Conceal, Protect - By Carol Ericson Page 0,14
inspect the rest of the house, and retraced their steps. The flashlight sweeping in front of her, she scurried to the house and grabbed a set of sheets from the linen closet in the hallway. Clutching the sheets to her chest with one arm, she rushed to the guesthouse. She hoped J.D. could make a bed by himself, because she couldn’t face him across a mattress.
She walked into the house, burying her nose in the freshly laundered scent of the sheets to blot out the mustiness of the house. She dropped the pile of linens on the couch, and J.D. turned from inspecting the window.
“Do you think someone’s going to break in here, too?”
He tapped a finger on the glass. “Anything’s possible. If there are...junkies looking for a quick fix they might hit this place, too. Especially once it looks inhabited.”
Noelle assessed J.D.’s strong physique. This time the thieves might get a surprise. Could it really be just a couple of low-level junkies like Sheriff Greavy and her missing meds suggested? Maybe this break-in had nothing to do with the break-in at her place in D.C. Just another ding in her long spiral of bad luck since Alex’s death. She shivered.
“Are you okay?” J.D. dug his cell phone from his front pocket. “Give me your number. I’ll call you and you can add my cell number to your contacts. If anything else happens tonight, give me a call. I don’t think they’ll be back. They got what they came for.”
Did they?
She gave him her number, he called her phone and she stored it under his name. That made their connection seem more real. Of course, having him around the ranch every day would seem pretty real, too.
“I’ll walk you back if you let me take the flashlight. One of my first chores will be to get some floodlights set up on the outside of the ranch.”
“Okay.” She bit her lip and surveyed the room. “You can get to work on this place first if you want.”
“Don’t worry about me. This is fine.” He took her arm and pulled her through the front door. “It’s late. We can work out the rest of the details later.”
Details? They had details to work out? Must be talking about the money.
Once outside on the path back to the ranch house, Noelle shook off J.D.’s light grasp from her arm. She’d been so wary of strangers the past few years and yet she’d invited this man onto her ranch and into her life in less than twenty-four hours of acquaintance. She’d have to fire up her laptop and do a thorough search on Jim Davis. How many millions would she have to sift through to find this one?
J.D. lifted the screen door and held it up while she unlocked the door.
“Here you go.” She handed him the flashlight. “We’ll discuss the rest of the...uh...details tomorrow. You can drop by for breakfast.”
“I’d like that.”
“Good night, then.” She slipped into the house before she could do something foolish. It was too soon after Alex’s death to get romantically involved with someone.
Two years. Was that too soon? Given the circumstances, ten years would be too soon.
She waited a few minutes, her palms flat against the front door. Then she slipped outside and picked her way across the dirt driveway to her truck. She unlocked the passenger door and reached beneath the seat to retrieve her laptop.
Hugging the computer to her chest, she returned to the house and locked the door behind her. Maybe J.D.’s first order of business should be a dead bolt for that front door. Odd that a petty thief or junkie knew how to pick a lock without leaving a trace.
But then, the people who had broken into her place in D.C. hadn’t been too concerned about leaving behind a trail of destruction and upheaval. Maybe she just had a streak of bad luck following her—or picking up on her trail again.
She sighed and plunked the laptop onto the kitchen counter. She powered it on and poured a glass of water.
“Jim Davis.” She said the name as she typed it onto the screen. Realtors, actors, musicians and criminals popped up. She took a sip of water and swished it around in her mouth.
“Jim Davis, Texas.” Hadn’t J.D. mentioned he hailed from Texas? Adding the state narrowed the search but not by much. She tried James Davis without any more luck.
She powered down the laptop and snapped it shut. Too bad her newly acquired ranch hand