CHAPTER 12
Kade
I nod. And we both love it. Give us a headstrong woman with fire who knows her own mind and we’re goners.
Quickly dressing and checking our weapons, I grab some basic lock pics and surveillance tools and shove them into my backpack.
We take the staff elevator to the lower level, and I go ahead to check the car then pick them up. Head and hair covered in balaclavas we leave the car the next block over from her home. Fancy stays with me while Rico goes to inspect the outside of the house.
He rejoins us a few minutes later. “The light on the security panel is white. But I didn’t hear any sounds like it had been tripped. They may have figured out the code. The upstairs addition, does it have inside stairs from the main floor? I saw the outside stairs.”
“Yes. That’s where I really have lived for the last few years. I’d go in from the outside when she had company. She and I didn’t always coexist well. The upstairs had become my home.”
“Okay. You two stay put.”
“No, I’ll go,” I cut him off. “I’ll check for cameras as I go and set interference if I need to.”
Rico taps his ear. “Your mic on?”
Heading out, I tap my own. “Roger.”
“Oh, I want one of those ear thingies. Tomorrow, you have to get me one,” Fancy says as I slip away.
I smile. Yeah, definitely a handful.
Night goggles in place, I sweep the lower level before heading up to Fancy’s rooms. What I see has anger engulfing me like a fire storm. “Mother-fuckers.”
Rico must have heard me. “Where are you? Talk to me.”
“I’m in her bedroom. I’m pretty sure I know what set Phil off. There’re a few holes in the wall where he literally ripped out video cables. Looks like one was hidden in a picture, another behind a plant, one above the bed. There’s a hole in the wall in her bathroom too. I’m not getting any reads on my devices so I’m pretty sure he must have been doing the same type of check I am and caught them all. There’s a brown shipping box on the bed, the part of the label remaining has her mother’s name. Next to it are a couple sexy negligées, lingerie and a red dress. Hold on, while I use my phone to read the handwritten note.
“It says, ‘I want to see you wear these for me, sweet’. No signature. These arrive months after her mother died. I don’t think so and I doubt Phill did. These were meant for Fancy. Some asshole was making his move. Phil must have had the same thought.”
“Take pictures. Bag what you can and get out of there,” Rico snaps.
“Wait, I want to go in. There are things I need. Please,” Fancy begs. “I’ll be quick.”
“Someone broke in and made a mess. I don’t think it’s safe,” Rico responds
“If they already made the mess and Kade is ok, we should be, too.”
“Let her. Maybe there’s something important missing,” I cut in. “We’re gonna have to tell her anyway.”
I meet them at the door. “Keep to the pen lights and point them down. “Fancy, tell me if you see anything out of place.”
She leads us through the lower level; kitchen, living room, past a bathroom with a sunken tub and shower. Pausing at the closed door, she takes a deep breath before entering.
Obviously, her mother’s boudoir. A showplace of sexy design. Raised bed with fluffy duvet and several pillows, lace canopy delicately threaded with mini lights. Ice bucket with glasses on the bedside table. A dressing table to the side, artfully decorated with perfumes, makeup and hairbrushes. A lace robe cleverly draped over the chair. Two French doors lead to an expansive closet filled with clothes guaranteed to turn a man’s gaze.
“Anything disturbed?” I ask.
“I haven’t looked in here for months. But I don’t think so. Phil and I went through it together after she died. Nothing was missing…except her. We planned on cleaning it out sometime. We just never got to it.”
She turns and heads up the stairs. She gasps as I shine the flashlight beam around the room. “What the hell?”
Stopping at the bed, she lifts the ripped box.
“Is that the box the delivery guy had?” I ask. She nods. “Are those clothes your size or your mother’s?
