Page 63 of Taking What Was His

“I’m down here,” she yelled.

Roman walked down the steps into the basement and saw Beth looking around.

“What are you looking for, baby?”

“Hi,” she said and tried to smile.

Roman grasped her shoulders to get a good look at her face and didn’t like the distress he saw. “What’s going on?”

Beth sighed. “When I got home today, Evan was down here.”

“Again? He just let himself in?”

“Yes. When I asked him why he was here, he said to check the hot water heater. I’ve never had a problem with it, so why does he still check it? It’s making me feel uncomfortable.”

“Why?”

“He is checking it every week or every other. The last time he was here, I told him I’d call him if I had problems, but he still came over. I have a funny feeling, and so I’m looking to see if I can find out what he’s doing. I don’t like being down here.”

Roman grinned and looked around. It was a standard basement—concrete floors, cinder block walls, and exposed beams with all the plumbing and wiring showing. He caught sight of the furnace and water heater, a shelf holding cans of paint, and a bench with a few boxes on it, but very little else.

He walked over to the water heater. “Do you know how old this is?”

“I can look it up. I know it was before Rick died, but less than ten years.”

He crouched to study the valves, then walked around it. The lighting wasn’t the best, but he didn’t see anything wrong with it. There was no water leaking around it or on top.

She was right to feel suspicious, and he was now on high alert. He’d had a bad feeling about the man from the start but had put it down as jealousy. Now he knew he should have listened to his instincts.

He turned and faced her. “Would you let me put a few cameras down here? I was going to ask you to change the locks, but I think we should let him still be able to come to the house. I want to see what he does down here.”

“Sure. I’d also like to know.”

“I can have one of my techs over today after work. I want it to only be between you, me, and Aiden.”

“I agree.”

He got on the phone and called Aiden, his tech. He told him a bit about what was happening but didn’t give Evan’s name. He sent him the address and hung up.

He walked over to her and pulled her into his arms. “He’s going to be here in the next half an hour. We’ll get this figured out.”

“I should probably confess now if he’s doing something bad, I’ll have to kill him,” she said.

“I’ll be your accomplice. But how about we just keep it between us?”

Beth chuckled, but he could tell she was worried.

“We’ll get this figured out. If you don’t feel safe, I can sleep on the sofa or you two could come to my apartment. You’d have to share a bed with Jayden, or you could share mine,” he said and grinned.

She snorted. “Wow, that was smooth.”

He chuckled. “How about I take you and Jayden out for dinner?”

She nodded. “Okay. Jayden should be home from basketball practice in an hour or so.”

“Okay. Maybe we have time to make out before Aiden gets here.”

She rolled her eyes and grinned before she walked up the stairs with him following close behind. He turned off the basement light, grabbed her, lifted her into his arms, and walked into the office. He sat on the small sofa with her on his lap and took her mouth.