“Hold up,” Mancuso pants as he catches up with me by my cruiser.“That call was from my contact in Seattle; they’ve lost Shane Lee.Nothing since last night.”
I don’t like that.I don’t like that at all.
“I need to get home to Bess.”
I’m about to climb behind the wheel when my phone starts ringing.It’s Battaglia.
“Yeah.”
“We’ve got trouble at your place.I’m on my way there now,” he rattles off.
“Bess is there by herself.”
His curt, “I know.We’re on it,” is followed by a sharp click.
“What’s going on?”Mancuso asks as I jump in the cruiser.
“Something’s going down at my place,” I snap as I jam my keys in the ignition.
“I’m coming with you,” he announces, jogging around to jump in on the passenger side.
No sooner does his ass hit the seat when I tear out of the parking lot, hitting the sirens when I turn onto the street.
I’m about to grab my radio, when a call comes in dispatching all available units to my address for a suspected home invasion.
Jesus.They’re inside my fucking house.
“We’re no use to her dead,” Mancuso comments when I turn a corner too fast and the back end of my SUV slides sideways, wheel squealing.
I see Roy’s vehicle and one patrol car parked in front of the house when I turn onto my street.Swinging around them, I pull into the driveway.I slam the SUV in park with the wheels still turning, bringing it to an abrupt stop.Mancuso swears under his breath, but I ignore him as I jump out.
The front door is open and I run inside.
“Bess!”
Nobody is in the living room or the kitchen, but there’s glass everywhere from the broken sliding door.Someone crashed through there.Out in the backyard I see the bobbing beam of a flashlight.
“Bess!”I call out again.
“Alexander,” Mancuso’s voice sounds behind me.
When I turn, he points up the stairs and I rush toward him.
She looks so small, standing at the top of the stairs with that crazy fucking dog in her arms.I take the steps two at a time and sweep her and the dog up in my hold.
“Are you okay?Tell me you’re all right,” I mumble as I carry her into my bedroom and set her down next to the bed.
Ragnar immediately tries to scamper off, so I quickly close the door to make sure he can’t get out.Then I return to Bess and gently run my hands over her body to look for any injuries,
“I’m okay,” she whispers, her voice as shaky as mine.Her teeth are chattering.“I hid in the bathroom.I was stupid, I let the dog out because he’d been cooped up so long.He’d had an accident in the kitchen already and he needed to go.I wasn’t thinking.I’m sorry,” she rambles as I stroke the hair back out of her face.“Then Ragnar went crazy, and I saw someone coming over the fence.I got us inside, locked the door, and hid in the bathroom.”
“Good,” I try to soothe her with a calm voice, even though my heart feels far from calm, it’s beating out of my fucking chest.“You did good.”
She drops her forehead to my chest and I cup a hand on the back of her head, keeping her right there, against my heart.
Fuck, that was close.Too close.We can’t stay here.
A soft knock sounds before Roy pokes his head around the door.
