Page 17 of Threatened

“Yeah. From what I can see,” he said, “the lock was forced. Hard to tell if anything’s missing since the living room’s trashed. No, no one inside. Yep. We’ll wait out front in the yard.”

She hopped out of the car when Gage hung up. He walked over to her. She must’ve looked as worried as she felt because he wrapped his free arm around her and pulled her into his side. “Hey, it’s okay. The cops are on their way. The officer I talked to is a former Marine and a good man. I know him from my time in the SEALs. He’ll figure out who did this. Best keep the twins in the car until we make sure everything’s secure.”

She nodded and blinked hard against the unexpected sting of tears. She wouldn’t cry. She wouldn’t. It was just the last few days had been such a roller coaster. Until the mugging in the park, she’d never dealt with the police in her life and now this would make twice in less than forty-eight hours. It felt like something out of a nightmare.

Minutes later a squad car pulled up at the curb, lights blazing, no sirens, followed by a black Chevy Impala. Two uniformed officers climbed out of the patrol car and a guy in a suit from the sedan. Gage’s friend, she’d guess. The trio walked up to where they were standing in the yard near the car.

She recognized one of the uniformed cops as the same guy from the park incident. He tipped his hat at her and pulled out his small notebook again. “Ma’am. Sorry we meet again so soon.”

“Agreed.” She pressed closer into Gage’s side, grateful for his warmth and support, both physically and emotionally.

“Winters,” the guy in the suit said to Gage. “Sorry about the break in.”

“Yeah.” He let Kylie go to shake the man’s hand and she missed his embrace almost immediately. Then Gage took her hand, and she felt better. “Detective Brent Carlisle, this is Kylie Fredericks. Christine’s sister. She had to come back from an extended trip when she got the news about the crash, so she’s staying with me until she gets her situation settled.”

“Hi,” the detective said, shaking her hand as well. “I’m so sorry about your sister. She was great person. Tucker was a good friend of mine, and the few times my wife and I went out with them, we had fun.”

“Thank you.” Kylie forced a smile. “It’s been a difficult few weeks.”

“I’m sure this doesn’t help either.” Carlisle gestured toward the house and hiked his chin at Gage. “Want to take me inside and show me what happened?”

“Follow me.” They started toward the porch then stopped. Gage turned back to her. “You okay out here by yourself?”

She didn’t want to get in the way, but the thought that someone might still be watching the house creeped her out. “I’d feel better with you.”

“Stay with the officers. Let us make sure it’s safe first,” the detective said. “Once we’ve cleared the interior, you can come in, okay?”

Kylie gave a reluctant nod, returning to the SUV and the twins while Gage and his friend disappeared inside. One of the uniformed officers waited with her while the other one, the one from the park, walked the perimeter of the property, checking for suspects and clues, she assumed. She waited anxiously until they all returned.

“It’s clear,” Gage said, helping her get the car seats out of the back seat. “Let’s get inside.”

They walked through the busted front door, and Kylie couldn’t help but gasp. The living room was trashed. Furniture overturned, cushions slashed, knickknacks shattered. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it at all. The ransacked crime scenes she’d seen on TV always looked a mess, but the reality was so much worse—probably because everything here belonged to someone she cared about.

Gage seemed to be taking it well, considering. He still seemed calm and steady, even though his handsome face was pale beneath his tan and his dark eyes were hard and haunted. Kylie gasped when she noticed the spray painting on the walls. At first it looked like gibberish, but the more she stared at the neon crimson marks, the more they started to resemble things she’d seen before. She recognized the characters from her time in Tokyo.

Her heart dropped to her toes. Was this something she’d brought on them?

“Why would someone do this?” she asked, more to herself than anyone.

“We’re going to figure that out,” Detective Carlisle said. “The crime scene unit should be here soon to dust for prints and checkfor other evidence of who’s responsible.” He walked closer to where the red spray paint was running down a wall in a bloodlike trail. “Never seen a burglar do this before. Seems more like vandalism. Anyone got a grudge against you, Winters?”

“Not that I know of,” Gage said. “I’ve only been back in town a couple of months. Before that, I was overseas on a mission.”

“I got mugged the other day,” Kylie said before she could think better of it. “I was in the park with the twins and some random guy mugged me and stole the diaper bag.”

“I doubt that has anything to do with this,” Gage said, but his reaction sounded more like instinct to reassure her than a real response.

“I don’t know.” She spoke slowly, thinking it through. “The diaper bag had a tag on it with your name and address. Whoever did this could’ve gotten it from there.” She remembered being surprised that Gage had already thought to change the address from Christine and Tucker’s house to his. It spoke of his practical, highly organized personality.

“Maybe,” he admitted. The twins started fussing in unison and Gage walked to the kitchen and set Maya’s carrier down on the table. He took her out of her seat and held her against his shoulder. “It doesn’t explain the rest of this, though.”

“It might.” Kylie followed his lead, getting Brennan out of his seat and carrying him in her arms. “Those marks on the walls… They look like Japanese writing, like characters I saw back when I was working in Tokyo.”

“But why would someone do that?” Gage frowned. “I’ve never been to Japan. And you were there for work, right? You weren’t even there for that long—not nearly as long as you’d planned tobe. What’s the worst you could have done to someone? Arranged their furniture so their energy was messed up?”

He chuckled, trying to make light of it, but she wasn’t having it. “Not funny. I’m serious. First, there was that Japanese newspaper the guy left behind and now this. What if they’re connected? What if this is my fault somehow?”

Her head hurt, and her heart pounded. If it was true that she’d somehow brought all of this on him and the twins, she’d never forgive herself. And yet, something inside her told her that there was a link between the incident in the park and the home break in. Someone had intentionally left clues pointing to Japan. She studied the characters but didn’t know what they meant. She looked away and closed her eyes, guilt crashing over her and threatening to pull her under once more.

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