Conceal, Protect - By Carol Ericson Page 0,6
mind.
“I did, but...” She cranked her head over her shoulder and looked at the house, the open door behind the screen door, a soft light filtering through the mesh.
J.D.’s pulse picked up speed. Noelle hadn’t been running at him but rather away from something in the house. He hooked a hand beneath her arm and nudged her. “What’s wrong?”
She allowed him to pull her to her feet. Still gazing at the house, she brushed the dirt from her jeans. “I—I think someone broke into my house.”
Damn. Had Zendaris’s men followed her already? They must be confident she knew something about the plans or had them in her possession. Zendaris grew bolder by the week.
“You think?”
“I put things in a certain order.” She folded her arms across her chest and hunched her shoulders. “Someone changed that order. I could tell someone had been in there.”
“Do you know for a fact that someone is gone?” He put his hands on his hips, his fingers resting on the weapon secured in his gun bag.
Her eyes widened. “No. I noticed the items out of order and took off.”
“Smart thing to do.” But then, she’d had practice at that sort of thing. He unzipped his gun bag and withdrew his weapon. “I’m going to check it out.”
“Do you know how to use that thing?” She pointed to the gun clutched in his hand.
You have no idea, darlin’. “I’ve had a little practice. Do you want to wait on the porch or come inside with me?”
“I’ll come with you.”
He opened the screen door and the bottom hinge fell off the doorjamb.
Noelle, who’d been close behind him, jumped, bumping against his back. “I must’ve caused that when I flung open the door.”
“We’ll deal with that later.” He rested the bottom corner of the screen door on the porch, an idea forming in his head about a way to get close to Noelle without arousing her suspicion—because she had a lot of suspicions.
He stepped over the threshold, his gun leading the way, and surveyed the front room. He saw no glaring evidence of a break-in. Noelle must be more skittish than an unbroken pony.
“How do you know someone was here?” He lowered his weapon. No need to get trigger-happy.
“The smell hit me first.” She took a deep breath, her nostrils flaring. “Men’s cologne. I—I recognize the scent, but I haven’t had anyone over wearing that. I haven’t had anyone over at all.”
J.D. sniffed the air, but the only smell filling his nostrils was the freshness of Noelle—light, floral—definitely not a guy’s scent. “If you say so.”
Her startling blue eyes glared at him. “There are other things.” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “Do you see those magazines? I had them stacked a certain way. Someone moved them.”
He knew from his surveillance of her D.C. apartment that she was religiously neat, but he found it hard to believe she’d remember which way she’d stacked her magazines. “Do you have a pet? A cat?”
“No.” She narrowed her eyes, resembling the cat she didn’t have. “And even if I did, I don’t think the cat could knock that sweatshirt off the closet door handle and then hang it up a different way.”
He raised his eyebrows. Was she really that meticulous or had she been setting a trap? Someone this organized would never be able to put up with his habits—not that Noelle Dupree had to put up with anything from him.
“Anything else?” He swung his gun in front of him again. The lady seemed to know what she was talking about, and any hopes he’d had that she’d overreacted and Zendaris really wasn’t on her tail just grew dimmer.
“I didn’t stay to find out.” She waved her arms in front of her, encompassing the room. “I thought we came in here to surprise the intruder.”
“I doubt we’d be surprising him now, but let’s take a look.”
She guided him through the house, where she pointed out other discrepancies between the placement of certain items now and how she’d left them.
Zendaris’s thugs had tried to conceal their intrusion this time, unlike their break-in of her apartment in D.C. Why? Probably didn’t want to spook her and send her running to some other location. Wanted to take her by surprise this time.
In the bathroom, Noelle flung open the medicine cabinet and gasped.
“What’s wrong? Something missing?”
“A bottle of prescription medication.” She tapped one glass shelf. “It was right here.”
Was it a cover? Had Zendaris’s people taken some drugs just in case Noelle noticed the