The Detective's Dilemma by Karen McCullough

Author:Karen McCullough [McCullough, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, Suspense, Contemporary, 978-1-61650-651-3
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Published: 2014-10-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Emily turned around. “What is it?

Sarah stared at her living room. “Someone broke in. And it looks like they’ve trashed the place.” She reached into her purse and fumbled around until she found her cell phone. “No, don’t go in,” she told Emily, who had taken a step toward the door. “And don’t touch anything. I’m calling the police.”

She had Jay’s number on speed dial now, a good thing since her hands shook so badly she might not have been able to press the small buttons in the right order otherwise.

“Christianson. Sarah?”

“Yes. Jay…” She paused for a moment, struggling to hold back a sob. “Someone broke into my apartment while I was gone. They smashed things up.”

“What happened?”

She told him about taking her neighbor to the doctor and her suspicions about the door.

“Are you safe? Anyone still in there?”

“Doesn’t look like it.”

“Can you go and stay with your neighbor? Lock the doors until someone gets there. I’m having a unit dispatched to your place right now.”

It reminded Sarah of the night the men had invaded her apartment. Probably the same ones had done this. Jay had said and done almost the same things too.

“I’ll be with my neighbor until they get here.”

“Don’t let anyone go in or touch anything. I’m on my way.”

“Okay. One thing… I don’t think they touched the painting. It’s still on the wall.”

“Good. Sarah, are you in your neighbor’s apartment yet?”

“No.”

“In. Now. You don’t know for sure someone isn’t still in your place, waiting for you to be alone.”

“Oh.” She turned to Emily, who still watched her. “Can we go in your place? And lock the door?”

“Sure.”

Once they were inside, she told Jay, “I’m in apartment 1C. We’ll stay here until the police arrive.”

“I’ll tell them to knock on that door. I’m getting ready to leave too. Don’t open the door until the cops identify themselves. Okay?”

“Okay.”

He hung up.

Emily had wandered off to the kitchen. “I’m making coffee,” she said. “You look like you need some.”

“I do.” Sarah collapsed into a chair, fighting nausea. They’d broken into her apartment. Probably searching for the elusive “key.” And smashed up her things. She’d caught a quick glimpse of debris all over the floor. Her books lying there, pages torn out and strewn around. A bookshelf tipped on its side. God, they’d probably gone through the drawers in her bedroom… Was her underwear scattered around in there?

Emily brought a cup of coffee. “I put sugar and milk in it. I hope you like it that way.” She held out a fragile porcelain cup on a matching and equally fragile saucer.

Sarah took it, willing her hand to keep from shaking. “That’s fine. Thank you.”

“Drink. You look like you’re about to faint.”

She felt that way, too. She took a careful sip. The coffee was lukewarm and way too sweet. How many spoonfuls of sugar had the woman put in? Still, it was liquid and bracing, so she drank it. She hadn’t had any dinner yet and it helped fill the hollow spots in her stomach.

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