Page 17 of Rascal

“I don’t know, but I’m going to check with her. I know when they made the complaint at the station, she was going to mention thinking someone had been in her house and that she’d changed the locks for her safety.”

“I think you should do it in the group text so if Scoop and Sarah have any information to add from their visit to the police department.”

Rascal: Meg, have you done any repairs to the walls in the bedroom with the daybed?

Meg: No, I painted when I first moved in. The extra paint is kept in the garage if we need to do touch-ups.

Rascal: There’s a place behind where the daybed was that looks like the wall was cut, then repaired, but they used the wrong shade of gray.

Scoop: The officer who took the report wanted to come out anyway and was waiting for us to text we’d be there. I’ll let him know. We are leaving the bank right now.

Beth: Hey, keep an eye out. President Ass just left his office and is walking toward Meg’s house. He looks strung out or something else. He’s disheveled.

Rascal: Everyone, make sure no one is in the front yard. Close up the trailer and get inside the house. I want all doors locked so if he does something, it’s breaking and entering.

War: Ahh, come on. It’s been a little boring. I’d really like to hit someone. You used to be fun, Rascal.

Rascal: Did you seriously just call me boring?

War: Well, you used to be the hit first and ask questions later type of guy.

Scoop: I think you’re doing the smart thing, Rascal. We don’t want any reason for him to have to fight any charges.

War: Suck up.

Beth: Okay, he’s detouring into the science building. I’ll let you know when he comes out.

Scoop: Detective is on his way. We’re parking in the alley and coming in the back gate.

Rascal headed out of the room, opening the back door as Meg, Sarah, and Scoop made their way across the yard. Meg looked beautiful but a little stressed. She’d been running her fingers through her hair. He held his arms open as she walked up and into his arms. Sarah and Scoop walked in. Scoop closed and locked the door.

“Are you okay?”

Meg hugged him a little tighter. “I am because I have you and my Bluff Creek family helping me. It’s maddening that he thought he could get away with all this, but at least, I’m not alone.”

He held out a chair at the bar in the kitchen for Meg to sit and poured her a glass of iced tea from the cooler. They’d already emptied out her refrigerator and cabinets.

“Anybody else want some?”

Rascal grabbed the disposable cups and poured everyone drinks.

“I think this is the best place for us to hang out. I don’t believe you can see into the kitchen from the front window. I wish we wouldn’t have removed the curtains already.”

“We took down the curtains but left the blinds because they came with the house. We could slide them down so he can’t see in,” Meg suggested.

Scoop nodded and headed into the front room with Bear to lower the blinds in the main room and the front bedroom.

Beth: Incoming. Ass leaving science building and heading across the street. Someone else joined him. Code Paulo.

“Okay, Rascal told me about the codes, but I have no idea what they are besides Code Rachel.” Meg’s scrunched up nose was adorable and even in this situation, Rascal couldn’t help but grin at her.

“Can’t trust the person or situation. Don’t worry, we have a cheat sheet for the codes,” Sarah said and patted Meg’s shoulder.

A knock at the door had them all quieting. When knocking didn’t work, he started banging on the door.

Beth: Secondary target heading around house toward gate by garage. Ass banging on door and trying to look in the windows.

Rascal motioned for them to move into the middle bedroom. He didn’t know if the target was heading toward the back door in the kitchen or possibly the window of the room that had the wall damage. Once Meg and Sarah were in the room, he headed to the front room. Bear was in the bedroom, and Scoop went to the kitchen. War was waiting in the front room, just leaning against the wall. When Rascal joined him, he motioned to the door and mouthed mine. He didn’t care if War was bored. Rascal was going to get to neutralize the man who’d threatened his woman if anybody was.

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