Page 39 of Legal Trouble

“No. Like I said, just the vehicle driving away.”

Hill nodded then turned back to Emma. “Do you have a security system, Ms. Morgan? Anything that might have caught whoever did this?”

“A security system, yes,” Emma answered, “but nothing with video. It’s just a standard system that sends alarms when door or window sensors are disturbed. There’s also a motion sensor in the—”

Emma went taut in Noah’s arms.

“What is it?” Noah questioned.

Emma pressed a palm to her forehead. “I don’t know if it could have caught anything, but I have one of those doorbells with a built-in camera. It’s motion-activated, so if whoever got close enough, itcouldhave picked them up and started recording.”

“Can you access the videos remotely?” asked Hill.

Emma nodded as she pulled his phone from her robe pocket. “I have everything set to back up to a cloud server.” She swiped up on the screen to unlock it, before mumbling under her breath and turning to Noah. “If you’ll unlock this, I can log in on a browser.”

“Or better yet,” Noah said, taking his phone back, “you could use my laptop.”

A few minutes later, computer resting on the hood of his SUV, Emma brought up a list of files. “Here are today’s,” she was saying as she scrolled. “This is likely Noah’s arrival.” She clicked on it, and yup, it showed him ringing the doorbell.

“What about this one?” Noah pointed to one with a timestamp a few minutes before he arrived.

Emma double-clicked the file. A dark-clad figure stepped onto the porch and looked around as if searching for something. The video quality wasn’t great, but it was good enough.

Franklin Bishop had been at Emma’s house.

As the wrought-irongates of Sagrado opened, a tear slid down Emma’s cheek. She was homeless. She’d be trying to find somewhere to stay right now if not for the man next to her. When the detectives had given her their cards and asked if she had some place to stay, Noah hadn’t hesitated to open his home to her. He’d been amazing and steadfast through everything tonight. Oh, she would have muddled through the night without him, but having him at her side had grounded her. Aside from Andi, Emma had had no one to truly lean on since Preston’s shooting.

As a tear broke free, she brushed it away. She always missed her brother, but during times of emotional upheaval like this, she craved his steadfast presence. She’d give anything to get caught up in one of his bear hugs.

She reached across the console and gripped Noah’s hand, drawing strength from him. The dam holding back her tears had suffered a catastrophic fault, and collapse was imminent. A purging of emotions would be good, but not just yet. When she was alone. She hated crying in front of people. Crying left her too vulnerable, and she hated showing weakness.

“Bomboncita, you’re shaking.” Noah brought their joined hands to his lips. “I’m here. I’ve got you.”

Yes, he very much did.

Noah’s Uncle Julio met them outside, opened Emma’s door, and offered her his hand. The sweet gesture knocked one more brick loose in the dam holding back her tears.

“If there’s anything you need,señorita, just let me know.”

She squeezed his hand. Family coming together in times of tragedy, and it wasn’t even her family. “Gracias por todo, Julio,” she said, thanking him for everything.

“El gusto es mio.” He pressed a kiss to the back of her hand before joining Noah at the back of the SUV. “I have arranged everything as you requested,” Julio said as Noah removed Laverne and Shirley’s travel cage.

“AndMamá?”

Julio shook his head as if in exasperation, but affection warmed the movement. “She agreed to give you until daybreak, but I expect not one minute longer.”

“Agreed to give us what until daybreak?” Emma asked.

“Privacy,” answered Noah. “Mamásaw the news reports on the fire, and she wanted to come over and do whatever she could to help. But I asked Julio to delay her visit until morning. I also tasked her with getting you some clothes. That way, she’d have somewhere to focus her energy. She’s a fixer, so I knew she’d need to do something.”

Emma looked down at herself. Not only was she homeless, but she also had no clothes. The only thing she’d taken had been this old robe, her equally old rain boots, and her fur babies.

“Bomboncita,” he crooned as if reading her mind. “We’ll get through this. We escaped with what was important. Each other.”

When he opened his arms for her, she stepped into him and held on for a long moment.

After leaving Laverne and Shirley in Julio’s capable hands, she and Noah headed upstairs. She’d only been inside Noah’s home a few times, but never upstairs. The interior, like the grounds, was a blending of cultures, a subdued explosion of color that was opulent yet minimalistic, and she loved everything about it.

She hesitated at the threshold of his bedroom. If the downstairs qualified as minimalistic perfection, then his bedroom qualified as downright sparse. The only furniture was an ocean-sized bed, a side table, and a gray settee positioned in front of a bank of windows spanning the entirety of the two walls opposite the bed.

The windows beckoned her closer. Even at night, the sprawling grounds ofSagradothreatened to steal her breath. The pool below was a cerulean blue, the interior lights shimmering and dancing in the water like sprites. She caught only a glimpse of the garden and barn, but knowing they were out there made her yearn for the serenity of the blooms and of dancing with Noah in the creek surrounded by wildflowers and birdcall.

Noah stepped beside her, hands in his pockets. “If you’re not comfortable staying in my room tonight, there are other rooms you can always—”

“I want to stay with you.” She turned into him, wrapping him close as the final strand of rope holding her composure together snapped.

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