Whoever had broken in wouldn’t find much of value, but it was still her stuff. Her mind raced. What if she’d been home? What kind of trouble would she have faced? Thankfully she’d been with Galen. He held open his car door for her. In being with him, she’d been kept out of danger.
Natalie’s heart raced a mile a minute. She held Galen’s hand like it was a life preserver as she opened her front door.
The police were inside taking photos of her place like this was a crime scene and not her apartment.
She took a step inside but felt her heels brush against sharp glass. She looked down and realized that the photographs on her wall were smashed and the pictures missing from the frames. She knelt down and picked up the blue wooden frame that used to have the Orlando family photo inside. “My pictures!”
Galen hunkered down beside her and pointed to the next one, the black frame of the Christmas photo. “That was you with your parents.”
She covered her lips, overwhelmed. Galen helped her stand as tears formed in her eyes. “Why would someone steal my photographs?”
The officer with the detective jacket walked over to them. “What else is missing, ma’am?”
Right. She’d cry later. Luckily Galen’s presence kept her calm. She walked over to her kitchen counter and pressed her lips together as she gazed into the living area. “My laptop is gone, but they left my television?”
“It is an older model,” Galen said like that answered the question of why it hadn’t been stolen.
“Galen, come with me…” Thieves wanted every penny though, didn’t they? She kept the doubt to herself and walked into her bedroom. She immediately spotted one of her drawers on the floor missing some of her panties. She felt cold and turned toward Galen who followed her. “Oh my goodness, my underwear drawer?”
The detective came in with a pad and paper in his hand. “Did you have anything else in your underwear drawer?”
Oh. Perhaps they were just looking for things. She supposed people stuffed jewelry or something with their underwear, but she shook her head. “No, just my underwear.”
The detective didn’t blink. She took that as a good sign as he asked, “What about cash, credit cards, bank account information.”
Perhaps people kept checks or something with underwear. That must be it. However her dad had installed a safe box in the closet wall.
Natalie pushed her clothes to the side, and noticed the door looked unbroken. She tried it and then started putting her pin in. “Let me check. My safe is still locked, officer.” Natalie pulled out all her paperwork and showed Galen and the detective. “All my accounts are here, though I don’t know what’s saved on the laptop. They probably have the electronic record if they get into my online store accounts and those passwords are saved.”
Galen immediately said, “We can use my computer to change all of them for you once you finish telling the police what’s missing.”
Thankfully he was here. Her heart calmed as she went through her jewelry box. “Some of my jewelry. I didn’t have much, but I had a few pieces of gold, including my college ring.” She put the jewelry box back. Where was her work black skirt? A few of her loose blouses weren’t on their hangers. She turned toward the detective and Galen. “Some work clothes.”
The detective wrote her items down. “Where were you last night?”
Galen answered, “We went bowling and spent the night at my place, officer.”
The detective nodded and stared right at her. “I suggest you lock up here. This burglary seems far more personal and less a random act.”
She couldn’t breathe or move. Her heart stopped, and her skin froze. Personal? She glanced at Galen and tried to remember she was fine. It took her a second to pull herself together but she finally nodded. “I’ll be careful.”
Galen then said, “Sir, my brother-in-law, Rafe Soliz, was on the force until recently and he heads Morgan security. Can he be in touch while I keep Natalie with me?”
“Of course.” The detective added, “Soliz was one of the best detectives I ever knew. He trained me.”
Caro’s brother married a Morgan? Natalie hadn’t known they had so many people in common. She took Galen’s hand. “Rafe is a cop?”
His eyes widened slightly. “You know him?”
She’d lived in the same house as Caro in college until that last year. She shrugged. “He came to visit his sister sometimes. I feel like with you I’m getting part of my old self back, which is weird—in a good way.”
He walked her out and they waited for the officers to pass them in the hall. She then locked the door and glanced at her hall with the palm tree paintings. The complex looked the same, but inside her place was a disaster.
Galen guided her toward the elevator. “What do you want to do now? I can get a service in here to clean up the broken glass.”
One less thing to worry about. “Okay, and then let’s fly to New Orleans. I was looking forward to that lunch and I don’t want to brood about any of this.”
The empty elevator opened for them and they proceeded inside. She didn’t look behind her as Galen asked, “You’re sure?”
