Page 90 of An Unexpected Home

“Brandon?” Chief Scott held his hand out and Brandon shook it. “Good of you to come.”

He nodded. “Tell me what you’ve got.”

“So this is the third and final house hit on this street. Nothing was taken from the first two but both had their bathrooms raided. And then in this one, the only thing missing is the owner's daughter’s insulin.”

“How did he get in without any of the families knowing he was there?” They had entered the house and Brandon was now staring at a ransacked bathroom.

“This one was a backdoor and the first two were open downstairs windows.”

“Damn,” Brandon swore. He looked around, searching the bathroom for any little piece of evidence that would help him find this guy.

“All the houses will be dusted for fingerprints, but that’s not going to really help us since we know who this guy is already.”

“Did your guys find anything at the other two houses?” He was kneeling on the floor searching behind the counter.

“Nothing yet,” Ray said. “I’ve still got a couple guys at each place though, so here’s hopin’.”

Brandon made a noise that was a cross between a grunt and a groan. “I’m just so sick of this.” He stood. “How is one guy capable of all this evasion?”

“We’ll find him,” Ray said. “He’s starting to get clumsy and that means he’ll make a mistake somewhere along the way.”

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Hours later, Brandon was on his way home from Woodridge where no new information was found. He was exhausted and frustrated and more than anything, just wanted to hold Leah.

Making the quick decision to go by her place instead of his own, he pulled in and found Logan’s car out front. His brother was sticking like glue to Melanie and that eased his mind some.

He found Logan sound asleep on the couch, with Carly’s dog Max loudly snoring on the floor next to him.

Some guard dog he was.

Logan jumped upright when Brandon took a step and a floorboard creaked.

“It’s just me,” he said when he saw the wild look in Logan’s eyes.

“Fuck,” Logan swore and flopped back down. “Thanks for scaring me half to death,” he said in a gravely, half-asleep voice.

“Sorry. Go back to sleep.” He moved quietly through the house and up the stairs to Leah’s room.

He found her peacefully asleep, both arms hugging a pillow in the middle of the bed.

He kicked off his shoes, stripped off his clothes and climbed in the bed next to her. She stirred but only a little and he dozed off.

He woke up to the loud beeping of her phone alarm that he was getting used to.

He watched her shut it off and then snuggle in closer to him.

“What time did you get here?” she asked as she yawned.

“A little after five.” He wrapped an arm around her, making it easier for her to lay her head on his chest.

“I’m sorry my alarm woke you this early then. I thought you were going home and I was gonna come by your place before I went to work.”

Loving that she had been thinking of him, he kissed the top of her head. “I missed you too much to go home.”

“Go back to sleep,” she said and he had no problem following that order.

When he woke up next, the first thing he noticed was that she was no longer in bed with him. The second, that it was nine o’clock. Deciding he could take a quick nap later, he forced himself to get up. After he pulled his clothes back on and made a pitstop in the bathroom, he found Leah downstairs sitting in front of her laptop at the table.

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