Page 410 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

“I’ll have Hummet check into that.”

She pulled into the garage in the basement of his building. Jacob thought about standing in the elevator for long enough to get upstairs and wanted to stay in the car rather than do that. It sounded exhausting, and he was already ready for a nap at this point.

Addie pulled to a stop beside another vehicle. Russ got out of his truck.

Jacob quickly realized it washistruck, not the old marshal’s.

The graveled older man pulled a wheelchair from the bed of the truck and set it beside Jacob’s door.

He was pretty proud that he got into it by himself without crying.

Addie wheeled him to the elevator, and Russ hauled his stuff. They piled in, and Addie used his key to get them into his floor.

As soon as the doors opened, he knew something was wrong.

Russ stepped out first. “Door’s open.”

Addie shifted. “We can see that, Russ.”

Jacob just stared. Addie pushed him over, and he nudged the door.

Addie let out a long breath. “The whole place is trashed.”

Russ frowned. “PD?”

“They’ll need to get the crime lab up here to dust for prints. Figure out who did this.” She shifted. “Jacob?”

He could only stare at the mess. His home. His private space. Someone had come in and tossed it.

She laid a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll pack a few things, what you need for a couple of days.”

Jacob swallowed. “Where am I?—”

Russ leveled him with a look. “You’re staying with us.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Addie eased the door open and looked in. She’d been staying in this room but brought Jacob in as soon as they got here. He wasn’t going to sleep in their home office, and neither was Russ. Addie on the other hand fit fine on Russ’s thinking couch.

She watched for a second and tracked the rise and fall of his chest under the blankets. The guy had been wiped out by the time they got a few things from his apartment, dealt with the cops, and drove here from downtown.

“He good?”

She eased the door closed. Russ stood in the hallway. She followed him back to the kitchen where Mona made coffee. “He’s resting at least.”

The teen glanced over her shoulder at them but didn’t interrupt.

Russ pulled out a chair and eased into it. One day, it would hit her that he was getting old, but there was something timeless about his age for now. He didn’t look or act much different than he had before she left town the last time.

“What did the cops say?”

Addie dropped Russ and Jake at the house, turned around, and went straight back to the apartment. “Signs that the lock was picked or whoever had a key missed the slot and scratched up the chrome. Security says Jake’s key card was used to access the floor from the elevator, but they also told me there are a couple of copies of the card floating around. One spare, and at least one that Jake lost at some point.”

“Anything stolen?”

“Nothing obvious.” Addie paused while Mona sat at the table. “But he’ll have to go through everything and see what’s missing.”

“Good call getting his things for him, not wheeling him through there. He didn’t need to see that.”

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