Page 106 of Love in the Storm

“I’ll be there.”

“Great!” She held the phone against her ear withher shoulder while she looked for the store keys. Once they were located, she gripped the door handle, reluctant to leave the warmth of her car. “I’m just glad you encouraged me to call them.”

“I’m glad you finally did it. What are you up to?”

“Getting ready to make a mad dash to the door at work.” She took a deep breath and said, “Three, two, one.”

Asa chuckled in her ear as she hunched her shoulders against the cold. It was unseasonably cold for early May, and spring or summer couldn’t come soon enough.

She jogged around to the back of the building and froze when she saw the door. The wood was splintered, and the knob was completely gone, hacked away by an ax.

“Asa, someone broke into the store.”

“What? Tell me what you see. Is there anyone around?”

“The door is destroyed. I don’t see anyone.”

“Go back to your car, and move to the parking lot down the street. Call 911 so dispatch can send out a call. Stay in your vehicle until I get there.”

“Okay.” She wasn’t about to argue, so she turned on her heels and raced back to her car.

36

ASA

Asa jogged out of the station into the cold morning. He’d already called Dawson, but Asa met Jason Guthrie as he stormed out into the parking lot. Officer Guthrie’s K-9, Ranger, stood alert at his side.

“10-22 at Blackwater Restoration.”

Officer Guthrie turned on a dime, and Ranger followed him back to his cruiser.

Jason wasn’t Asa’s first choice for backup, but he’d take what he could get. Within seconds, Asa and Jason were on their way. Thankfully, the store wasn’t far from the police station.

He wished Lyric would have stayed on the phone with him, but he would only be paying half attention to everything around him if she was in his ear. Knowing she would stay on the phone with dispatch gave him some peace.

She was fine. He kept telling himself that anyway. She’d moved her car away from the store like he’d asked. If someone was still in the building, Asa, Jason, and Ranger would find them.

Asa passed the ice cream shop a block down from the store and spotted Lyric’s car. She was on the phone. Good. Nancy at dispatch was probably doing her best to keep her calm.

Asa parked and waited for Jason and Ranger. Dawson was close too, so they waited for him to arrive before stepping out of their vehicles.

“Show us entering the building,” Asa said as he pushed aside the scrap that was left of the door. He knew the layout of the store from visiting Lyric at work, but the back room was unfamiliar territory. A wooden desk was pushed into one corner and boxes were stacked on every surface, leaving only a narrow pathway to the door leading to the storefront.

How would they know if something was missing? Donations came in at all hours of the day, and from the looks of it, there wasn’t an inventory system keeping track of the items still shoved into boxes and bags.

“I’ll take this side,” Dawson said behind Asa.

“Ranger and I will check the register,” Jason said.

Asa veered to the left. “I’ll check this side.” As far as he could tell, nothing looked out of place on any of the displays. Nothing was broken or shoved around.

“Signs of a disturbance in the office behind the register. No suspect,” Jason told dispatch.

After half an hour scouring the store, Asa, Dawson, and Jason exited the back. Camille Harding, one of the owners, waited in the back lot. Her husband, Noah, had an arm wrapped around her shoulders. She wore a suit jacket and skirt that did nothing to protect against the cold wind. Her law office was only about two blocks away. She’d probably shown up right after they started the investigation.

“Anything?” she asked with a heavy dose of hope in her voice.

“There are signs of a disturbance in the office. The place is clear. We couldn’t verify what, if anything, had been taken,” Jason said.

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