Page 29 of Deadly Revenge

“Hey, guys, don’t talk about me like I’m not here.”

Alex laughed. “She sounds normal.”

“Ha-ha.” Jenna made a face. “There was someone in the house. I heard them walking, then the back door slammed.”

Her hair had fallen loose around her shoulders, and she finger combed it. Max liked it down, with her black hair softly curling toward her face, framing it.

Alex took out a notepad. “Tell me what happened.”

Jenna repeated what she’d told him, and he added what he’d found when he arrived. “The back door was shut and deadbolted.”

Jenna jerked her head toward the door. “That doesn’t make sense. I know I heard someone ... and I heard the back door slam ... but how could the door be deadbolted? It takes a key like this one to open both the front and back doors.” She pulled a house key from her pocket.

“You said you didn’t remember coming in here, but evidently you did,” Alex said gently. “So maybe you locked the door and don’t remember.”

“Maybe ...” She didn’t sound at all convinced.

Alex frowned. “What I want to know is why you didn’t call for backup when the door was open?”

“I didn’t have my phone.”

“You had your radio ...”

Jenna groaned. “I didn’t think of that.”

Neither had Max.

“When I heard someone running, I rushed in,” Jenna said, “and that’s the last thing I remember. It’s like my mind won’t lock on to anything.”

“It’ll come back to you,” Alex said. “And maybe you simply fainted—last night was traumatic, and you were up really late.”

“I’m feeling fine now.”

“Your color is better,” Max said. “It’s not green.”

“I turned green?”

He waved his right hand, indicating so-so.

Alex tapped the pad. “I’ll get Dylan or Taylor over here to dust for prints—just in case someone broke in, but if that’s what happened, it’ll probably be like the other break-ins we’ve had lately. Nada.”

“Someone was in the house when I got here,” Jenna insisted.

“You’ve had other break-ins in broad daylight?” Max asked.

“Five or six in the last couple of months,” Jenna said. “Same MO. The perps seem to know when the owners leave and how long they’ll be gone. I must have surprised them by returning home before I was supposed to. I need to check and see if they got my phone.”

“Where is it?” Max asked. “I’ll grab it for you.”

“It’s probably on my night table, but I’ll get it.”

While Jenna went to retrieve her phone, Alex put away her notebook. “Did you see anyone when you arrived?”

“No. And the house didn’t look as though anyone had searched through it—everything looked neat ...”

Worry crossed her face. “I’ll get Wayne and a couple of deputies to knock on a few doors around here, see if anyone saw anything.”

“There aren’t many houses around here,” Max said. “Iftherewas anyone here, a person would have to be driving by at just the right time to see anything.”

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