Page 69 of Inviting Trouble
Park hauled her up against his side. “Who’s afraid?” he asked, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Lame. But she didn’t push him away.
“You guys are so cute!” Hailey exclaimed.
“Yeah. Cute.” She eyed Park, who stared back at her, a gleam in his eye. “See ya, Park.”
Once in the car, Hailey yammered on a mile a minute the way she did when she was nervous. Mad wasn’t nervous at all. First of all, the robber would have to be an idiot to make an appearance in broad daylight. Second, he or she probably just needed someplace warm to spend the night.
Hailey parked in back, still babbling on about who knew what. Mad tuned her out as all of her stilled, focused on the task at hand.
Mad made a shushing gesture. “Be cool,” she told Hailey.
“Should we sneak in the back or go through the front door?” Hailey whispered.
“Good idea. Let’s sneak in the back. That way if someone’s there, we can surprise them. Get out your cell phone to take a picture.”
Hailey’s hand went to her throat. “You really think the robber is in there?”
“No, but I hope so. I want to catch him or her in the act.”
“Wait. First let’s check the perimeter.”
Mad rolled her eyes but followed Hailey around the entire mansion. Everything seemed to be locked up tight. Hailey always made sure of it.
They got to the side of the house and stopped dead in their tracks where a curtain blew gently through an open window.
Chapter Sixteen
“Maybe we should call the police,” Hailey whispered.
Mad shook her head. She went up on tiptoe, lifted the curtain, and peeked inside. It was the dining room off the kitchen with only a table and chairs in the center of the room. She turned to Hailey. “I think they just left in a hurry last night and forgot to shut it.”
“Wouldn’t the police shut it?”
“Maybe it wasn’t obvious. I mean, it was dark.”
Hailey shivered. “I’m getting a bad feeling.”
“You want to go back to your car and call the police?”
Hailey nodded.
“Go ahead. I’m going in.” She put her hand out. “Give me the key.”
“Mad, I can’t leave you alone in there!”
“Then come with me.”
They snuck around to the back door. Hailey unlocked it and they slowly stepped inside. Hailey reached for the light switch, but Mad stopped her. If there was someone there, she wanted the element of surprise. They tiptoed over to the dark dining room with the open window.
Empty.
Mad went over to shut the window and locked it. She pulled out her cell, set the flashlight app, and peered around the dim space. Nothing.
“We’ll go room to room and see what’s missing,” Mad said, flicking on the overhead light.
They did a tour of the downstairs—nothing was out of place—and finished in Hailey’s office.
“My laptop’s missing,” Hailey fretted.
