Page 22 of Tough as Steele

He could’ve expected her to grab them. Even suggested it. But maybe this was an indication that he planned to cooperate with her. Maybe because she’d found the secret stairway. Or maybe he’d resigned himself to having her along for the investigation and would make the best of it.

He quickly returned and handed her a pair of booties. “So you’ve heard about our partnership.”

She replaced the current pair with the new ones, almost reaching out to use his shoulder for balance. Why she’d given in to her mother’s suggestions and worn these uber high heels tonight, she had no idea.

“You’re probably irritated,” she said. “But I have to admit I’m thankful for the chance to legitimately help find Mimi instead of doing it on my own.”

He stood up, his shoulder muscles rippling under his shirt. “Now that I think about it, pairing up is probably for the best. At least for Mimi’s best, and that’s all that matters. As long as we both can agree that Washington County will be the lead agency and all official reporting will go through me.”

She’d expected him to try to take charge. “I can work with that, but no one takes lead. We’re equal in decision making.”

“And I can work with that.” He held out his hand. “After you.”

She stepped over the armoire’s cross bar. “Feels like I’m stepping into Narnia.”

“The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” he said, entering after her.

“You’re familiar with C.S. Lewis’s books?” She flipped on a light switch and glanced back at him.

“Read all of them as a kid.”

“Me too.” She wanted to ask him if he was a Christian, but talking about religion was frowned on in the job. If it came up, it could get contentious. She’d promised not to irritate him, and keeping things professional was her best bet. She turned her attention back to the stairwell.

The walls were drywalled and painted a bright white. A landscape of the Oregon coast hung on the wall. Wood steps led down and wrought iron handrails ran down each side of the stairs.

“I would have expected some narrow dungeon-like steps,” she said.

“The house isn’t old enough for that. The builders would’ve had to meet current building code, which is thirty-six inches wide.”

“You just happen to know that?”

“I bought a fixer-upper.”

“Ah.” She wondered when he found the time to renovate a house. She could barely find time to clean the one she lived in with her two sisters and three cousins. True, the house was over five thousand square feet, but still, they split the chores, leaving her with not many each week.

“Let’s go down,” he said.

“Right.” She started down, searching each stair for a lead. Midway down, a handbag lay tipped over and spilled out. Maybe dropped.

He picked up a wallet and held it out.

A clear plastic sleeve held Mimi’s driver’s license.

Londyn’s heart dropped, and she squatted down and dug through the items. “No pill bottle. Hopefully that means she convinced her kidnapper to bring her meds along.”

Nate clenched his hands into tight fists. “If she was in any kind of state of mind to think about that.”

Mimi was older, but she wasn’t frail. Still, being abducted would throw any person for a loop. A clear vision of Mimi being escorted down these stairs at gunpoint played in Londyn’s mind. She swallowed and continued down to the bottom landing and a door. She pushed it open and found herself just outside the backyard fence and behind the garage. Decorative siding covered the wall and the back of the door so when it was closed, it would seamlessly disappear.

Mist filled the air, and a heavy fog was moving in, obstructing their view. Londyn’s heels sunk into the wet grass, and her legs shivered in the cold.

Nate took off his booties, stepped closer to the house, and inspected the lock. “Nice way to conceal the door, but no way to get back in after you exit. It’s been jimmied.”

She tore off her shoe coverings too and bent closer to see pry marks from a crowbar. “I feel bad about missing this when we made the security plan, but how would we have seen it? And Mimi didn’t tell us about it, so she must’ve been confident no one else knew about it.”

Nate shone a light on the ground, then bent and picked up a large nail. “With the damaged lock, they must’ve used this to make sure the door would catch after they left and not give away the exit. Could be prints on it.”

She pointed at the moist soil. “Footprint too. Not Mimi’s. Too large and broad. Likely male.”

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