hadn’t tried to read it. But something so immature also suggested it had been kids.
Not that it made this any less painful for her.
“Hey, let’s get you over to my apartment. After a good night’s sleep, maybe facing this won’t seem so overwhelming.” And there was no way in hell he was leaving her alone.
She nodded. “Okay. I should get a change of clothes.” She looked over toward her door. “I’m not sure if I have any clothes left to change into.”
“It didn’t look like all of them were destroyed. But you shouldn’t touch them until after the police are able to go through and look for any evidence.”
She nodded. “The fingerprint dust sticks to everything. I remember that from my office.”
“It’s a mess, but if it helps them figure out who did this, then it’s worth it.”
He stood and helped her get up from the ground. “Tomorrow, in the daylight, this will seem more manageable, I promise.”
She let out a weary sigh. “I hope so.” He walked her over to his truck and opened the door for her. Grizzly followed them.
She turned to look at the dog. “I think he was trying to warn me. He might have seen whoever did this and didn’t want me to go inside the house. Each time I went toward the door, that’s when he started whining louder.”
He smiled. “It looks like you might have yourself a dog here, Cupcake.”
“But I thought you said he wouldn’t settle down with anyone.”
“Maybe Grizzly’s smart enough to realize something amazing when it’s right in front of him. Let’s see.”
He helped Quinn climb inside the cab, then walked around the back and lowered the truck bed’s gate.
He looked at Grizzly. “She’s coming with me. Are you in or out?” He tapped the bed of the truck. “If you want to come with her, you’re going to have to jump in.”
Grizzly seemed undecided, studying him for a moment. Then, without warning, he jumped for the truck, surprisingly spry for having one relatively limp leg. He walked around in a circle for a couple seconds, then sat down.
“You are pretty fucking smart,” Baby whispered. “Thank you for looking out for her.”
He closed the bed of the truck then walked around and got in.
“Yup.” He trailed a finger down her cheek. “Looks like you’ve got yourself a dog.”
He’d been wrong. The break-in looked worse the next day in the daylight.
Baby was glad he’d talked Quinn into staying in bed at his apartment. She would have to face this sometime, but maybe if he could talk her into waiting, it wouldn’t be until later this afternoon or even tomorrow.
She’d barely gotten any sleep—she was way more shaken up than she’d originally let on. She’d woken up several times last night, and each time, she had padded over to Baby’s front window to see if Grizzly was still there.
The dog had refused to come inside, which hadn’t surprised Baby at all. He wasn’t sure the dog could get up the stairs to his apartment over the garage. But he’d seemed content enough to sleep in the back of Baby’s truck. Knowing he was there obviously gave Quinn some sort of comfort.
Baby didn’t point out that eventually the dog would take off the way he always did. But for this one night, Grizzly seemed to want to stay near Quinn, and she wanted him around, so that was good.
She finally reached a deep sleep shortly before dawn. When he’d gotten the text from Gavin a couple of hours later saying he was at Quinn’s house, she was so dead to the world Baby hadn’t had the heart to wake her. Instead, he rescheduled the meeting he had in Reddington City and slipped out of bed, leaving Quinn a note on the nightstand where she’d see it as soon as she woke up.
Not that he expected her to wake up before he got back, but he’d rather be safe than sorry.
Gavin was standing just inside the door of Quinn’s place, a file in his hand, when Baby arrived.
The sight of Quinn’s stuff in shambles all over the place sent a bolt of fury through Baby. Anger wasn’t a common emotion for him, but right now he’d gladly beat the shit out of whoever had done this.
“County crime scene team has finished up,” Gavin said. “They got out here early.”
“Did they find anything interesting?”
“Actually, yes. Let me walk you through it.”
Gavin stepped back out the front door, and they walked around the outside of Quinn’s