“And yet you just called me frantic because you thought you were in danger because someone was following you. You do need protecting.”
She huffed and ended the call.
“Pissed you off, didn't he?”Liberty asked with a smirk in her voice.
Justus rolled her eyes and slumped back in the seat. For All jumped up from her lap toward her chest, stood on his back legs, and licked her chin. She smiled despite her bad mood. She couldn't wait to get her hands on Rafferty; she'd make him regret frightening her like this.
Rafferty chuckledas the call ended. He passed the car before him since he didn't need to hide the fact that he was following them. When they got to their street, he pulled into their driveway and got out. He hurried to their car. “Here, let me help,” he said grabbing the many plastic bags of groceries to carry for them.
“Thanks, Rafferty,”Liberty said. “I'll unlock the door. We're going to have lunch. Do you want to eat with us?”
Justus grunted under her breath, taking her puppy over to the front yard to run around.
He ignored her rudeness but was not about to reward her behavior by staying outside today. “That sounds good.”
Liberty stuck her key in the lock, but the door swung open. She jerked back and called. “Justus, didn't we lock the door when we left?”
“I'm sure we did,”Justus called back, scooping the little dog up and hurrying to the house.
“You both stay outside,”Rafferty ordered, shoving the groceries into Liberty's arms before he went inside. He drew hisgun and cautiously stepped into the living room mess. “Holy crap.”
“What?”Liberty called to him. “Is it bad?”
He didn't respond immediately, wanting to spare her as much as he could until he saw it all. Someone had turned the living room furniture on its sides and ends, and shredded the pillows, scattering the stuffing everywhere. Before proceeding down the hallway to the bedrooms, he eased into the kitchen, where everything looked normal.
“Oh man,”he muttered, taking in the sight of the first room and then the other.
Someone had tossed the bedding aside, ripped the mattresses, and pulled out the stuffing. Unless the person had broken into the wrong house and been looking for drugs, what was the purpose of this? But one thing was sure: They were no longer safe staying here.
He continued to search through the house before he returned to the front door, where Liberty and Justus waited. “It's been trashed.”
“What?”Liberty pushed past him and went inside. “No. No!”she yelled. “These aren’t even our things. We rented the place furnished. Our landlord is going to sue us.”
“This is horrible,”Justus wailed. “Why would anyone do this?”
“They were either at the wrong place or were covering their tracks to make the break-in look like they were searching for drugs,”Rafferty said. “I’ll call the police and then report this to Hank and my boss. You stay out here.”
He went to lead a weeping Liberty outside. “Come on. It's better not to touch anything to preserve any fingerprints for when the police arrive. Okay?”
She nodded. “Okay. I better call our landlord and tell him what has happened,”she said between sniffles, sitting in a chair on the front porch.
“Justus, keep your sister company.”He returned to the house and called the police, reporting the break-in before he called Hank Patterson and tried to do a quick conference call with Kenneally. In the end, he only reached Kenneally.
“I'm glad I got a hold of you,”Rafferty said.“I tried reaching Hank, but no answer. I thought he'd want to know what is going on.”
“Hank's in the air on his way to DC for a meeting. You might have caught him in a no-cell reception zone. What's happening?”
“While they were away, the Killion residence was broken into and vandalized. I was tailing them for security reasons. When we returned, we discovered someone had broken the door. Someone had pushed it closed, but it couldn't latch. I'm removing them from the premises. I'll coordinate with Asher in Fool's Gold if I can reach him since he'll want an update on what's happened.”
“Definitely,”Kenneally agreed.“I'llsee Hank after he lands and let him know the details. We'll be in touch once we confer.”
“Got it.”Rafferty ended the call. He scrolled through his contacts and from Asher Nolte's number. Within a few rings, he got the Brotherhood Protector on the line.
“Asher Nolte,”the voice said.
“It's Rafferty Grainger in Colorado Springs.”
“What's happened?” Asher asked.
