She heard the sound of rustling and movement. “Someone is trying to break into your place?”
“No. I don’t know. There’s just this noise at my door, and then the knob kind of moved and… Everything is locked and—”
“It’s too dark.” His voice was firm and with it now, no sleepy notes to it. “I can’t see anything. Look, I’m going to have to hang up, but you stay where you are. I’m coming over.”
“Oh, don’t—”
But the connection ended. And even though she felt silly for calling him over, she wasrelievedhe was coming and taking her paranoia seriously.
She really wanted it to be paranoia.
ROYAL GRABBED HIS GUN, shoved his feet into the unlaced boots by his door and ran down the stairs to the street.
Before he’d even crossed the street to Franny’s side, he heard the rumble of an engine getting farther and farther away. No lights anywhere, but if someonehadbeen trying to get into Franny’s apartment, they likely would have kept their car lights off.
Cursing, he sent a text to the night shift deputy asking him to be on the lookout for a car driving around without its lights on. Gun in hand, he moved swiftly and silently to Franny’s stairs. It was dark, but he didn’t see so much as a shadow or hear anything either.
Figuring a knock would unnecessarily scare her, he sent her a text to let him in the door.
It took a few seconds, but eventually she did. She was still dressed in the shorts and T-shirt she’d been wearing at the bakery this afternoon.
“No one here,” he said. He didn’t have his holster on, so he couldn’t put the gun away. He could see her worried gaze on it, but there was nothing he could do in the moment.
“No one,” she echoed looking into the night around them. “I’m just…being paranoid. I’m so—”
Before she could apologize again, he steamrolled over her. “I don’t think so. I heard an engine. Already on their way out of town when I got out. But there’s not usually much going on this time of night. Doesn’t feel like a coincidence. I texted our night shift guy and he’s on the lookout. We’ll see if he comes up with anything.”
“So someone was really…”
He could hear her panic, so he thought it best to give her something concrete to do. “You got a flashlight? I left mine back at my place.”
“Just my phone.”
“That’ll do for now. Give me some light on the outside of the door.”
She did as she was told, training the light on the outside knob. Royal didn’t touch the door, but he studied it. There were some scratches around the keyhole but that could have been from anything—including Franny herself not always getting the key in the first time.
He looked around at the little landing outside her door. “Anything look out of the ordinary?”
She took her time, shining the flashlight on different things. The light bobbled a little bit, but she was mostly keeping it together.
He saw it before she did, a little piece of paper tucked under her cheerful doormat. The light left the corner, but before he could ask her to bring it back, she did, focusing the beam on that piece of paper.
“That… I don’t think that was there,” she said.
“I don’t suppose you’ve got any rubber gloves?”
“Uh, no.”
“All right. Close the door.Lockthe door. I’m going to go grab what I need. I’ll text you when to let me back in, okay?”
She looked around helplessly, and Royal didn’t know what else to do except give her arm a little squeeze, a little centering. “It’s going to be okay. Just follow my instructions, all right?”
She nodded.
He stepped back from the door and waited for her to close it. She did, and he waited to hear the lock click.
Once it did, he jogged down the stairs, nearly tripping over his untied laces halfway down. Cursing himself but not wanting to stop and bother with tying them, he hurried back to his place.
