“Y-yes?”
“Is anything missing or out of place?”Laura said.
Charlie busied himself, documenting the scene.
“Is that perfume I can smell?”Laura asked, looking at Henry while Maia carefully surveyed her bedroom.
“Yeah, but it doesn’t smell like anything Maia wears.”
“Maia, do you recognize it?”Laura asked.
“Yes, I do,” Maia said slowly, her mind desperately trying to refuse this clue.“I’ve smelled that perfume in the changing room.”
“Which team members?”Henry asked, his gaze intent.
Maia swallowed, betrayal an unbearable weight on her shoulders.“Two of the girls I’m friendly with—Jan and Rebecca.”
“That sounds like Gavin,” Charlie said.“I’ll let him in.”
Laura whisked a blue notebook and a pencil from her pocket.“Give me their full names.”
“No, I can’t believe either would do this.”Maia wiped clammy hands on her track pants.“No, they wouldn’t.I don’t believe it.Torturing a p-puppy.”
Henry took her hands.His expression was somber, brown eyes shining with sympathy.“If they’re innocent, they have nothing to worry about.Laura needs to eliminate the possibilities.This person won’t stop, Maia.”
“Henry is right,” Laura said.
Charlie rushed into the bedroom, with Gavin a few steps behind him.Maia watched the vet carefully handling the puppy and listened to his gentle voice.
“I have a team sheet in my office containing each player’s full name and phone number.It was on my desk.”
“We’ll give Gavin room and try to find it.Do you have a team manager?”Laura asked.
“Yes,” Maia said.“Seth Davies.I have his number in my phone.”
“All right.I’ll note that number, too.”
A sick sensation churned in Maia’s belly, and her legs trembled so much she had to clap one hand out to the wall.Ugh!She jerked her hand away and stared at the red, sticky paint.Tears blurred her vision as she puzzled over why someone would do this.That poor puppy.
Jan and Rebecca?
No, she couldn’t believe they’d hurt her and the puppies.The vandalism.Numbly, she thought back.No, they hadn’t been in the changing room when she arrived because her gear bag had been next to theirs.She frowned.Rebecca and Jan had friends and family watching them, so she’d assumed that had been why they’d collected their gear and left so quickly.
“Maia, we need to find that list for Laura.”Henry’s voice was gentle and full of sympathy.He understood her inner turmoil.
“Yes, okay.”
When she entered her office, her gaze darted to her smashed computer, and anger combined with woe-is-me.She used her T-shirt to mop up her tears.“Um, it was on my desk.”She bit her lip at the heap of books, the broken spines and loose pages—research items she’d collected over the years.Some were irreplaceable.
“Maia.”Henry tugged on her hand to get her to face him.“This is bad, but it’s only possessions.You can replace them.”
“I know, but I have a deadline looming, and I have to fix this before I attempt to write.”
“Contact your editor.Tell them someone vandalized your office.Say you need more time.”
Maia snorted.“It sounds like a dog-ate-my-homework excuse.”
Henry snapped a photo with his phone.“Send him a copy of the police report.You can email photos along with the report.”
