“I didn’t lock the door when I fled. If no one broke in, everything should be right where I left it.”
“Where’s your purse?” Duane asked.
Jake shoved a pad of paper and pen toward her. “Write down the items you need from your home. Purse, phone, laptop, clothes, shoes.”
“Not too much,” Duane said.
“Why not?” Lloyd asked. “Why not make it look good.”
“What do you mean?”
“Have the FBI show up in force, serve a warrant, fake one if there isn’t a real one, if Myrna’s not home, then they can still ‘serve’ it.” He used air quotes. “While they are there, have them call Myrna and she can talk them through what to grab.” He looked at her and asked. “What’s your address.”
She gave it, and he pulled his phone, and did something, then turned it toward her. “This it?”
“Yes, how did you do that?”
“A real estate website. There are even photos of the inside.” He accessed it, and instead of everyone crowding around his phone, Pedro got his laptop, and shoved it toward Lloyd. In minutes he had Myrna’s home up.
“Okay, this was before I bought it,” Myrna said as she sat before the computer. She clicked by several of them, then pointed. “This is my office.” She looked around and shook her head. “Don’t judge me.”
“We’re not,” Jake said, and everyone nodded.
“I didn’t bring anything with me, but I hid things. In the office, the desk sits on a rug. Climb beneath the desk, lift the rug from the back, where your feet would be, and the fourth floorboard toward the front of the desks is loose.” She looked at them with a grin. “The floorboards are six inches wide. The fourth and fifth one are loose. That’s where my laptop, purse, and banking information is.” She sighed and shook her head. “I was just paranoid enough when I left that I thought those things would slow me down.”
“Very smart,” Duane said with a nod, and wrote things down. “Anything else?”
She closed her eyes, worked her lip with her teeth, and thought, then opened her eyes and clicked through the photos again.
“This is the pantry, off the kitchen, again, thesephotos were taken before I purchased the home, but on one shelf are the canisters for flour, sugar, stuff like that. Behind these, there is a false panel in the wall. I’m not sure exactly where.”
“Why not?” Clark asked.
“Because I have to remove all five of these canisters and tap around until it opens.”
“Got it,” Duane said as he wrote down. “What’s in the space behind it?”
“Cash. When I was dating Randy, I would get my check the day before payday, I set it up with my boss. Cash it, and put most of it there. I caught him going through my purse once, looking for money. When he realized he thought he brought home more than I did, he stopped trying to steal from me when I told him if he took my money, he had to pay my bills, or I would call the police for theft. Only three weeks later was the first time he put me in the hospital.” She pointed to her face. “I had broken up with him six months prior to that. He thought I was an easy target. He didn’t expect me to fight back.”
“Good for you,” Pedro said quietly as he laid a hand on her shoulder.
“How much?” Duane asked.
“Last time I counted it was close to twenty grand.” She looked at him with a grin. “Don’t judge me, but it’s divided between a cigar box and a coffee can.”
All the men grinned. “Anything else?”
She flipped through the photos to remind herselfof what her home looked like, and stopped on the photo of a bedroom.
“Myrna,” Duane said quietly and waited until she looked up at him. “Whatever you want. I totally understand what Lloyd said about serving a warrant. If anyone comes to investigate, then they can show the warrant, though no one but you has to look at it. I will tell Wilson to get whatever you need.” He shook his head at her. “We have no idea when it will be safe for you to return home. Because of them stealing Sally from you, it’s a felony, and the FBI are involved. They can’t get out of those charges. Get most of your life back. I’m not saying they’ll bring your furniture, but your personal items might help you be grounded through all of this.”
“Okay, I have four suitcases beneath the bed in this room. If they wanted to fill them with my clothes from my closet and dresser, I wouldn’t be opposed.”
“Okay, that’s better.” Duane nodded as he wrote down more instructions.
“What about Sally?” Pedro asked and looked at the others’ confused looks. “Her horse. She’s in quarantine over at the barns here at New Double, along with my horse, Chocolate Champion.”
“Champ’s granddaddy?” one of the men asked in shock. “I’m Scott. When I get a chance, I help at New Double.”
