Page 92 of In Colton's Custody (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

Marlowe pointed to Asher. “Except for him.”

“I told you that Dulcie was in there with Harper. I don’t have anything of value in there, anyway. And I rarely use cash.”

Marlowe pulled out her phone. “I’ll call the others.”

Genevieve pointed toward the guest suite. “What about Jace’s room?”

“Right. Jace.” Asher hurried that way. “A burglar wouldn’t know which wings to hit.”

The others followed him down the hall but stood back as he pushed open the door.

“It’s empty!” Genevieve called out, speaking for everyone.

Asher stepped inside to look around, and the others followed. The dresser drawers had been pulled out like they had been in the other suites, but this time, there were no clothes on the floor. None of the paintings remained on the wall, either.

“What the hell?” Asher called out.

“This place has been wiped clean,” Grayson said behind him.

Marlowe marched over to the closet and opened the door. It was empty, too.

Grayson shook his head. “The leather jacket I bought him.”

“That hat from Ainsley. The boots from Callum. The clothes from Mom.” Marlowe shook her head. “They’re all gone.”

Genevieve frowned. “I won’t even ask about the cash I gave him to tide him over.”

Could Jace have been the one who’d robbed them? Asher shook his head, the sensation that he’d just been kicked in the stomach making him want to double over.

As they returned to the entry, the doorbell rang. Asher pulled open the door. Kerry Wilder stood on the stoop in her police department uniform, her hair tucked under her hat.

“Oh, hey, Kerry. Rafe isn’t here, but you don’t have to knock. You’re nearly family.”

She shifted from one foot to the other. “I’m here on business.”

“Right,” Asher said. “You don’t usually respond to calls, do you?”

Kerry shook her head. “I volunteered. Everyone else is getting sick of coming out to the Triple R.”

“Can’t say as I blame them.”

Just as he stepped aside to let her in, Ainsley hurried up the walk. As usual, she was on her cell phone. She clicked off as she stepped inside.

“I forgot something when I left for the office this morning.” She stopped and scanned the crowded entry. “What’s going on?”

“I hope whatever you left wasn’t valuable,” Marlowe said.

The others took turns filling Ainsley in on the most recent incident. Her shoulders slumped forward with each detail, but when Grayson announced that Jace was missing, she put her hand to her forehead and squeezed her temples between her thumb and middle finger.

She lowered her hand to her side. “The hospital just called. The results for the repeat test are in.”

“Finally.” Asher and Grayson said it in unison.

As their take-charge sister, Ainsley stepped forward.

“Okay, let’s check to see what’s missing from our suites, and then I’ll go pick up the results. We can open them together.” She started up the stairs and then stopped and turned back to them. “Hopefully, by then Jace will have reappeared from wherever he took off to, and it’ll be a misunderstanding we can all laugh about.”

Though they called out their agreement with her, the sounds fell flat. Asher wanted to believe it, too, but the circumstantial evidence was piling on top of their hope, threatening to smother it. The answers they’d waited for were about to be theirs. Unfortunately, they would have to deal with the possibility that even if Jace was their brother, he also might be a thief.

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