Page 23 of Welcome Home for Christmas
Troy pulled some gloves out of his pocket to avoid getting fingerprints everywhere, slipped them on, and retrieved the card. The name on the card was a female’s. Probably one of the previous robbery victims. “Allison?” He stepped inside the dark living room, glancing around for evidence of foul play. Looked like the intruder never made it inside, though. Probably heard his tires squealing on the way here and ran off. Good thing for him because Troy would’ve had a mind to punch the asshole once or twice, just enough to keep him unconscious into the new year. For self-defense, of course.
“Allison?”
He walked down a long hallway toward her bedroom. Approaching sirens could be heard outside.
“Allison?” Stepping inside her room, Troy looked around. The covers were turned down. Allison must’ve been in bed sleeping when she’d heard the noise of someone trying to break in. Good thing she’d woken up. What would’ve happened if she’d interrupted the burglary?
Troy walked toward the closet, where his gut told him he’d find her. He’d told her to hide, and the closet was always the first place people ran to. Troy had even apprehended a few Marines hiding in their closets. Granted, both of those times the Marines had been slobbering drunk.
He opened the closet door and a woman’s scream knocked him back several feet. Follow that with the police coming in through the front door and Troy was thoroughly thrown off balance.
“Sergeant Matthews from Camp Leon!” Troy shouted down the hall, to prevent himself from being tackled. Or worse, shot at, by the officers walking in.
Allison leaped out of the closet and threw her arms around his neck. “Oh my God! You came!”
Troy’s arms contracted around her. “ ’Course I came, baby. You called.”
Her breathing shook against him. “I was so scared. There were noises outside and I heard someone messing with my lock.”
“They must’ve run off when they saw me coming. They even left the credit card they used to pick your lock.” He handed it to the officer behind him.
“It belongs to the woman who was robbed a few nights ago,” the officer said, looking at it.
Troy nodded. “I figured. The other robberies didn’t happen with the owner in the home, did they?”
“No. But Ms. Carmichael’s car is in the garage. Maybe the intruder thought she wasn’t home,” the officer said.
Allison pulled back from Troy’s embrace and looked at him. “What if he comes back?”
“I don’t think he’d be that stupid.”
She swallowed, then took another step away, creating more distance between them. Pity because Troy had kind of liked the feel of her in his arms. “All I have is a baseball bat. And I’m not a good swing.”
The police officers gestured toward the front door. “We’re going to go see if there’s anything suspicious outside. Otherwise, we’ll file a report, but there’s not much else we can do. I agree with Sergeant Matthews. Your intruder is not likely to come back to this location. He’ll probably hit another house around here, though, judging by the fact that you’re the fourth house in two weeks in a two-mile radius. We’ve been patrolling regularly and we’ll continue to do so.”
The officers filed out and Allison hugged her arms around her body. “Thank you. And thank you for getting here so quickly.” She looked at Troy. “You, too. It felt like forever waiting in that closet, but I had my phone. You got here in less than three minutes. You must’ve flown here.”
Troy leaned in. “My secret’s out. I’m really Superman under this T-shirt.”
She laughed and punched his chest lightly. He resisted catching her hand and pulling her back against him. “I still don’t want you to call me baby,” she said. “But you get a pass tonight for saving me.”
“Where’s the baseball bat?” he asked.
Her brow furrowed. “I was kidding about that.”
“You don’t really have one?”
“No, I do, but I’d never use it on someone.”
Troy tipped his chin toward his chest. “Not even a burglar who might hurt you?”
She blinked. “Do you think he would’ve hurt me?”
“Not if he wanted to live.” Troy scanned her bedroom again. “The bat should be by your bed. Any weapon is better than no weapon.” His gaze fell on her nightstand now, where there was definitely something beside her bed. A six-inch purple, glittery something. He looked at Allison again and her cheeks lit up like Rudolph’s nose. “I’m not sure you’ll scare anyone away waving that thing around.”
She rushed toward the nightstand and took the vibrator and shoved it in the drawer. “That’s an, um, massager for my, uh, back. I use it on my back.”
He grinned, enjoying how flustered she suddenly was. “I can stay the night if you need me to.”
