Page 32 of Protecting Chaos

“Call this in while I go get Stella.”

I jogged down the stairs and out of the house with my mind racing to understand what this meant and what the consequences would be.

Stella saw me. Relief flashed in her eyes as she threw open the door and ran across the street, straight into my arms.

“Are you okay?”

I held her tight and kissed her hair. “I’m fine.” Unease tightened in my gut as I glanced up and down the street. “Let’s get you back inside.”

Stella wrapped her arms around her body as if to fight off a chill as I ushered her back inside. One cop was coming down the stairs, and the other was in the living room on the phone. He covered the speaker and whispered, “Forensics will be here in twenty minutes. Don’t touch anything up there.”

“I’m going to go look for footprints in the mud out back,” the other cop said. He gestured with his thumb toward the kitchen. “You got a backdoor?”

“Yeah.” I pointed down the hall. “Just through the kitchen.”

He nodded and disappeared as the cop in the living room hung up. “I’m going to do a sweep of the perimeter.”

I held out my hand and shook his. The cop gestured to his own head. “You might want to get that looked at.”

Stella pulled me down to sit on the couch. “What happened? Are you really okay?”

“I grabbed my clothes and a towel and was headed into your room to shower when I heard you yell about the wine. I turned to answer, but I heard curse words in someone’s thoughts. I was about to turn back when I felt the blow to my head. After that, I woke up on the floor.”

She eased my head to the side and frowned. Concern darkened her eyes.

“Whatever was used to hit you with did a number on your neck. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

She’d doctored the scratches on my neck and face before the other officers ever showed up.

Her stomach rumbled while we were sitting at the kitchen table, reminding us both of the pizza she’d forgotten to order.

“These guys might be here awhile. We need to feed you,” I said, resting my hand over hers.

She nodded. “I’ll call for the pizza.”

She pulled out her cell phone and called in a large enough pizza order to feed all the cops in her house. She always was thoughtful like that.

Within the hour, there was a knock on the front door and the nearest officer opened it.

Avery stood on the stoop dressed in a pizza uniform, holding five large pizza boxes.

Stella jogged to the door, grabbing her purse on the way. She took the pizzas from Avery and passed them to the officer who’d opened the door. “Dinner break.”

The officer smiled and headed toward the kitchen.

“Everything okay, Ms. Stella?” Avery asked as her gaze darted around the room to all the cops now headed for the kitchen.

“We had a little incident earlier, but everything is fine now. Don’t worry about me.” Stella pulled cash out of her wallet and handed it to Avery.

“You gave me too much,” Avery said, trying to give some of the money back to Stella.

“The rest is your tip.” Stella smiled and pushed the money back in Avery’s direction.

Avery backed out the door hesitantly and hurried down the steps, glancing back once again as she climbed into the delivery car. She drove off, and we watched until the pizza logo vanished around the corner.

“I’m sure you read her mind. What was she thinking?” Stella asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I think that hit hurt in more ways than one.”

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