style="font-size:15px;"> He heard someone behind him. He turned and saw the uniformed officer, Miguel Aguilar. “What are you doing here, Littledeer? I haven’t seen any bodies.”
“The lady’s ex-husband was murdered last week. She called me before she dialed 911. Earlier, the ex’s apartment was broken into and trashed. This place is in better shape, but…How’s the rest of the house?”
“It’s been tossed.”
“Any indication where the perpetrator got in?”
“The sliding glass door in the master bedroom was jimmied. It has one of those cheap locks.”
“You call for the evidence team?”
“Yeah. They’re on the way.”
He moved through the rest of the house. Whoever had broken in had been more careful than they’d been at Peter’s apartment. It sure seemed as if someone was after something—which led him to believe Lilly’s assertion that maybe her ex-husband’s death wasn’t the random event they thought it might be.
As he turned to leave the master bedroom, he noticed the framed picture on the dresser. It had been knocked on its side. He picked up the frame. Penny, who was maybe twelve or thirteen months old at the time, sat on her mother’s lap. They were both smiling. It was the kind of picture that any husband or grandparent would view with joy and pride.
He remembered the picture of Roberta, Wendy and Rose on his mantel at home. It had been taken right before they knew the killing truth. Wendy had been two and a half; Rose two months. It was a picture he hadn’t been able to look at since he’d buried Roberta.
He carefully replaced the picture and walked back outside. Lilly and an unknown woman quietly talked. When Lilly saw him, she ushered the woman toward him.
“This is my neighbor, Sandra Tillman. She thought she saw someone in the house,” Lilly explained.
“What did you see?” Jon asked.
The woman rubbed her arms. “When I went out to bring in Lucky, my dog, I saw a light flash inside Lilly’s house. I stopped and watched. The light never appeared again, so I shrugged it off as my imagination, but seeing the patrol car, I thought I’d tell Lilly what I saw.”
“Did you see a car near the house? Or anyone leave?” he asked.
The woman shook her head. “Sorry.” The slump of her shoulders gave away her disappointment at not being able to provide more information.
“Thank you for your help. I wish more people would step up to the plate. What you’ve told me is that the man, assuming it is a man and he worked alone, might have parked his car on the next street over. I’ll be sure to question the neighbors on that street.”
The woman’s spine straightened. “I’ll keep my eyes open.” She turned and walked back to her house.
“That was nice of you,” Lilly whispered to him.
“No, it wasn’t. It was the truth. I know where to look for the suspect.”
She turned, her brow raised.
“You doubt me? You think I wasn’t sincere?”
“I guess I hadn’t thought—”
“Littledeer, I’m done,” one of the evidence guys interrupted. “I’ll be sure to check for what you asked.” He moved down the sidewalk to his car.
“What did you ask him to do?” Lilly asked Jon.
“To compare the prints he lifted here and at your ex-husband’s apartment. And remember, we’ll need your and Penny’s prints.”
“You think it was the same person?” Fear tinged her voice.
He didn’t want to panic her, but she needed to know. “I don’t know, but I don’t want to overlook anything.” She didn’t need to dwell on the fear. “C’mon. Let’s go inside and fix your sliding glass door.”
“You don’t need—”
“That’s what cops do, help make the public safe. Now, if you know how to secure that door, I’ll leave it for you.”
“You win. I have to beg my friend to come over and fix things.” Shaking her head, she confided, “Zoe is one handy lady. She’s working at the local home improvement store while she puts herself through college.”
“I’m impressed.”
They walked through the living room and into her bedroom. The lock on the sliding glass door was a simple lever, which opened when turned to the right.
“It’s not broken,” Lilly said.
“True, but it’s easily opened. A slim blade here—” he pointed above the lock and motioned downward “—and the intruder’s inside.” He looked around the room, then walked out, thinking he could find what he needed in the kitchen. In the pantry, he found a broom. He brought it back into the bedroom. Holding it up, he asked, “You willing to sacrifice this for your safety?”
“Yes.”
He snapped the broom handle over his knee and placed the piece without the bristles in the door’s track. “That will do until you decide what other locking mechanism you want for the door. Zoe will know what other safety measures are out there. Oh, one of the officers secured the sliding glass doors in the living room, but you’ll need to buy new locks for those doors, too.”
“Thank you.” Turning, she glanced around the room. “At least it’s not as bad as Pete’s.” After a moment, she dashed out of the room.
He followed her into Penny’s room. It had been ransacked, too.
“Who did this? And why?” She picked up a stuffed doll and buried her face in the doll’s chest. She’d held it together through the mess at her ex-husband’s apartment and the mess here.
He moved to her side. “Lilly.”
She turned into his arms and the dam broke. She wrapped one arm around his waist and the other clutched the doll between them. His arms closed around her shoulders. The emotions tumbling around his chest he didn’t want to name, but he knew that feelings he’d thought long dead had come back to life.
Slowly, the storm of tears and fears faded. She felt safe being held in this man’s strong arms. When he looked at her, she thought she saw something responding to her in those deep brown eyes.
She wiped away the tear hanging off her chin. She looked and noticed the wet spot on the shirt covering Jon Littledeer’s chest.
“Oh,” she said, jerking backward. “I’m so sorry.”
He released her and looked down into her face. “It’s understandable. You’ve been through a lot.”
“I meant messing up your shirt.”
His gaze moved to his shirt, then back to her face. His lips turned up into the
