on the door at her back made Willa jump a foot in the air. “Miss Merris? This is Deputy Green. You can come out now.”
Shakily, she pulled herself to her feet and opened the door. She’d never been so glad to see an armed man in her life. “Thank God you’re here. Did you find him?”
“Ma’am, we didn’t see any sign of an intruder in the garden. It’s as quiet as a sleeping baby out there. Little windy, though. Are you sure you weren’t just seeing tree branches swaying?”
“Of course I’m sure. In fact, I heard the intruder just on the other side of this door a few seconds before you got here.”
“Miss Merris, the house alarms were turned on and undisturbed when we came in. Nobody’s come inside this house tonight but us.”
“But I heard him breathing—”
The policeman cut her off politely, but firmly. “Folks’ imaginations run wild when they’re scared. We see it all the time. But you’re safe now. No one was in the house, and frankly, no one looked to have been in the garden. If there was someone back there, it was probably just some kid taking a shortcut home. Why don’t you go on to bed, miss. We’ll reset the alarm on the way out and make sure the place is all buttoned up.”
“Do you know where James Ward is right now? What if it was him? The Ward Ranch backs right up on the other side of the woods behind our property. You need to have someone check on him. See if he’s home or not.”
“It’s the middle of the night. I’m not going to disturb the Ward family at this hour just to satisfy your curiosity—”
Desperate to sound reasonable and calm, she enunciated carefully, “The man raped me. Asking where he is immediately after an intruder came into my home does not constitute idle curiosity, Officer.”
“Ma’am, the house is locked up tight and there’s no sign of anyone having been in the house who doesn’t belong here.”
The Wards and Merrises had been like family forever. Heck, she knew the code for the Ward home’s security system. James Ward undoubtedly knew the security code for this house. But she didn’t waste her breath trying to change the officer’s mind. He’d decided she was imagining things and nothing she said was going to change his opinion.
“...go on to bed, and everything will be fine in the morning,” he was saying soothingly.
God, she hated it when people patted her on the hand like this, with a metaphorical “there, there,” as if that would make everything better. She wasn’t an idiot, and she knew what she’d seen and heard.
The cop wasn’t taking no for an answer to the whole go-to-bed thing, and waited expectantly in the hall while she changed into pajamas and a robe. She called out that she was in bed, and the jerk opened the door to poke his head in and see for himself.
“Good night, miss. You just stay in bed and get some sleep. And don’t let your imagination run away with you again,” he said sternly before closing her bedroom door and heading downstairs. She mumbled a foul name at the closed panel of her door. She was a United States Senator, for goodness’ sake, not a naughty five-year-old.
Surely the intruder had nothing to do with those secret files she’d stumbled across. No way could anyone have reacted to her discovery that fast, right? It was just a coincidence.
She’d deal with those tomorrow. But tonight, she was going to try to take Deputy Green’s advice and get some sleep.
Huddled under her comforter, she listened to the sounds of the cops finishing up and leaving. Silence fell over the house. She wasn’t crazy, darn it. There had been someone in the garden, and there’d been someone right outside her bathroom door. But no matter how hard she listened for movement, all she heard were the normal sounds of the house itself and an occasional branch banging into her window on a gust of wind.
* * *
Damned police. Chased a person off just when things were getting interesting. Willa Merris thought she could hide? Hah. She’d never be safe. If she was so secure in her ivory-tower mansion, then why was her