Page 6 of Crash and Burn

Instead, he looked at her as though she was nuts. “You called the police?”

Maggie shook her head and explained. “What would I tell them? There wasn’t an open door or window. Nothing was moved. Honestly, it might have just been the house creaking.” She hated admitting that she was in her thirties and still being kept awake at night by the sound of an old house.

“You told Rex?”

She tried not to let her lips press together, or let Sebastian see how she really felt right now. Because lately she hadn’t been able to even go to Rex. She’d been his babysitter, not his girlfriend. Surely, the cracks in her relationship were already showing. Probably everyone saw them by now.

She liked Rex— but that was the problem. She liked him; she wasn't in love with him.

She'd moved to town and he’d asked her out right away. He was charming, with his dark Italian good looks and ready smile. She was hoping to make friends and meet someone and maybe she’d said yes a little too quickly. They’d barely begun dating when Hannah had come along. And maybe that's when she'd known it wasn’t going to work, because Maggie had fallen in love with Hannah … not Rex.

“Should we take the box to the police?” she asked, wondering if the PD would even have time to do anything with it. The box was the only evidence she had and it was just a stupid box in an odd position. Hardly worth the officers’ time.

“If we take it to them, they're going to keep it,” he told her.

She wasn’t ready for that. Besides, it wasn’t really hers. If it was innocent, someone had left it behind. “So how I do find out who it belongs to?”

Even as she asked him, she caught a glimpse of the time. “Crap! I have a client on the way.”

“Then leave me here. I can get photos of the pieces and see if anyone in town knows who they belong to.”

“You can just do that?” That would not happen in LA. “Never mind. Yes, do it. Maybe someone can help. Thank you.”

She was beyond grateful. She needed an extra pair of hands—or ten. She loved Hannah, but this wasn’t working. She was nowhere near the number of clients she’d projected to have at this time, and her savings would only take her so far. Maggie was growing concerned about admitting defeat. Sebastian's offer was a godsend.

“Do you have a spare pencil?” He’d already used a pen from his pocket to lift the first piece out and spread it out on the floor. As if he thought he shouldn’t touch it. His concern heightened her discomfort.

She would feel better after she returned it to the owner. “You don’t want to touch it?”

“I’m just thinking if we can get a fingerprint off of any of it, we might find the owner.” He didn’t sound too hopeful, but he wasn’t leaving his own prints behind, she noticed.

Maggie was popping up to grab him the pencil when she heard a car pull up out front. Her client was early or she had yet another unexpected visitor.

“Go meet your client. I’ve got this.” Sebastian waved her away with a reassuring smile. He must have seen her anxiety and it made her heart melt.

She had to break up with Rex. Even if this was just a silly schoolgirl crush, her heart shouldn’t be flip-flopping for one man when she was dating another.

Grabbing a pencil from her supply room, she turned back to hand it to Sebastian, only to smack into him. His broad chest in the soft t shirt stopped her like a wall.

She was simply grateful that she hadn't poked him with the sharpened end. That would have been even more embarrassing.

“Oh, I'm sorry.” He jumped back quickly, as though he'd been the one not paying attention.

Sweet guy,she thought and held out the pencil, though she could still smell him in the air between them now. “Here.”

She scrambled away as her front door creaked open behind her.

“Dear? I know I'm early … Oh, I just love what you've done with the place!” Mrs. Miller was all of four foot eleven and her personality and forwardness filled up any space she didn’t take up physically.

Maggie just smiled and nodded. She’d barely rearranged the furniture, not having the funds to replace it. And she wasn’t a fan, but she pasted on her best smile. “Mrs. Miller! I'm glad to see you. Don't worry about being early.”

The older woman nodded and took Maggie's hand in one of hers. She used the other to wave at the brightly welcoming foyer and front room. “Now, let's get down to the nasty business of writing this will.”

“Wills are a good thing,” Maggie reminded the woman as she squeezed Mrs. Miller's hand.

The older woman settled herself into one of the plush chairs across from the large oak desk. Just as Maggie was opening her mouth to ask about how Mrs. Miller might need to divide her estate, the older woman opened the conversation with something entirely different.

“I don't know if you heard …” She leaned forward as though to share a secret. “But just outside of Lincoln, they found another body.” The bright blue eyes looked truly worried, and she reached up and fidgeted with the stone on her necklace.

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