by Diane Bator
Mick certainly had a few things buried in his past she never would have guessed if she hadn't met Kane or Mena. He'd trained Kane and worked alongside Charlie Hunt and Razi for years before coming to Sandstone Cove. He'd even been ringside when Kane won his title, then sat and watched as Kane had destroyed his whole life. Was that why Mick hired Kane to work at the Phoenix school? Out of guilt?
While Kane still had murderer potential, he was so insistent on his innocence she'd actually started to believe him. With his very public, volatile past, and outrageous behavior since arriving in town, it was no wonder Thayer wanted to lock him up for life. Still, she'd seen enough of his gentler side to think he might be telling the truth.
She paused at her front gate and narrowed her eyes. Crap. She'd forgotten to turn on the porch light when Mick and the cops had hustled her out of the house earlier. At least the streetlight was bright enough to let her find her house key on her ring.
As she stepped onto the front porch, something crunched beneath her running shoes. Broken glass. Her heart hammered. Had someone broken both her light fixture and the bulb inside so they could break into her house in the dark?
Gilda stared at the front door for several seconds, weighing her options. She could call the police right away, only to have it be a false alarm. If she called Marion for backup, they'd probably create a bigger scene. If she called Mick, he'd play the part of valiant knight and search the house before he'd allow her inside.
She took a deep breath and opened the door, bracing her entire body in case someone was still inside. No one moved. No one made a sound.
Gilda flicked on the light and gazed around her living room. Once again, someone had overturned her furniture and scattered her pictures around the floor. What was left of her knickknacks lay in shards on the carpet. She certainly hoped the third time was the charm.
"Oh, wow." She walked through the living room and was stunned to see the kitchen in complete disarray as well. From there she made her way down the hallway. Every drawer in her bedroom lay empty and her bedding was scattered around the room. Her folding closet door had been ripped from the hinges.
Without looking at her phone, she dialed Fabio's cell phone. "Hey, it's Gilda. Guess what happened at my house today?"
"You're not supposed to even be there," Fabio snorted. "Mick and Kane just called. We were about to go look for you. Get out of the house and meet us at the front gate. You shouldn't be inside. We really have to make some new living arrangements for you before someone breaks in while you're at home."
Gilda shrugged. "At least we'd know who it was."
"No, we wouldn't," he said. "You'd be dead and we'd still be clueless."
Her stomach sank. "Good point."
"We're on our way. Get out of the house." Fabio hung up.
She called Marion next. "Someone broke into my house again."
"What?" Marion huffed. "Who let you go there alone?"
She sighed. "I just left the school. I was going to get some clothes and go to your house."
"Good. I'm just leaving work. I'll be there in five minutes. Get out of the house and wait for me by the gate. I'll bring a baseball bat. We'll deal with Mick and Kane later."
Gilda ignored everyone's advice and picked through the debris, straightening shelves and picking up torn books and magazines. Try as she might, she still hadn't noticed anything missing this time either. A shiver swept over her. What was the intruder looking for?
"Gilda Wright, come out of the house with your hands up." Thayer's voice rattled the windows.
"What?" She peered out the window to where Thayer stood on the sidewalk with a bullhorn in one hand, his revolver in the other, and a square of gauze taped to his forehead.
Fabio clapped one hand over his face and the other on Thayer's shoulder while Kane and Mick peered out from the back of the squad car.
Gilda stormed out the front door toward Thayer. "Are you trying to make an even bigger scene?"
"I guess I wasn't specific enough." Fabio snatched the bullhorn away from his partner then opened the door for Kane and Mick. "I told him to knock on your front door and ask you to get out of the house so we could do a search."
Thayer folded his arms. "After the day I've had, I just thought I'd have a little fun."
Gilda's jaw dropped. "Someone's broken into my house how many times now and you thought it'd be funny to put on a show for the entire town at my expense? Nice. How was that supposed to be fun?"
"Settle down." Marion ran up the sidewalk, huffing and puffing like she'd run up the street from work, and grabbed Gilda by both arms. "He's not worth injuring a second time. Did they take anything?"
Gilda shook her head. "I don't know. I didn't check. I guess they still haven't found what they're looking for though."
"How do you know that?" Thayer asked.
She waved a hand toward the house. "They're still looking."
Fabio approached Gilda. "You ladies stay out here. Thayer and I need to take a quick look around before the crime lab boys show up."
Gilda sighed. "I'd really like to know what they're after."
Kane folded his arms across his chest. "My guess is drugs."
"I don't have any drugs," she said.
Mick nodded. "No, but Charlie did."
Marion snorted. "Who'd be such a jerk as to stash drugs in his grandma's house? That takes a special kind of evil."
"Charlie would have," Kane said. "He's done a lot of things that would give you nightmares, love, but I have a hard time believing he'd leave drugs stashed anywhere. Guns and paperwork, maybe. Drugs, not a chance."
"Did you just call me 'love'?" Marion asked. When Kane shrugged, she grinned. "Cool."
"Unless he was in jail at the time." Gilda sat on the curb and covered her ears. "I don't want to know. I just want everyone to stay out of my house. I've lived here for two years. If there were anything inside that house to be found, I would have found it by now. There's no cellar and the attic is just a crawlspace full of bugs. The only good hiding place would be in the kitchen cupboards, and I've already cleaned those from top to bottom, inside and out."
Mick sat next to her and draped one arm around her shaking shoulders. "It's okay, babe. Fabio's putting both you and the house under full police protection. This won't happen again."
"Just what I need," she said, "a legitimate reason for Thayer to follow me all over town."
He smiled. "It's either that or you'll have to move in with me."
"Or me." Marion sat at her other side.
Kane crouched in front of them. "Moving in with me might be a little awkward considering Mena keeps some of her stuff there and comes over all the time."
Marion raised one eyebrow. "You live with her? I thought you said—"
He winced. "Like I told you, love, it's complicated."
"Yeah? Well a guy like you can do way better than the likes of Mena," Marion said.
Kane raised his eyebrows. "You think so?"
Mick cleared his throat and gave Gilda a squeeze. "The point is, we all want you safe, and you're going to have to get out of here before someone actually shows up while you're home and tries to hurt you."
"At least that hasn't happened." Gilda met Mick's gaze. "They probably watch to see when I'm coming and going."
Marion frowned. "You say that like it's a good thing, but that would mean someone was stalking you. That would scare me half to shreds."
"No one's stalking me, just my house." Gilda's stomach churned as she glanced around what she'd always thought of as her safe neighborhood. Her sanctuary. "That sounds weird."
When Gary followed her earlier that summer, he'd at least been obvious. In his mind, he probably wasn't so much stalking her as keeping her safe. This time, however, she had no idea who watched her or what their motive was.
Once the police gave the all clear, Fabio and Thayer followed the crime scene officers then lagged out near their car, probably to compare notes.
Mick led Gilda an
d the others inside. He paused in the doorway and gave a low whistle. "You're right, they're upping the game. Whatever they're after, they were probably afraid someone would catch them in the act and had to move fast."
"Or the stakes have gone up and they need to find whatever Charlie hid soon." Kane wandered into the kitchen. "Are you sure you never found anything, love? It might be something so normal and useless to you maybe you tossed it away."
Gilda's breath caught in her throat. Charlie's key. Once more she'd forgotten about the hidden key and still hadn't mentioned it to anyone else. She stuck it in her pocket to give it to Fabio before he left and hope he wouldn't lock her up for withholding evidence. If it even was evidence.
"What if they're not after something that's here now, but something they knew was here before?" Marion righted the armchair and tugged together the two sides of a rip in the fabric.
"Like what?" Gilda sat and sighed, overwhelmed by all they had left to do and dismayed Mick had called the police when he couldn't find her at the school.
"Who did you say lived here before you bought the place?" Kane asked.
Gilda shrugged. "Just Mildred Palmer that I know of. From what I heard, her husband built this place for her then he got sick and died. After she passed away, the property went into foreclosure, which was how I got it so cheap."
Marion narrowed her eyes and frowned. "Didn't Margaret have family who could take care of the house when she died? I'm sure Charlie wasn't the only relative she had."
"Maybe they cleared out the stuff they wanted then abandoned the place." Gilda rubbed her eyes. "If they had no need for the house, maybe they just let it go and didn't bother with the bank until they foreclosed."
"Or they were in jail and had no control over what happened to the old lady's estate." Kane flopped onto the couch. "Charlie was locked up when she died."
"Anything's possible." Mick mumbled, oddly quiet, despite the state of her house.
"But wouldn't the lawyers have to freeze everything until he was released?" Gilda asked.
Marion made a soft noise. "Not if he had to make restitution to someone. I think they could sell the place to recover costs or pay bills, especially his lawyer's fees."
She closed her eyes and considered Marion's original suggestion. "Maybe when Charlie was released from prison, he used the grand opening as a way to come back to look for something he'd left here years ago. He could have created the fake invitation to referee the fight Mick scheduled between Gomes and Kane."
"Why not? It happens all the time in the movies." Marion shrugged. "Usually someone buried treasure or a body in the backyard and didn't want it discovered."
"A body?" Gilda sagged farther into the chair, her stomach churning. "No way. I've dug up pretty much the whole backyard for my garden. If there's a body buried back there, I would've found it by now."
"Depending on how deep you dug, love," Kane said.
Gilda shuddered and blew out a long, slow breath.
Razi threw open the front door and stood in the doorway, his face red and hair rumpled. "Are you okay? What happened?"
Marion leaped to her feet. "Yeah, she's fine. Luckily, she wasn't here at the time."
"I'm fine." Gilda stood and hugged her arms around her belly.
He strode across the room and grabbed her into a quick hug. "Fabio called me to come but did not say why. I was afraid I would see another body. Why would someone destroy your living room?"
Gilda backed away from him slightly. "My living room is the tidiest part of the house. This time they ransacked the whole house." Her voice caught in her throat. Not only was the room still in shambles but the intruder had even broken the lamp she curled up next to every night to read.
Razi glanced around them. "What are they looking for?"
"I still have no idea." Gilda rubbed her face with both hands.
"You are no longer able to stay here." Razi put his hands on her shoulders. "You must go home with Marion and be safe. Mick and I can stay in this house to protect it from bad people."
Marion folded her arms. "Are you saying I can't protect a house?"
Mick winced. "No, he's saying he wants you to get Gilda out of the house to somewhere safe. I think it's more a compliment that he thinks you can protect Gilda."
"Good answer," Gilda said. "But what if they come back? What if they're not done?"
"Then we'll catch them and toy with them a little." Kane waved a hand.
Fabio groaned from the doorway with Thayer right behind. "I did not just hear that."
Gilda surveyed the damage. "I thought Gary was installing surveillance cameras."
"He is." Mick frowned. "He got them today, but hasn't had a chance to put them up."
"That's it." Thayer puffed out his chest. "You're all leaving. We're putting a surveillance team on Gilda's house, just in case the burglars strike again. Gilda, take what you need and get out. Just leave us a key so we can get inside if we have to."
Mick stepped between Thayer and Gilda. "Wait a minute. I think we need to discuss a few more things."
"Oh no." Marion grabbed Gilda's arm and tugged her into the bedroom. "Come on. Pack some stuff and let's get out of here. There's way too much testosterone in this house even for my liking. You and me are getting a pint of ice cream and a bag of cookies and heading back to my house. Got it?"
"Got it." Gilda blinked back tears as she reached into the yawning closet for an overnight bag and searched for a set of clothes to pack. "I'm sure things will calm down by tomorrow."
"I'm sure they will." Thayer leaned in the doorway of her bedroom. "I'll need your key."
She handed him her spare house key. "That's all you get."
"That's all I need."
Gilda hesitated then reached into her pocket. "I found this on the beach after Charlie died. It's the necklace he was wearing the night of the party."
Thayer's jaw tightened and his lips turned white. After a long minute, he nodded. "Thanks. I'll give it to Fabio."
Since Marion had run over from work, Thayer drove them to the grocery store up the street to shop for junk food. He followed them up and down the aisles, cringing and complaining as Marion tossed ice cream, cookies, and chips into a shopping cart. Two packages of each. "You guys are going to regret binging in the morning."
"Oh yeah?" Marion turned to stare him down in the middle of the soda aisle. Calming down seemed to be the last thing on her mind. "What are you going to do about it? You talk the talk, but you haven't done one thing to protect this girl. She's coming with me and we're having a party. If you've got a problem with that, take it up with someone who cares."
Thayer glanced at Gilda then sauntered off toward the checkout counters.
Gilda forced a small smile. "I guess he doesn't have a problem anymore."
Marion snorted. "Oh, that man has problems, but it's nothing junk food will cure."
After he dropped Gilda and her off at Marion's house, Marion yanked open one shopping bag and stuck the contents in the freezer. She slammed a tub of strawberry ice cream on the counter and, while she ranted, pulled out a pack of chocolate-covered graham cookies and two bowls. Before long, she'd filled both bowls with a healthy dose of ice cream and crumbled cookies over the mound then placed two cherries on top.
Gilda curled up on one end of Marion's plush gray couch and tried to disappear into the soft throw pillows with her arms around her stomach. "I'm really not hungry."
Her friend scowled. "Having ice cream and cookies isn't about being hungry. It's about anger, frustration, and problem solving."
"Problem solving?"
"The way I see it, you have two major problems." Marion flopped onto the couch. "Number one is finding that kook who keeps breaking into your house."
"And number two?" she asked.
Marion set her spoon in her bowl. "What to do about the three men in your life."
Gilda's mouth dropped open. "Three? What are you talking about? I'm only dating one guy. Mick."
/> "Uh-huh." Marion sat back. "That doesn't seem to bother Kane or Thayer much."
"Thayer and I have been done for a long time."
"And Kane?"
Gilda stared at her ice cream. "Forget Kane. There's nothing going on between us."
"No?" Marion shoveled a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. "Then why does he follow you around like a moony-eyed, sword-wielding puppy?"
"A moony-eyed, sword-wielding puppy?" She laughed. "That's a strange image."
"He's a strange guy. You want wine?"
"No wine." Gilda shook her head and took a couple bites. She really didn't want the ice cream either, but the blend of strawberry ice cream and chocolate-covered cookies was hard to pass up. It also gave her an excuse not to answer Marion's question.
Her phone remained oddly silent, even after all the excitement of the evening. She was grateful not only for Marion's company, but for the movie she put on to distract them. While Gilda couldn't focus on the plot or even remember the movie title, it gave her mind something less real to focus on.
As her eyes grew heavy, her mind wandered back to another movie she'd seen recently. The fight Mick showed her between Kane and an unknown fighter. It brought along that nagging feeling as if she'd seen the other fighter before. She thought about texting Mick and asking who the second fighter was but knew he wouldn't tell her. If it took her several texts, she had a hunch the information would be worth finding out.
Rather than reach for her phone, she sighed and fell asleep.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Once Marion left for work the next morning, Gilda walked home via the beach, despite numerous promises she'd stay put for the day. The sun warmed her face and the breeze off Lake Erie encouraged her to take deep, relaxing breaths.
She'd made a list that morning to clean up the mess in her house, replace what needed to be replaced, then take a short vacation at her mom's house while everyone else worried about tracking Charlie's killer and whoever kept breaking into her house.
