Page 53 of Crash and Burn

Maggie shrugged, but Sebastian offered, “The FBI was here just a handful of days ago. They obviously carted evidence out of the house, so I have no idea why anyone would have come back at all.”

But Maggie thought maybe that was the issue. “Unless he didn't know that we found the jewelry at the back of the closet.”

Looking up at Sebastian, she caught his understanding nod. She wound up explaining to the officer who didn't seem to know about that particular find.

Interesting.

She would have thought the information of the closet stash would blaze through the station like wildfire. Maybe the FBI was trying to keep it secret, but she'd had an intruder in her home. If they couldn’t keep her home safe, then she didn’t care about their evidence.

She was going to give the police all of the information they asked for. “If they saw the FBI carting out documents and things, they might even think the jewelry was still under the floorboard. I don't know who has or hasn't heard about that …” Maggie looked to Sebastian then to the officer.

Sebastian added, “Most of the firefighters at the station know about it. Maggie brought it to us before we realized what it was. And in fact, it was a group of us that figured out that we needed to hand it into the police.”

The officer nodded, not offering information on whether this was news to him or not. His hands gripped the sides of his tablet and he focused on tapping out notes with his thumbs.

Maggie next explained about the stash at the back of the closet. “Both of these things were found in room five. The floorboard is still loose. The board in the back of the closet is still loose, but we closed all the doors before we went to bed …” and there she’d done it. She’d just said “we went to bed.” So that would be everywhere by morning. She tried to stay focused on the information. “If your people are in there now, and the door to five is open, and especially if that closet door is open, that would give you an idea what he was probably looking for.”

They went on to explain again how they had changed the locks that evening. That they didn't know about the cellar access in the laundry room.

The officer raised an eyebrow.

“I inherited this home several months ago,” Maggie told him, as if to defend herself. “I visited my aunt here during the summers as a child, and I cannot remember a time when that wasn't the laundry room, or when that old carpet wasn't there. If you look at the number of rooms this house has, you can understand why I would miss something like that.”

Sebastian's arm came out around her shoulder and crinkled the foil as he pulled her close. No one liked being questioned. Maggie knew better than to get irritated. But she was.

“When will we be able to get back in the house?” Sebastian asked. And for the first time Maggie realized that if the officers looked upstairs, the bed she and Sebastian had been sharing would likely reveal what they’d been doing when they first heard the noise—and maybe why they hadn’t caught on that someone was in the house sooner. She’d managed to skirt around it when questioned, but her clenched handprints were probably still pressed into the comforter.

Lovely.

“I don't know,” the officer replied, tucking the tablet under his arm.

Sebastian was growing irritated now, too. “We're standing outside in our pajamas. We need to have access to our clothing. And we need to know when we'll be able to get back into the home.”

He didn't demand that the officer produce the information, but he stated it in such a way that he brooked no opposition. Sure enough, the officer came back just a few minutes later and offered to lead them upstairs so they could change.

When the two of them met in the hallway again, the officer was still standing there. Probably to make sure they didn’t mess with any evidence, either on purpose or by accident.

No privacy for a quick kiss, Maggie thought, but Sebastian had no such concerns. He reached out and took her hand and told the officer “You have my phone number. I'm taking Maggie out for breakfast.”

The relief that flooded her was welcome. She hadn’t even realized the amount of stress she was carrying, so she told the officer, “You all are welcome to check the house in any way you need while we're gone. Please collect any evidence that helps. If you remove anything from the property, I’ll be needing an itemized list.”

Damn if she hadn't had to say that more than once recently.

They were heading out the front door, discussing whether to take Maggie's car or Sebastian's bike. It wasn’t as if every neighbor hadn’t already been awakened but revving the bike down the street at an ungodly hour would not make her a beloved neighbor.

They were opening the doors to her car, when Marina came out the front door excitedly looking for them. Maggie waited while the officer came in close and spoke in a low tone. “I figured you would want to know. We already pulled prints from the back knob, scanned them and sent them in. This is not by any means a real confirmation, but the tech on duty tonight owes me a favor.”

Maggie was confused.They could find something that fast?

Marina continued. “It’s just a preliminary visual scan—not official—but AFIS already matched the prints to those found at the scene of several attacks of the La Vista Rapist.”

Chapter Forty-Four

Maggie was about to pass out into a serious carb coma by the time Sebastian opened the door to his apartment for her.

The sky was only just starting to lighten, but he’d taken her to a twenty-four hour diner and fed her pancakes and bacon and hash browns. It was exactly what she’d needed. And what she needed now was sleep.

Though her brain was wondering what the police were doing at her home—and whether or not the FBI had arrived—her eyes popped wide as she entered from the landing into the living room. “Holy shit. This is …”

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