Page 143 of Proof of Guilt

Ivy was coughing so hard that she couldn’t catch her breath, and he was certain her eyes felt as if they were on fire. His did, too, but Theo kept moving. Not downstairs, though. He took her to the hall bathroom. It had a tile floor but didn’t have the stone protection of the other room. Plus, it had a massive window over the vanity.

It wouldn’t take a gunman long at all to shoot through that.

But the last time Theo had checked, the ranch hand, Al, had been on that side of the house. Maybe he’d be able to put a stop to anyone who tried to put bullets or more tear gas into the room.

“Text Gabriel and make sure he’s okay,” Theo said, handing Ivy his phone. “I’ll look on the laptop and see if we have any security cameras left.”

They did. Three that were on the opposite side of the house from the shooter. Nothing much seemed to be happening there, but Theo heard more gunfire. This time, though, it came not from just one weapon but two. The gunman and someone else outside the house. Maybe a hand who had finally gotten in position to take out the shooter. Or at least stop him from sending more tear gas their way.

“Gabriel didn’t answer,” Ivy relayed to him. There was a new round of fear in her voice.

Theo was about to reassure her that Gabriel was probably just keeping watch and that nothing bad had happened to him. But he heard something that made Theo realize that might not be true.

The security alarm went off, the sound immediately blaring. And that wasn’t the only sound. He also heard Gabriel’s voice.

“Someone’s in the house,” Gabriel shouted.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Ivy hadn’t thought her heart could beat any faster, but she’d been wrong about that. Just hearing what her brother said caused every part of her to start racing.

Her first instinct was to run downstairs and help Gabriel, but Theo kept his hand on her arm, no doubt to stop her from doing just that. Because it would have been a dangerous thing to do. She could get shot from friendly fire or cause such a distraction that it could get Gabriel killed. Still, it was almost impossible to just sit there and wait when the adrenaline was urging her to fight.

The security alarm went silent. Probably something Gabriel had done so he could hear what was going on. It was entirely possible that her brother had no idea where the intruder was in the house. Neither did she, but she took the laptop from Theo to try to have a look. There weren’t any cameras inside the house, but maybe she could spot how the snake got inside.

Theo let go of her and opened the bathroom door a fraction so he could look out. He aimed his gun in the direction of the stairs, but if the intruder made it to that point, it meant he or she had gotten past Gabriel and the others. Rather than think about what that could mean, Ivy forced herself to focus on the computer screen.

And what she didn’t see told her loads.

“No open windows or doors on the side, front or back of the house where we still have cameras,” she relayed to him in a whisper.

That meant he’d come from the area between the two houses. Since the gunman was no longer shooting tear gas or bullets at them, it was entirely possible that he was in the process of trying to join his intruder comrade for a joint attack.

But how had the intruder gotten past the hands?

If it was just the one in the house, then it would make more sense. One person would have an easier time slipping into the house, especially on the side where they no longer had surveillance.

Ivy tried to pick through the darkness and see if there was anybody else out there. Al was no longer by the shed, and it took her a moment to find him. He was next to some shrubs that were only about ten yards from the back porch. He turned suddenly, taking aim at something on the blind spot side of the house, and he fired. Maybe he’d managed to take out anyone who was trying to sneak in.

Theo glanced back at the screen and muttered some profanity. At first she thought he’d done that because Al had likely killed someone who could have given them answers about all of this.

But no.

Ivy soon smelled more tear gas. And it didn’t seem as if this was coming from the guest bath where they’d been but rather from the direction of the stairs.

“We’ll have to get out,” he told her.

No way could she argue with that, because Ivy was already starting to cough. It wouldn’t be long before they would be so overtaken by the gas that they wouldn’t be able to escape.

She wanted to ask him if that meant Gabriel had gotten out, but she soon saw that he had. On the computer screen, she saw Gabriel running from the front porch to the side of the shed where Al had been earlier.

Even though her brother was firing glances all around him, he was also doing something on his phone. A moment later Theo’s own phone dinged, and she saw Gabriel’s text.

There’s a collapsible fire escape ladder on the shelf in my bedroom. Use it to get out the window.

She showed Theo the screen, and he immediately got her to her feet. He took his phone from her and shoved it back into his pocket.

Since he didn’t know the location of Gabriel’s room, Ivy pointed to the end of the hall. There was a window on the “safe” side of the house where Gabriel was, and they could get out that way.

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