She turned to him as he came through the door, and, looking up into his shadowy face, she stepped into his embrace. To her relief and pleasure, his arms slipped around her right away and he dipped his head to kiss her gently on the mouth.
“Are you all right in your side of the cottage alone?” he asked, pulling back to look at her. “You’re welcome to stay over here—there’s room for two in my bed, or I can sleep on the floor or the couch.” He smiled softly, indicating the choice was completely hers and he was fine either way.
“I think—”
“Oh my God.” He shoved her aside then darted past, his attention suddenly fixed on something behind her.
Teddy spun around to see chaos. “Oh my God,Oscar.”
His very organized lab setup was no longer neat as a pin. His chair was upended, a computer screen was turned over, and bottles and slides and petri dishes were strewn all over the floor. Some were intact, some broken. The door to his mini fridge sagged open, and his computer was tipped over. The packet of plastic gloves had been torn open and the pieces strewn all over. The empty gloves looked like ghostly white hands.
But the thing that made her heart stop and her breathing go shallow was the angry red lettering on the wall:
GO AWAYYYYYY
“Stay here,” he said. “Call the police. I’m going to check my bedroom to see if anything else—”
But Teddy had already flung open the connecting door. “My laptop,” she cried, sprinting toward her bedroom.
Her room was in similar disarray: the bedclothes torn off, the curtains and window shade off-kilter, the desk chair on its side.
“Nooooo.” She sank to the floor next to her laptop. The screen was smashed and all the cords had been yanked free, including that of the full-size keyboard she used.
“Teddy.” Oscar’s voice held shock and horror. He crouched next to her, settling a comforting hand on the back of her shoulders, rubbing gently. “I’m so sorry. Maybe the screen can be fixed. As long as the rest of the—oh.”
She showed him the back of the bottom of the laptop: it had been smashed on that side as well. Struggling with anger and grief, she pulled to her feet, cradling the murdered device.
“Who would do this?” she said, looking around with eyes that no longer saw clearly. Furious tears pooled, glazing her view. “Who?”
“I don’t know.” Oscar hugged her close as he dialed his phone one-handed. “I’d like to report a break-in and vandalism at Stony Cape Keeper’s Cottage,” he said.
When he hung up, he drew Teddy close into his arms. Still hugging her laptop, she rested her head on his shoulder. “Is there anything I can do to help?” he asked.
She knew he was talking about the computer and the book she’d just finished. “I’ll need a new laptop,” she said with a pained laugh. “Thank God I backed up the manuscript to a jump drive.”
He tensed, then relaxed and pulled away to look at her. “You did? Oh, thank God.” He sounded as relieved as she felt. “I thought… I was afraid you’d have to start all over.”
Her heart swelled at the absolutetruthin his voice. “I always do. Every day. It’s one of the few things I’m a little OCD about. I back it up, remove the flash drive, and put it in my purse—because what if there’s a fire? Or I’m in my car with the laptop and get in an accident, and the computer is smashed? There are a million and one things that can happen. When I’m at home, I also back up to the cloud, but because of no Wi-Fi here, I had to settle for a flash drive. Which— Wait a minute.”
She pulled away. “This had to have happened while we were at the pool. Just within the last couple of hours.”
“I know.” He took her hand, and she felt the comfort of it—for she’d just realized that it was only by chance they’d come back to the cottage and missed the vandal.
Or whoever—whatever—it had been. She shivered.
If they’d come back any earlier…
As if reading her mind, he squeezed her hand.
“Let’s go back to the other side and wait for the police.”
* * *
The next morning, Oscar woke to a light rain pattering on the roof of the cottage and Teddy curled up to him in his bed. She was warm and soft, and she smelled delicious. Her thick hair tumbled over the pillow like a dark cloud, and he reached out to finger a thick lock of it as he looked out at the drab morning.
Teddy slept with her mouth slightly open, emitting a delicate snore that made him smile affectionately.Even in her sleep, the woman doesn’t close her mouth.
One arm was tucked beneath her chin, and the other draped over his waist. Their feet touched, with hers settled on top of his.
