He nodded his head for them to return downstairs.
“Let’s get this window boarded up,” Ford said. “Are you going to let her stay here tonight?”
“No,” he said. “She doesn’t have a choice in the matter either.”
Ford opened the front door and followed his brother out. They got the plywood from the back and some extra wood with his toolbox, then secured the window from the elements.
“She’s going to have to call her landlord if she hasn’t already,” Ford said.
“I’ll let her know,” he said.
The door opened next to them, the neighbor coming out. “Oh, you’re still here?”
The guy knew they were. “Yep. Going to be leaving soon,” Ford said. His brother was more diplomatic. Even nice when he interviewed Karl to see if he’d seen anything.
They’d gotten an earful on what her neighbor thought of the ex, what cars had been rifled through recently, and any other odd people on the property.
Karl was a regular old neighborhood watch.
“I’ll keep an eye out for anything,” Karl said. “I just wanted to see if Meredith was fine. She might be scared here alone. I could offer to stay on her couch or have her at my place.”
Over his dead body.
Ford coughed in his hand. “I’m out of here. You know where I am if you need anything.”
Ford tossed the toolbox in the back of Clay’s truck.
“Clay,” Meredith yelled before he could inform this guy that he could take care of the situation.
The urgency in her voice had him dashing back in. She was holding her bare foot in her hand, blood dripping on the floor while she hopped on her other foot.
“Seriously. You came down with bare feet?”
“You said you were going to clean it up. You obviously didn’t do a good job of it.”
One damn tiny piece of glass managed to be in the hallway and she stepped on it.
He wanted to say of all the damn luck, but he realized that without bad luck, Meredith would have none.
“Sit down,” he ordered. “Right there on the floor.”
“What if I sit in another piece and cut my butt cheek?”
She was testing him. Like it’d happen over her jeans.
He moved toward her in two strides, had her in his arms and deposited her on the couch. When he turned, Karl was standing in the doorway watching it.
“I’ve got it. We’re good.”
He got up and shut the door in the guy’s face.
“That was rude.”
“So is how much your neighbor watches you. If it wasn’t for the fact that he provided Ford proof of where he was today before he was even asked, then I’d be wondering about him.”
“He’s harmless. Just lonely.”
That didn’t warrant a reply either.
