“Handsome, interesting, funny.” How could she tease poor Colin so?
His voice became serious. “Hmmm, should I be jealous?”
“Well, he did ask me out.”
“What!” Colin shrieked. “What did you tell him?” Suddenly his voice was high and intense.
“What do you think? I told him no, that I was seeing someone, of course.” She probably shouldn’t have baited him that way, but it felt kind of nice to hear a sizzle of jealousy in Colin’s voice, standing up for his woman. It made her want him all the more. “I told you I’d wait for you.”
“I guess I’d better be moving my butt back there sooner rather than later.”
“I guess you’d better.” She laughed. “Not to change the subject, but I had a heart-to-heart with Isabel the other night and it turns out she was Izzy Handler from Evan’s address book.”
“No kidding.”
Emily explained to him what Isabel had shared about her relationship with Evan, and how she had moved to Paradise Valley to help him. However, the part where someone was possibly hiding in her house while the girls were there and may have overheard her conversation with Isabel, well, she thought she’d keep that to herself. It would only upset Colin and there was nothing he could do from seven hundred miles away.
“I’d better let you go, Emily. It’s getting late. I’ll call you again tomorrow.”
“That’d be nice,” she replied, reclining against the pillows once more.
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
~*~
With nothing on the agenda for Sunday, Emily hadn’t bothered to set the alarm, hoping to get some extra sleep. She’d had too many exhausting nights with little sleep because of Evan, so sleeping in would be a treat.
At nine o’clock, there was a loud knock at her front door. She was still in bed, hovering in that dream-like space between sleep and waking. She was dreaming Colin had come back to Paradise Valley and was knocking at her door. Then another loud knock interrupted her dream and she realized someone really was at her front door.
“Coming!” she hollered as she grabbed her robe, not knowing for sure if the visitor could hear her or not. As she rushed to the entry, she could see the top of a police officer’s hat through the windows across the top of the door. “What on earth?”
She cinched the belt on her robe and opened the door part way, peeking around it. “Good morning, can I help you?”
“Emily Parker?” the officer asked.
“Yes. Is something wrong?”
“Do you mind if I step inside?”
She knew most of the officers in Paradise Valley, but this one didn’t look familiar to her. She looked past him and saw his cruiser parked in front of her house, then she looked for the familiar police badge on his uniform before agreeing.
These days she was suspicious of just about everyone. She backed up, opening the door all the way for him and he stepped inside the entry.
“What is this about?” Emily pulled her robe a little tighter around her chest.
“We got a call a little while ago from one of your neighbors who said he saw a man peeking in your windows. We just wanted to make sure you knew about it and that you were okay. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I was sleeping.” She wondered if the peeping Tom could have been the same person who’d been breaking in. “What neighbor called it in?”
“The report said anonymous, but the dispatcher said it sounded like an elderly man.”
“Mr. Cooke, next door.” She motioned toward his house with her thumb. “That was kind of him to look out for me.” She thought for a second about reporting the other break-ins, but then she would have to explain the entire story of Evan and his mysterious past. She decided she’d rather leave that investigation to the Feds. “Did the man see Mr. Cooke?”
“I believe he did. The report said the man ran off when he saw he’d been spotted.”
She wondered if Mr. Cooke would be in danger now. Emily decided to pay him a visit, see if he could describe the man.
“I’ll go have a talk with Mr. Cooke. I appreciate you stopping by, Officer, but as you can see, I’m fine.”
“You should make sure your doors and windows are locked when you go to bed, ma’am, just to be safe. You might also think about investing in an alarm system or at least a big dog.”
“I appreciate your suggestions,” she said, opening the door