Page 90 of Buried Too Deep

Phin nodded. “Good. Second, what were you thinking? He could have hurt you.”

Cora sighed. “I didn’t want you to get kicked.”

Stone chuckled. “We appreciate the sentiment. Next time, don’t engage with a bucking bronco, okay?”

Cora blinked. “Next time?”

Molly huffed her displeasure. “There better not be a next time. And if there is, you stay put in your room. No running up to see what’s happening.”

Some of the anger that had been simmering all evening spilled over. “It’s my goddamn house, Molly,” she said coldly.

Molly’s expression softened. “It is. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have talked to you that way. This is kind of a high-stress situation.”

“Y’think?” Cora asked sarcastically. “What happened? Why didn’t the alarm go off?”

“It did,” Molly said. “But I’d set it to silent. Both Phin and I saw this guy lurking around your house. I went out to search and he ran away. Phin and Stone came over to give me coverage. They jumped the fence in the back of your property and we waited for him to come back.”

“But that fence is six feet high.”

“We’re all trained for stuff like this,” Molly said.

“And SodaPop? That’s not part of a service dog’s training, is it?”

“That was a little complicated,” Stone admitted. “I went over first and Phin handed her over.” He looked at the dog. “You’re a good girl.”

Molly smiled. “She is. I stayed on the bottom floor, Stone was on the middle floor, and Phin took the attic. We unlocked a few windows.”

“You laid a trap,” Cora said, her temper receding.

“We did,” Stone said, then pointed at the intruder. “Einstein here picked the attic. Phin told us where he was entering and that gave us time to lock the windows we’d opened and get our asses up here to assist. The big bang was Einstein hitting the deck after Phin tackled him.”

Cora glanced at Phin, hoping he was okay, that this hadn’t sent him into one of his spirals. His eyes were sharp, his body tensed but only in a hyperaware way. He looked okay.

She relaxed a little more. He looked better than okay. He looked good in the silver moonlight. My knight in shining armor. The thought nearly made her smile.

“So who is this little prick?” she asked.

Molly had lowered her gun to her side. “Phin, you want to do the honors? Hurry up because I have to go downstairs. The cops are here.”

Sure enough, Cora could see flashing lights reflected on the walls. “Wait a minute.” She pulled her phone from her bathrobe pocket and started recording. “Go for it, Phin.”

Phin pulled off the ski mask and the man glared up at them. He looked young. Eighteen or twenty at the most. His skin was pale in the moonlight, his hair a shade of red much lighter than Cora’s.

Cora had never seen him before and she wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed. It would have been nice if this guy were the letter writer, but he probably hadn’t even been alive when the first letter had been written.

“Cora?” Molly asked.

Cora shook her head regretfully. “Don’t know him. Does he have ID?”

Stone patted him down. “No wallet. Who are you, asswipe?”

The man set his jaw sullenly and said nothing.

Molly holstered her gun. “I’m going to let the police in. Keep recording, Cora.”

“Oh, I will.” She glanced around her camera at Phin. “Thank you.”

He nodded once. “I’m sorry we woke you up.”

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