TWENTY-THREE
“O
h my God,” Willow blurted, rushing forward to grab for the door handle.
“No, wait.”Tripp caught her, swung her behind him to keep her from touching it and took a thorough look around the car.The tires were still inflated and just the front passenger window appeared to be damaged.“Did you leave anything in here?”
“My backpack.”Her hands were pressed to her cheeks, distress clear in her expression.“I put the laminated paper from the ammo cache in there.I was going to take it to Rafe after our tour.”
Okay, could be worse.“Anything else?No electronics or ID or anything?”
“No.Just my favorite water bottle and a couple other unimportant things.Dammit!”
He pulled her to him, held her close while she took a deep breath and let it out slowly.“Sorry this happened.You okay?”
“Yeah,” she muttered.“Just pissed off at the asshole who did this.And at myself.I thought the black bag would blend in enough that no one would see it under there.Are vehicle thefts a problem around here now?”
“More during tourist season, yeah.”He stepped back and used the hem of his shirt to open the front passenger door to avoid leaving prints on the handle.The dome light illuminated the interior.
There was more broken glass on the seat and in the footwell.Nothing else appeared to be damaged.“We’ll need to take pictures and then call the non-emergency line to make a police report.”And he’d check for trackers.Just in case.
“Okay.”She took the pictures, called in, and filed a report to get a number before calling the insurance company to start the claim process.
She finally finished the call, sighed.“I’m supposed to take it to an auto glass repair shop between here and the highway.”
“Sure.I’ll drive your car.You can follow me in my truck.”
“It’s okay, I can?—”
“I’ll drive your car.”He didn’t want to risk her getting cut on a stray piece of glass they hadn’t seen.“Come on.”He caught her hand, held it as he started back down to the marina where he’d parked.She was quiet but laced her fingers with his.
Maybe it was stupid—they were only holding hands, for chrissake—but it felt like a major victory.
He put her in the passenger seat of his truck and drove them back to her car.“You okay to drive?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”There was an edge of annoyance in her tone.“Just mad still.”
Fair enough.
“I guess it’s probably too much to hope that whoever did this was caught on security camera somewhere?”
“Unless someone got it on their dashcam, probably not.”It had happened out of view on a quiet side street, so no chance of any city cameras posted there.
He left the engine running while he got out.Willow slid over the console into the driver’s seat.“Follow me up there?”
