by Meg Benjamin
She watched the burglar struggle for a few moments longer, then eased the door wider as she pulled her baton from her belt. Once again, she wished she had a gun, but she’d had hand-to-hand training. And she’d been known to take down men who were twice her size. And there was no sign the perp was carrying a weapon. The sound of the desk drawer rattling covered any sounds she made as she stepped into the room. The guy was taller than she’d anticipated. She held her baton at the ready. He’d probably run, but she could stop him if he did.
“Hey,” she barked, “what do you think you’re doing?”
The man jerked upright, staring at her, and Helen’s throat clenched in shock. “What the hell?” she muttered. “What are you doing here?”
She realized her mistake almost instantly, but by then it was too late. He’d reached her before she could bring her baton to block him, the heavy bookend from the chief’s desk clutched in his hand.
After that she remembered nothing at all.
Chapter Nineteen
The call woke Nando at five forty-five. He grabbed his cell, glancing at the number as he stepped out into the hall so he wouldn’t wake Kit. Too late he remembered he was in Allie’s house, and he hadn’t taken time to grab his underwear. If Allie walked in the front door, she’d be in for a shock.
“Yeah?” he muttered, trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice. He was off today, and he had some plans for the rest of the morning since Kit was off too. He hoped to god nobody had called in sick.
Five minutes later he was back in the bedroom pulling on his clothes as quickly and quietly as he could. Kit stirred in the bed, turning toward him with sleepy eyes as she pushed her hair away from her face. “What’s up?”
“I’ve got to go,” he muttered. “I’m sorry.” Looking at her, warm and luscious among the rumpled sheets, he realized how sorry he really was.
“What?” She sat up now, the sheet pooling in her lap to show her truly remarkable breasts. “Why?”
He sighed, trying to decide how much he could tell her. Hell, the news would probably be all over town in a couple of hours anyway. “That SOB we’ve been chasing for the last month broke into the station last night. This time someone got hurt.”
“Into the station?” Kit was fully awake now. “Why on earth would a burglar break into a police station?”
Nando shook his head as he zipped up his pants. “You got me—it’s not something the average burglar would do, that’s for sure.”
“Hurt?” She was focusing now. “Who? Who got hurt? How badly?”
He buttoned his shirt. “Helen. And I don’t know how badly yet. She’s in the hospital.”
“My god.” She shook her head slowly. “This is really serious, isn’t it?”
“Yes ma’am, it really is.” He leaned down, sliding an arm around her neck, tasting those wonderful lips one more time. “Sorry, chica. I wanted more time with you today.”
“That’s okay.” Her lips turned up slightly. “I’ll be here if you get a break.”
“I’ll do my best,” he murmured. Jerking his brain back into cop mode was going to be tougher than usual today.
He got to the station a few minutes before Ham. Delaney was already sitting in the bullpen nursing a cup of convenience store coffee, his face the color of dirty milk. Kirk was sitting behind him, looking like he’d been dragged through the nearest knothole.
Toleffson stood behind Helen’s desk, talking on the phone—which was weird since he usually did his phoning in his office. Nando glanced down the hall and saw the yellow crime scene tape stretched across the chief’s office door.
“What the hell?” He dropped into a chair next to Delaney. “What happened?”
Delaney shook his head slowly. “I don’t know exactly. I came back here around four o’clock. Found Helen on the floor in the chief’s office. Somebody broke in there. Window was open. Bushes trampled outside. I called the hospital and got an ambulance to come get her. Don’t know how she is yet.” He took another swallow of coffee.
Linklatter plunked down at his desk, dropping a McDonald’s sack on the blotter. He sighed loudly. “Don’t usually come in this early on a Sunday.”
Nando ignored him. “Why was Helen here alone anyway? She doesn’t work nights usually, unless she’s got extra paperwork to get through.”
Delaney shrugged. “She came in around nine. Said she’d run the station so Dawson and I could do more patrolling. She turned off the call forward, so we didn’t hear anything from the station. I didn’t see her when I checked back for a bathroom break—I thought she’d gone home. Then next time I saw the light in the chief’s office and found her.”
“You should’ve sent her back home. Rules are rules. She shouldn’t have been in here.” Linklatter sounded vaguely like a middle school vice principal. Nando didn’t like to think about the probable result if Delaney had tried to make Helen go home again.
“Helen came in around nine?” he asked. “And you were out the rest of the night?”
“About that. Like I said, I came back for a bathroom break once, and I guess Dawson did too.” He glanced back at Kirk, who nodded, then he stared down at his cup again. “We had a lot going on. There were some drunks at the Silver Spur and some problems at the Dew Drop. I talked to the Silver Spur guys and found somebody to drive them home so they wouldn’t be driving themselves. We had a couple of noise complaints and a woman over at the Lone Oak said there was a coyote hanging around but I couldn’t find it. I guess Dawson had some prowler calls out at the edge of town, and some kids messing around the high school. Sort of a busy night.” He rubbed his eyes. “I just…Helen said to stay out on patrol, so we did.”
Nando thought about telling him to go home and get some rest, but he figured that was Toleffson’s call. He watched the chief hang up, then walk toward them.
“County Crime Lab’s on the way. They’ll go over the office, then we can break it down after that.”
Nando took a breath. “How’s Helen?”
“Concussion,” the chief said tersely. “Still unconscious. Bastard used one of my stone bookends on her.”
Nando’s right hand curled into a fist. The burglar had moved up to assault. He only hoped he got a piece of the son of a bitch before the chief got to him. “What was he looking for in your office? There’s nothing in there that’s worth anything.”
Belatedly he realized that might not have been the most politic thing to say about Toleffson’s office, but the chief shook his head. “Damn if I know. Maybe he thought I kept money or drugs in there.”
“Who breaks into a police station anyway?” Delaney said dully. “I never heard of that happening before.”
“Could be he was after guns,” Ham suggested.
“Except the guns are in the gun safe down the hall, not the chief’s office And I didn’t see any sign he’d tried to get into any other room in the station.” Delaney sounded beyond tired.
“Well, this guy hasn’t exactly been logical up until now either.” Toleffson sighed. “We need to find this asshole. Soon. With any luck, Helen saw him and she’ll remember what he looks like. Maybe she’ll even know him. She knows everybody in town.”
“If she wakes up,” Linklatter said helpfully. He reached into the sack on his desk, pulling out an Egg McMuffin.
All five men stared at him. Toleffson’s eyes took on a malevolent gleam. “When she wakes up, Linklatter.”
Ham shrugged. “Sure.”
Nando glanced longingly at Delaney’s coffee. He should have thought to grab a cup for himself on his way in. “Shouldn’t we have somebody at the hospital? To talk to her when she comes to?”
Toleffson nodded. “Yeah. I just talked to the doctor who’s treating her. He said she could wake up any time, but it may be a while. One of us should be there with her until she does.” He turned toward Ham, narrowing his eyes. “You can take first shift, Ham.”
Ham chewed his muffin glumly. “You want me to just sit there? Until she comes
around?”
“Yep.” The chief’s mouth edged into a dry smile. “You can take a book.”
Nando doubted that Ham owned a book, let alone wanted to read one.
“Seems like a waste of time,” he grumbled.
The chief’s smile disappeared. “Don’t worry about wasting your time, just do it. When she comes around, ask her what she remembers—ask her who the guy was.”
“I could spell you,” Delaney said hesitantly. “Let me get a few hours of sleep, then I could take over this afternoon before my shift begins.”
Toleffson looked like he might disagree. Nando figured he really liked the idea of leaving Ham at the hospital all day. But then he shrugged. “Okay. Then one of us can come in for the evening, assuming she’s still unconscious.”
“I can take over for Delaney,” Nando said slowly. “Unless you want us all out on the street.”
The chief shrugged. “Hold off for now. She may be awake by then. I want you to help me take that office apart after the crime lab guys get finished.”
“Thought it was Avrogado’s day off,” Ham said around a bite of muffin.
“There are no days off, Ham. Not until we finish this. We need to get this guy—now. We’ve got an officer down, and we don’t let that happen.” Toleffson’s voice sounded like a whip crack in the silence of the office.
“You mean Helen?” Ham looked slightly confused.
“Helen is an officer in the Konigsburg Police Department,” Toleffson’s jaw was tight. “She was assaulted in the line of duty. Are you clear on that?”
Ham licked his lips. “Yessir. Guess I am.”
“Good. Now get on it. Delaney and Kirk, go home and get some sleep. Linklatter, go to the hospital. Rollie, you’re on patrol. Nando, stick around until the county guys are done. That’s probably them in the parking lot,” he said as a white county van pulled in.
Nando squared his shoulders. Whoever the burglar was, he’d just become the target of every cop in the Hill Country.
For once Kit was glad she had the wedding to worry about. The news about Helen Kretschmer had spread around town with the usual wildfire speed. Allie had come back with Wonder, full of questions that Kit couldn’t answer, and then had gone off to Docia and Cal’s house, hoping they’d heard some news from Chief Toleffson.
She had around ten days left before the ceremony, and all the major tasks on the professional wedding planner’s checklist had been taken care of. Her last big job had been to find a photographer, but fortunately Wonder had a patient who was in the business. Or who wanted to be in the business. The guy looked to be around twenty, but Kit had seen his work and he seemed to know what he was doing. Just because he didn’t have a studio outside of his parents’ garage didn’t mean he couldn’t function. And besides, none of the professional photographers were available on the day of the wedding.
She spread out the seating chart for the reception on the table in front of her. Allie had given her the usual vague suggestions. She was trying to fit people together based on shared interests or the likelihood of their having long-standing friendships or feuds.
They’d sent out the invitations and received a surprising number of RSVP cards by return mail. Apparently, Allie’s friends and family felt the same way Kit did about the necessity of getting the whole thing wrapped up quickly before Allie decided to back out again. Given her rigid training in the Maldonado family’s code of conduct, Allie was much less likely to disappoint people who’d made travel plans.
She and Wonder hadn’t taken the time to register for gifts anywhere. She argued that since they’d both been living on their own for a long time and since they both had completely furnished houses, they didn’t need anything more. If anything, they needed a lot less. Still, gifts had begun to arrive. Kit was piling them on a table in the study.
She glanced around Allie’s cozy living room. The Craftsman cottage she’d bought after Sweet Thing had become a success was a jewel. Even though Allie seemed to have decided to live at Wonder’s house after they were married, she still hadn’t made any move to put her own place on the market. Kit only hoped she wouldn’t sell it immediately. Finding a place for herself that she could afford on her Woodrose salary wasn’t a prospect she looked forward to.
She went back to the checklist again. Rings and license were Wonder’s problem. If he couldn’t drag Allie to the county clerk’s office and the jewelry store, they might as well just give up. Cakes were Allie’s department, thank god. It seemed to be the only thing she was working on, but at least she’d done the planning and started doing some test runs.
She glanced at the next item. Rehearsal dinner. Crap. Kit pinched the bridge of her nose. The groom’s family were supposed to take care of it, but Wonder’s mom lived in an assisted care facility in Dripping Springs, so she probably wasn’t eager to do any planning for her son. Kit would have to remember to ask Wonder himself what he wanted to do and where. They could probably set up something in one of the meeting rooms at the inn, which would be convenient since the rehearsal itself would be taking place at the event center. Kit made a note to herself to check the Rose’s calendar. There shouldn’t be too many events during the middle of the week, but she’d need to reserve the room as soon as possible. Probably she should just go ahead and do it. Chances were Wonder didn’t have any strong feelings one way or the other, and it would be another thing checked off.
Kit blew out a breath. This wasn’t exactly the way she’d planned on spending her Sunday. Almost immediately she felt a quick pinch of guilt. It probably wasn’t the way Helen Kretschmer had meant to spend her Sunday either. It wasn’t exactly Nando’s fault that he’d had to take off first thing in the morning.
Still. She rubbed her tired eyes. Would he have stayed if he’d had the chance? He’d said he wanted to, but did she believe him? Of course, not believing him hadn’t gotten her very far in the past either.
They still hadn’t talked about the past. He hadn’t said how he felt about her. He hadn’t really told her before either, but she’d thought she knew. Still, that was then. This, Kit reminded herself, was now.
They were circling each other like a pair of wary cats, each afraid of letting down their guard so that the other could slash.
Taken all in all, she had no idea where they stood or what was ahead for them. A smart woman might cut her losses and pull back, or at the very least take things more slowly to make sure she wasn’t going to get crushed again.
But then again, when it came to Nando, had she ever been smart?
The county lab techs were very thorough, which meant they were also very slow. Nando sat at his desk shuffling through some paperwork until his eyes gave out and he dropped his head onto his arms. He should be doing the paperwork—hell, he should always be doing paperwork. But he didn’t feel like it, and napping was better than calling the hospital again to check on Helen.
Toleffson stood watching the techs, asking the occasional question and, judging from his expression, not getting the kind of answers he wanted. When the techs finally headed out the door, carrying their bags of equipment with them, Toleffson walked back into the bullpen.
“Anything?” Nando asked.
Toleffson shook his head. “Some fingerprints on the window, but they’re probably mine. In fact, mine are all over the place. They picked up some other prints, but my guess is they’ll turn out to be the cleaning service or you guys. This asshole has worn gloves every other place he’s hit. Too much to hope that he’d go barehanded here.” He glanced back at Helen’s desk, his jaw firming. “Come on. Let’s take that damn office apart and see if we can figure out what he was looking for.”
Nando pushed himself to his feet. “That assumes the guy was looking for something in particular. Maybe he was just going through the first room he saw after he climbed in the window.”
“Then why didn’t he stop when he figured out nothing was in there? If it was all random, why didn’t he just keep going through the station until h
e found something that was open or something that was worth taking? Why did he stay in here?”
Nando frowned as he circled the desk behind Toleffson. “That would mean he deliberately broke into this office, looking for something specific. That was either incredibly stupid or reasonably well planned.”
The chief narrowed his eyes. “Okay. Why?”
“Because I figure he thought the station was empty. No burglar in his right mind would have broken into a cop shop if there were any cops around. He must have figured nobody was here.”
“But Helen was sitting up front.” Toleffson scowled. “Why didn’t he see her?”
“Helen doesn’t park in the parking lot, and she comes in the back way most times. Plus when she’s here at night, she turns off most of the lights except for her desk light. She’s always complaining about wasted electricity.”
“So you’re thinking this perp was watching the station? That he saw Delaney and Kirk take off?”
Nando shrugged. “It’s possible. Or maybe he just checked the parking lot and saw that both cruisers were out. Put that together with most of the lights being turned off, and he could have figured it was all clear.”
“It’s possible,” Toleffson said slowly. “Doesn’t help much, though. Chances are if he was watching, he did it from a car or someplace nobody would see. If he was standing out front, somebody on the street could have seen him. And we still don’t know why he broke in here at all.” He looked around his office, eyes narrowed. “Start with the filing cabinets. That’s the first thing he’d see. Nothing interesting in ’em so far as I know, but maybe he thought different. Stack the stuff there.” He pointed to a folding table he’d set up at the side of the room.
Nando narrowed his eyes, studying the cabinet. “What’s in here? Case files?”
The chief shook his head. “Budgeting stuff mainly. Plus some older files from Olema and Brody. I should have cleaned the damn thing out a long time ago.” He pulled one of the side desk drawers open, lifting out some legal pads, paperclips and a stapler.
