But that didn’t stop Shannon from looking around the house.
Satisfied that no one was inside and that nothing had been taken, Shannon returned to her living room and considered her options. Instead of the police, where a report would be filed, a squad car would show up at her door, and the media would return, Shannon called Lori.
“You made it home?” Lori said when she answered.
“I did. To an unwelcome surprise. Is Reed home yet?”
“He just walked in the door. Is everything all right?”
She glanced at her foot, knew she’d need a couple of stitches before the night was over.
“Not really.”
“Definitely not an accident,” Reed declared after doing a complete search inside and outside her house.
Lori sat next to Shannon on the couch, her arm over her shoulders. Now that the adrenaline was starting to drop, the pain in her foot was getting worse.
“I didn’t think so.”
“A side window suggests whoever did this was hiding from the street view. Your neighbor’s house doesn’t have a direct line of sight. And you’ve obviously stopped setting your alarm when you leave.”
Shannon had been lax on the security system in the past year. That would change after this.
“Who would do this?” Lori asked.
Only one name came to her head. “Corrie.”
“Victor’s ex?”
Shannon nodded. “She’s left me several messages, all pretty angry that Victor and I are together.”
“Threatening?”
“Not directly. Just bitchy. Reminded me of high school.”
“You can file a police report,” Reed suggested.
“And add fuel to the tabloids? No. She’s a scorned woman, barely an adult. She’s searching for attention, and I don’t want to give it to her.”
“She broke a window,” Lori reminded her.
“I bet that’s the last of it. This is a cowardly adolescent act.”
“Don’t underestimate her because of her age,” Reed said. “Younger people have done worse.”
Shannon heard the wisdom in Reed’s words. “If I file a report, and they bring her in for questioning, then what? She gets attention and seeks more? How likely is this vandalism going to be linked to her outside of an eyewitness?”
Reed was once a detective before he went into private security. He knew the system better than anyone.
“Not likely.”
“Did you keep the messages on your phone?” Lori asked.
“No.” She held up a hand before Lori could continue. “I will from here on out.”
“Good. All of them.”
Reed removed his cell phone from his pocket and started snapping pictures of the room. “In case we need them later,” he told her.
Shannon removed the pressure she was giving to the bottom of her right foot and peeked under the paper towel.
Lori saw it and stood. “Okay, that’s it. We’re going to the hospital. Honey . . . can you?”
Reed turned to them, saw the problem, and moved to scoop Shannon up in his arms.
“I can manage.”
Reed didn’t listen. “I’m sure you can.”
He walked her out to her garage and into the passenger seat of her car. Lori followed with her purse and house keys.
“I’ll stay here until one of my guys can come with some plywood and close this up. I’ll meet you,” he told his wife.
They kissed and Lori slid behind the wheel.
As they backed out of the driveway, Shannon turned to her friend. “Thank you for doing this.”
“You don’t have to thank us.”
“I know.”
“You do have to promise me something,” Lori said as she turned the corner.
“What?”
“Anything else, from a doormat kicked out of place or a heavy breather on the phone, you tell us.”
“I will.”
“Does Victor know about Corrie’s phone calls?”
Shannon watched the lights going by. “I told him about the first one. He called her and told her to let it go.”
“She didn’t.”
“No, she got him to talk to her, which is what she wanted.”
“And you didn’t tell him about the other calls?”
“No. And I don’t want him hearing about this until after he’s home. Which is another reason I didn’t want to call the police.”
“Fine. I get it. But anything more serious, and he’s brought up to date on everything.”
“You sound like your husband.”
“No.” Lori turned into the ER parking lot. “He sounds a lot like me.”
Chapter Thirty
Shannon wore flats and a long dress to hide them when she joined Lori Friday evening.
The rest of the week was free of broken windows or a need to go to the hospital. She’d had a couple of brief conversations with Victor, brief mainly because of the time difference and his work schedule. But when they couldn’t talk, they sent flirty texts to say they were thinking about each other.