Page 6 of An Unexpected Home

“That’s what Mr. Clarkson said.”

He didn’t know Leah, not from Adam. But he didn’t want to think that the pint-sized pixie could be the culprit here.

“What was taken?”

“That’s the strange thing,” Tim said. “As far as we can tell, nothing.”

“Nothing?” he asked, not sure he heard Tim correctly.

“Nada.”

Forcing thoughts of Leah from his mind, he got busy examining the case.

By the end of the day, he was turned so inside out that he couldn’t believe that just that morning he had been thinking of maybe, possibly finding a way to ask Leah out. And now here he was on his way to interview her as a suspect in a burglary that wasn’t really a burglary.

They’d found no evidence that anything had been taken and it seemed like the only damage was the broken window. And other than Mr. Clarkson, no one else in town had seen or heard anything.

When he pulled up to Carly’s house he noticed Leah’s silver Malibu still sat where she had parked it last night. He pulled his truck in beside it and parked.

He was dreading this. And not just because she was the first woman in a long while who stirred things inside him that had long since been dormant, but because Leah was Carly’s friend and Carly was not going to take this well.

Walking up to the front door he kept going over what he was going to say in his mind. He wanted to come across as friendly and helpful, not accusing.

Normally he would just walk in but today, for this, he felt the need to knock. A few seconds later he heard footsteps and then the door opened.

And thankfully it was his cousin Carly standing in front of him.

“Why the hell did you knock?” she asked with a shocked look on her face.

“Can you step out here so we can talk for a second?”

“Uh oh,” she said. “Someone has his official cop face on.”

“Please,” he added. He really wanted to go over this with her first before he met with Leah.

She closed the door behind her and they both sat down on the swing.

Not sure where to start he said, “The Rinky Dinky was broken into last night.”

“Oh no,” she said, eyes wide. “Is anyone hurt?”

“No and nothing was stolen either. The perp just smashed the window.”

“Well that’s good at least.”

He chose his next words carefully. “I need to ask you about Leah?”

Her mouth formed a perfect O. “What? Why?”

“Someone saw her car drive by during the hours that the window could have been broken.”

“Of course she drove by.” She stood up. “She got into town after three and that road is the only way in or out.”

She was pissed. “Calm down, Carly. I’m not accusing her but I do need to ask her some questions.”

“It sure sounds like you’re accusing her, Brandon. What the fuck!” She turned and paced away from him. “You were the one who saw her when she got here. Did she seem like she had just smashed in a window?”

He stood too. “Of course she didn’t, but I have to follow up on all leads. You know that.”

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