Page 35 of Ruthless Cross

When they entered the master bedroom, a blast of cool air hit them in the face. Callie stopped abruptly, her gaze on the open door leading onto the balcony.

"That was closed," she said. "Locked. And I pushed the desk in front of it in case my mom woke up and tried to get out there again. I never moved it back."

His gaze moved to the desk that was a few feet from the wall and at an odd angle, as if someone had shoved it out of the way. Some of the drawers were open as well.

He put a hand on Callie's arm, as she started forward. "Wait," he said. "Don't touch anything."

She gave him a wide, scared look. "Why not?"

"Someone was in here. Do you notice anything else that's different?"

Her gaze swept the room. "The drawers in the bedside table are open. One has my mother's medication in it."

"Someone was in here."

"Maybe it was Lois. She might have come over to check on my mom even though I told her not to."

"And left the door and the drawers open? Do you have her number in your phone?"

"It's in my mom's phone, which is downstairs in my bag." Callie gave him a worried look. "You think someone came in here?"

"Yes. But we'll call Lois to rule her out. What do you want to get for your mom?"

"I don't know. I can't think," she said, panic in her voice. "This is too much, Flynn."

He put his hands on her shoulders, feeling the tight knots in her muscles. "One step at a time. Let's get a bag for your mom. Where would that be?"

"In the closet," she murmured, her gaze fixed on his. "You don't think they're still in the house, do you? It's such a big place. Someone could be hiding." She dropped her voice. "Maybe in the closet."

He let go of her shoulders and moved over to the closet. The door was ajar. He slowly pushed it open, and then he saw the chaos. The drawers had been ripped apart, clothes pulled off hangers, shoes thrown around on the floor. But there was no one inside.

"If Arthur wasn't dead, this would have killed him," Callie said, coming up behind him. "Sorry. That was thoughtless."

"No, you're right. He would have had a heart attack if he'd walked into this."

"I don't understand, Flynn. I didn't notice a mess like this in the study. Why wouldn't they have gone through that room?"

"I don't know, but I'd prefer if you touched as few things as possible. I'll get my team over here to go through the house, with your permission, of course."

"Do whatever you need to do." She grabbed a tote bag off a shelf and then packed a small bag for her mom.

While she was doing that, he stepped back into the bedroom, his thoughts running a mile a minute.Why hadn't the intruder gone through the study?It seemed like an obvious place to hide something like a phone. And, clearly, they hadn't tried to make it look like this room had been untouched.Or had they gotten frustrated by the time they arrived in the bedroom?And just started ripping things apart?

"I'm done," Callie said, coming out of the closet.

"Let's go back downstairs."

When they reached the study, he moved into the room. As Callie had said, it was neat, but…

He walked around the desk and noted some of the drawers were still partly open. "Did you open these?"

"No. I just opened the filing cabinet and took out the big binder and then I went back into the living room, because, to be honest, I just didn't want to look at Arthur's portrait." She paused. "They did come in here, didn't they? But they weren't as clumsy and ruthless."

"Maybe they ran out of time when we arrived. It could explain why the door was open to the balcony. They might have taken off when we got here."

"It would be on the security cameras, right?"

He nodded, as they headed back into the living room. Callie grabbed her purse and pulled out her mom's phone. "Arthur put the camera app on her phone in case she was here alone." She opened the app and handed him the phone.

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