Dalton and Lilly had begun going out pretty much every Saturday evening. Sometimes they'd go out for dinner and take a leisurely stroll through town. Sometimes they'd go out for dinner and dancing, which they were happy to discover they both enjoyed. A couple times they went out for dinner and a movie. On a couple occasions, he packed a picnic and they took the horses out and watched the sunset.
On this particular Saturday, Dalton told her they were going out for dinner and dancing to celebrate her very successful show. They ate at a steakhouse that was quickly becoming their favorite. He could get his beloved huge steak with grilled mushrooms, and she could get the seafood or chicken she preferred.
Afterward, they were both so relieved that the show was over and successful that they danced until well past midnight. When Lilly looked at her watch she was appalled. "Dalton, look what time it is! We have to get home."
He looked amused. "Why? Are you going to turn into a pumpkin?"
"No, but you have to get up in the morning for chores. I had no idea it was this late."
"Relax, honey. I didn't know it was this late, either, but we've both needed this. You were way too worried about your show, and that caused me to worry about you. Now that it's over and there's nothing to worry about, I think this is just what we both needed. We can take it easy tomorrow afternoon, maybe even fall asleep on the couch under the pretense that we're watching a movie on television, so don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Come on, I like this song." He pulled her up to go back to the dance floor, noticing he didn't have to pull too hard to convince her. He was happy to see her this stress free and enjoying herself.
When they did go home an hour later, they wished they'd stayed longer. Dalton unlocked the door and let Lilly go in, with him right behind her. He turned the light on and froze. Someone had ransacked the house. He quickly led her back out of the house, using his free hand to call the sheriff, then Clay. Dalton deposited her back in the truck with orders to, "Stay here."
"No," she insisted, opening the door.
He whirled around and met her eyes. "What did you say?"
"I said no. I will not stay here while you go in there. You may own the house, but it's become my home, too. I want to see what happened just as much as you do."
"But what if whoever did that is still in there? You wait out here until I make sure there's no one in there."
"And what if they're not in there any more, but they're out here? You'll be going in there and leaving me out here by myself, defenseless." He paused, and she could tell he was thinking. "Or what if they are still in there, waiting for you? You keep asking me how I think you'd feel if I did something stupid and got hurt. Well, let me ask you the same thing. How do you think I'd feel if I stay out here and let you go in there and someone jumps you?"
Dalton started to answer, but couldn't find the right words. A voice behind him spoke up. "She's got you there, boss."
Dalton and Lilly had been so locked into each other, they neither one saw or heard Clay approach, and he startled both of them. Dalton recovered first. "Clay, you stay out here with her and I'll go make sure the house is clear."
Lilly stared right at him. "Did you not hear what I asked? I say either we all go in or we all wait for the sheriff."
"Lilly, I'll be careful, but I have to go in and make sure—"
"Make sure what? If he's still in there what are you going to do? Clay, would you please help me talk some sense into him? I don't want him going in there and getting hurt."
Dalton started to answer, but saw that Lilly was trembling. Without giving it any further thought he pulled her in against him. "Honey, you're trembling."
"I'm scared," she admitted. "Please don't leave me and go get yourself hurt."
Dalton was so touched by her concern, the only thing he could do was hold her tight. While he was considering his next move, a sheriff's cruiser pulled in.
"Oh, good," Lilly sighed. "Dalton, please let the deputies go in and check it out. They're trained to do it, and they have guns." He met her eyes and could tell how upset she was. He nodded to her and gave her a kiss as he watched the two deputies approaching.
Keeping an arm around her, he held out his other hand to greet the deputies. "Gentlemen, thank you for getting here so quickly. I'm Dalton Henderson."
After Dalton met Deputies Mitch Allen and John Sherman and introduced Clay, he explained when they'd gotten home and what they'd found.
Deputy Allen took the lead asking questions. "Does anyone else reside here?"
"Lilly Jamison here is an artist and has been staying here for the past few months, painting local scenery. I have a lady who does my cooking and housecleaning, Stella Morgan, but she usually spends Saturday night and Sunday with her sister in town."
"So she wasn't here tonight?"
"No. She left for her sister's house before we left."
"I don't mean to be personal, Mr. Henderson, but I take it you and Miss Jamison are together, dating?"
"We are, yes," he replied. He noticed a strange expression on her face and made a mental note to ask her about it later.
"So you left and returned at the same time?"
"Together, yes."
"Do you have an alarm system?"
"No. I may be looking into one now, though," Dalton answered.
"Do you know if they took anything?"
"We went in, saw the house in disarray, and turned around and left. We haven't been in any further than the door."
"That was a smart move. Do you have any ideas as to who may have done this; anyone you've upset lately?"
"Not that I'm aware of," Dalton answered.
Deputy Allen turned his attention on Clay. "And as foreman, do you live on the grounds?"
"The house right over there," he said, pointing to his house.
"Have you been home tonight?"
"I left before they did, and I got home about 12:30."
"Did you notice the house; if any lights were on?"
"It looked dark, so I assumed they were still out. I knew Lilly had been pretty stressed out, worrying about her art show, and now since it's over I figured they may stay out late tonight, kick their heels up a bit."
"Art show?"
Dalton answered, "The gallery in town had a show featuring her paintings."
Deputy Sherman turned to look at Lilly. "I read about that in the paper. My neighbor went and said we have a new local artist that's very talented. That's you?"
Lilly blushed as she said, "Thank you. I'm not sure how talented, but it was my work."
Deputy Allen turned again to Dalton. "Okay, let us go check the house out. When we've made sure no one's in there, we'll come get you. Then unfortunately, I'll need you both to look around and see if you can tell if things have been stolen."
Fifteen minutes later, Deputy Allen returned. "I need you to come in now and see if you can tell if anything's missing. I need to warn you first, though, they did a number on your house. Deputy Sherman's in there taking pictures of it. You may want to find someplace else to stay tonight, and plan to spend the day tomorrow putting things back. They've knocked things over, I saw several things broken, and things have been thrown around. You may not know if anything's actually been taken until you start cleaning it up, but do a quick assessment tonight and tell me if there's anything that's missing that stands out."
Dalton tightened his grip on Lilly when he felt her stiffen. He turned to Clay. "You may as well come on in, too. You've been in there often enough; you may notice things missing that I don't."
Clay nodded, and all three of them went to the house. Once inside, Dalton kept Lilly right with him. They were all devastated when they saw the destruction to the house. Furniture had been knocked over, things were thrown all over, but what stood out to Dalton was that every drawer in the house, no matter where the drawer was, had been pulled out and emptied. Every drawer in the kitchen was emptied, its contents all over the floor. Every drawer in his desk in his office was empty, every drawer in every dresser
in every bedroom had been emptied. Even in the extra bedrooms, where the drawers were pretty much empty to begin with.
When they got to Lilly's room, Dalton turned her to look at him first. "Are you ready to do this, honey?"
"Yes, I guess."
"You know it's going to be a mess, but I don't want you to get too upset. We'll replace all your paints and canvases. I know you just got a supply of new canvases and they're probably all going to be torn or broken, but don't worry about those. I have good insurance and those will all be replaced, along with your paints. I'm just glad your finished paintings aren't in the house right now."
"Yeah, me, too," she whispered. "I thought of that."
"Okay, if you're ready, let's go look." He opened the door to her room and they went in. As expected, all her dresser drawers were empty, their contents all over the floor. What was worst, though, was that they had taken her paints and squirted paint all over her clothes and undergarments that were laying all around, having been dumped from the drawers.
Seeing that, he held her tight. "Don't worry, honey, we'll go buy you some new clothes. They can all be replaced."
She cried into his shoulder. "I know," she said. "It's just upsetting to see all my underwear laying out in the open like this with paint on them. Who would do such a thing, and why?"
"I wish I knew," Dalton said. They went to his room and it was much the same, minus the paint on the clothes. All the drawers had been emptied, the contents laying all over the floor. There were a couple broken items, and he steered her clear of them, not wanting her to get cut.
Lilly picked up a piece of one of the broken items. "Were these special things? Did they have special meaning to you?"
"Not overly. They were gifts from my aunt. She seems to think everyone needs a house full of decorative glass pieces. I happen to think a couple are sufficient, but that's what they are. I'm not going to lose any sleep over them being broken. They're the least of my worries."
"Do you think we should check Stella's suite, or leave it as is until she's here?" They discussed it and decided they better check on it. They would just take a quick look. They opened the door, saw it in much the same condition as the rest of the house, and left.
They met Clay and the two deputies back in the living room. Deputy Allen looked at them as they entered. "Does anything stand out that's missing?"
All three were quiet for several moments. Dalton finally shrugged. "It's hard to say for sure, but I didn't notice anything. How about anyone else?"
"I didn't notice anything missing," Lilly answered.
"Nor did I," Clay added.
Deputy Sherman looked around. "I noticed several things that I know are of value that were not taken."
Deputy Allen nodded. "I noticed that, too. That tells me either they weren't here to burglarize the home, or they had a specific item or two in mind. Dalton, do you have anything worth a great deal, a special something that's been passed down through generations or anything?"
"Not that I know of," he answered. "I mean, Mom's got a few antique dishes, and some of the furniture are antiques that have been passed down, but the furniture's all here. The dishes are at my sister's. I gave them to her when she got married, and now I'm really glad I did. They probably would have all been broken."
"Well, give it some thought, and if you think of something that could have value, check to be sure it's here. Or if you find something that's missing while you're cleaning the house, let me know."
"I will," Dalton assured him. "Do you have any idea who could have done this, or why?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing. No ideas yet?"
"No. It looks to me like they were out to do as much damage as possible. I'm wondering if someone has an ax to grind with me and I didn't know it. It seems like they didn't take much if anything, but wanted to make as big a mess of the house as they could." He thought a moment. "Or I guess they could have been looking for something. Why else would they empty all the drawers?"
"On the other hand, though, if they're looking for something specific, they usually concentrate on a certain room or two, and it's odd that they would empty all the drawers. If what they're looking for wouldn't fit in smaller drawers, why empty them? So yes, they could have been looking for something, but I have to tell you, sometimes people are upset about something and just want to hurt someone. They'll break in and make a total mess of their house. They don't take anything, just want to upset them."
"Well, that would sure do it," Dalton murmured, looking around at the mess. "It's going to take us a long time to clean this mess up, and it plays with your sense of security. I'm definitely going to call first thing Monday morning and have a security system installed."
"I never discourage that," Deputy Allen said. "Especially after a break in."
Lilly moved in a little closer to Dalton. "I hate the thought that someone was in here, able to do whatever they pleased," she said.
"I know," Dalton agreed. "That's why we'll have a security system installed. Then no one else will have that ability." Lilly nodded, but Dalton knew she was upset.
Clay broke the silence that ensued. "Dalton, Lilly, you're both welcome to stay at my place. I only have one extra bedroom, but my couch makes into a bed, too."
Dalton sighed and looked at Lilly. "I'm sure Daphne would let us stay with them. They've got a couple extra bedrooms, but how do you feel about it?"
"I don't really want to call her in the middle of the night. I'll be fine on Clay's couch."
"We're thinking a lot alike again, honey. Let's see how long it takes us to clean the house up and get a security system installed. I'm sure Daphne will let us stay there until the house is ready for us to move back in, but for tonight let's take Clay up on his generous offer. I'll sleep on the couch, though. Clay and I will be getting up early to do chores, but there's no reason we need to wake you up then. You sleep in the extra room."
"Call me and let me know what you find when you get your house put back in shape," Deputy Allen said. Dalton assured him they would, and showed the deputies out.
After the deputies left, the three of them stood in the living room, looking around. Clay finally made a suggestion. "Why don't you two go see if you can find what you may need tonight and tomorrow morning, and I'll go get the extra room and couch ready for you. Come on down when you're ready."
"Thanks, Clay, we appreciate this," Dalton said. After Clay left, he suggested, "Let's leave all this for tomorrow. We'll lock the door and tackle it then. Right now let's go see if we can find you some pajamas and something to wear tomorrow. I'll grab a change of clothes."
"Suppose they left our toothbrushes intact?"
"Hard to tell, but we'll find out. Come on." He led her upstairs and to her room. They looked around, moving things until they found some undergarments and clothes for the next day. They fared better in the bathroom. Her toothbrush and toothpaste were still in the medicine cabinet, so she grabbed them. They found what they needed in Dalton's room and made their way to Clay's house.
Clay was ready for them and welcomed them in. They all looked exhausted, but none of them were too anxious to go to sleep. After a short discussion, they decided to get some sleep and start on the house tomorrow. Maybe they'd find something while they were going through the mess, or one of them would think of something that could help.
A few hours after they went to bed, Clay's alarm went off. The men went to do chores. Lilly heard them leave, and it bothered her being in the house alone. She hadn't slept much during the night, her mind doing too much thinking. Hearing them leave to do chores, though, upset her. She got up and dressed quickly. She felt better, and went out to the living room.
She felt funny. She felt like something wasn't right, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She found herself pacing in Clay's living room. Finally, she decided she just felt out of place, with nothing to do. She was considering going to Dalton's house and bringing down the food she needed to make breakfast. Since Stella
wasn't normally there on Sundays, the men used to go out for breakfast together. Since Lilly had been there, she'd been making breakfast for the three of them. If she had what she needed and could cook breakfast now, at least she'd have something to do. At least keeping busy would keep her mind off the break in.
Just as she was ready to head for the house, Dalton and Clay came in. Looking at her jacket, he asked, "Where are you going, honey?"
"I was going up to the house to get some food to cook for breakfast. I'm not sure I'll be able to cook in that kitchen before we do some cleaning up."
"No, I know you won't be able to. But I don't want you going to that house alone, Lilly. I don't think we'll find anything unusual up there, but I don't want you to be alone there just in case you do. We'll go out for breakfast this morning. Then we'll come home and get started."
"Have you called Stella yet," Lilly asked.
"Not yet," Dalton said with a sigh. "She's going to be upset, and I didn't want to wake her to give her this kind of news. I'll call after we have breakfast."
"Good idea. She'll probably want to come home early and help us with the cleaning."
"You're probably right. Let's go eat."
The three of them went to town for breakfast, and called Stella when they got back home. She was upset, as they'd expected, and said she'd be back home shortly, and her sister wanted to come along to help.
Next they called Daphne and Brian. They were both upset, and immediately insisted they stay with them until their house was cleaned up and ready to live in again. Daphne assured them they had a four-bedroom house and only used one, so she told them to tell Stella there was a room for her there as well. It was right around the corner from their house, still actually on the ranch, so it would be close enough for Dalton to do his morning chores.
Clay suggested Dalton and Lilly were on their own as far as their bedrooms, but insisted on helping clean up the main part of the house. They thanked him, and the three of them decided to start on the dining room first.
As they were getting started, Daphne and Brian showed up ready to help. Dalton admitted he was glad to have their help, especially Daphne. He'd replaced things as they wore out, but had made no major changes since their parents had died. That meant she knew what things went in which drawer just as well, or better, than he did.
A Beautiful Ranch Page 17
