Page 31 of Out of the Shadows
Jack rattled off Luisa’s email, then dictated a message for Chris to type. “Lu, this is Jack using someone else’s email. Can you enhance the vehicle for make and model and possibly get a license plate? Number one suspect in the break-in. Thanks.”
Jack thanked Chris for his help and ran into Kerry as she returned from dealing with her kids. “Those boys just earned themselves more chores,” she mumbled. “Was Chris able to help?”
“Yes, smart kid.”
“That he is.” She beamed. She walked him to the door. “Please, let me know if you need anything else. I’ll call Laura and see if she needs anything?” She said it like a question.
“I’m sure she’d like that,” he said. “Thanks for your help.”
He left and headed back to Mr. Berg’s house.
While Chris thought Laura’s neighbor was grumpy, he was also a teen, and Jack expected Mr. Berg to be cordial with an adult.
He drove up to the house and saw the white pickup in the carport behind the house. He parked on the packed gravel driveway and before he exited his truck, a man in his early sixties came out from the back of the house, wiping his hands on a rag. “Whatever you’re selling, I’m not buying,” the man said with a scowl.
“Not selling anything, Mr. Berg. My name is Jack Angelhart and I’m a private investigator. Mrs. Barrett had a break-in last night, and I was wondering—”
“Don’t know anything about that. I’m busy, so you can move along.”
“I spoke to one of your neighbors and viewed footage from their security camera. You came home thirty minutes before the break-in.”
“You’re spying on me?” The man stepped forward aggressively.
Jack straightened his spine, his cop instincts on high alert. Mr. Berg was not a pleasant fellow. “No, sir,” he said in a calm, commanding voice. “I’m investigating the break-in.”
“First off, when I came home is none of your business. But since you know, I’ll tell you. I came home at ten last night, had a night-cap, went to bed, as I always do. I didn’t hear anything, didn’t see anything, and I have nothing more to say.”
“Sorry to bother you.”
“You know,” Mr. Berg continued, “you can tell that woman she needs to keep better control of her dogs. I woke up this morning and they had dug through my flower garden. See there?”
He gestured to a patch of flowers against the side of the house, partially shaded. Fresh dirt was evident, but Jack couldn’t see where the dogs had made a mess.
“Took me an hour to get everything back in order again.”
“Thank you for your time,” Jack said before he said something critical.
Before he got back in his truck, the man had disappeared from view.
He had a missed call from Rick, and then a text read:Black sedan registered to Bishop Security, LLC. You’re welcome.
He sent Rick a thumbs-up emoji and sent the info to Tess to run a background, copying in Margo in case she came across the business.
Margo would be irritated that Rick had sent him the information instead of her. He wished his sister and his best friend would fix their problems because they were good together. But they were both stubborn, and he was losing hope that it would work out between them.
He went back to Laura’s and Cody immediately ran out and greeted him, the two Labs on his heels. “I want to check on Nimbus, to see if she had her kittens, and Mom says I can’t go to the barn alone, can you come with me? Please?”
“Sure,” Jack said, “let’s check on the mama cat. But you should get the dogs inside, we don’t want to spook her.”
“Okay!” Cody said and whistled. The dogs immediately followed him indoors.
It surprised Jack how comfortable he felt with the Barrett family. Maybe because Laura was Logan’s sister. Maybe because her kids were fun and interesting.
Or maybe because they were all growing on him, including Laura. He didn’t know quite what to make of it.
Chapter Eleven
Getting out to Litchfield Park in the west valley from Scottsdale was a pain and a half, but Margo beat the afternoon commute, so what could have taken more than an hour she made in forty-five minutes.
