suspected Collins hadn’t bothered to look. The first thing he was going to recommend to Quinn was that they hire someone else to take over the night patrol. Since that was Quinn’s car coming toward them, he wouldn’t have to wait long to tell him.
The car shrieked to a stop next to them. Quinn got out quickly, face tight with worry.
Ken glanced at the mechanic who’d been checking the rest of the machinery in the equipment yard. “Jess, did you find anything else?”
“Amateur hour,” the man said. “Sugar in a couple of tanks, but we caught it before any harm was done.”
Quinn reached them in time to hear that. He ran a hand through his hair, some of the strain leaving his eyes. “That’s good to hear. Double-check everything before any equipment goes out of the yard.”
“That’s going to put us behind at the hospital site,” Jess warned.
“Do it as fast as you can, but don’t skip anything. I don’t want any foul-ups.” Quinn turned on Collins. “How could anyone get in here without you spotting them?”
Collins shrugged, not meeting their eyes. “Can’t be everywhere at once, can I?”
Quinn made a dismissive gesture. “All right. You can go home.”
He waited until the man was out of earshot before snorting. “He was probably asleep in the office the whole time.”
“Replacing him is the first thing I was going to suggest,” Ken said. “How serious is it to fall behind at the hospital site?”
“Serious.” Quinn’s face grew tauter. “There’s been nothing but trouble there, and the hospital board is looking over my shoulder the whole time. There’s a substantial penalty for not completing on schedule. After the losses from the fire, we can’t afford to lose anything else.”
“I’m sorry, man. You counted on me.”
Quinn’s expression eased, and he punched his arm. “Forget it. Nobody expected you to spend your nights here. How do you think they got in?”
“Good question.” The thoughts that had been lurking under the surface came out. “No obvious break-in signs. I can’t help but wonder about the people Julianna had in here yesterday.”
Quinn gave a short nod. “Hard to believe, but you’d better check it out. Talk to her.”
Easy to say. Not so easy to do. He glanced at his watch. She should be here by now. He’d better get it over with.
Julianna moved away from the window when she saw Ken coming toward the office. It was hard to concentrate on work when everyone had heard about the vandalism, but standing around watching certainly wouldn’t help matters.
“How bad is it?” she asked as he came through the door.
“Not as bad as it could have been, I guess.” Concern set vertical crease lines between his eyebrows. “Sugar in the gas tanks, some slashed tires.”
Ken shrugged out of the denim jacket he’d worn against the early morning chill. Did he realize that the caramel color of the sweater he wore brought out gold flecks in his brown eyes? Probably not, and probably she shouldn’t be noticing that.
“Sounds like something teenagers would do.”
He nodded, coming to sit on the corner of her desk. “That’s what I thought, too. If someone really wanted to cause trouble for the company, they wouldn’t bother with such small stuff.”
“The police—”
He shook his head. “Quinn doesn’t want the police called. The company doesn’t need any more negative publicity to make clients nervous about hiring us.”
“I understand that, but surely we have to do something—at least try to find out who did it.”
“He seems to think I can do that.” Ken’s frown deepened. “I keep telling him I don’t know anything about security, but he won’t listen.”
“He’s known you a long time. He has confidence in you.” Odd, that she was reassuring Ken. She’d always thought he had more confidence in himself than anyone she knew. The accident must have dented that somewhat.
“Well, I’m trying.” He frowned down at her, and something inside her tightened at his grim expression. “How well do you know the people who were here yesterday for your practice drill?”
For a moment she was speechless. So that was the reason for this little conversation. He wasn’t confiding in her. He was questioning her.
She straightened. “How well? Very well. They’re people I’ve worked with for several years, for the most part. They’re the kind of people who volunteer their time to do a dirty, dangerous job because they care.” She was getting heated, but she didn’t care.
“Look, I realize you feel you know them, but—”
She couldn’t sit still and listen. She thrust her chair back, standing so that their eyes were level.
“I do know them. They risk their lives for something they believe in. People like that don’t go out and commit vandalism for a hobby.” How could he begin to think that?
His gaze was steady on hers. “We don’t always know people as well as we think we do.”
“I know them.” She saw them in her mind’s eye. “I trust my life to them when we go out on assignment together. Believe me, I know them.”
“What about Jay? Do you know him, too?”
It was as if a pit had opened under her feet, and she teetered on the edge. “I—”
She stopped. She couldn’t lie to Ken about the boy, even though she thought she understood him. “I told you. My grandfather has known his family for years. I’ve known Jay for about five or six months, since he moved here.”
“You said he ran with a gang.”
Her hands tightened into fists. “I did not say that. He’s not a gang member. He’s a good kid, a bright kid. He’s just looking for a place where he can belong.” She looked steadily at Ken. “I know how that feels. That’s why I’m trying to help him.”
“I’d like to trust your judgment on him, Julianna. But you have to admit, it raises questions. He was here at the yard yesterday, and you told me he’s been influenced by some undesirables. And you said yourself the vandalism sounded like something teenagers would have done.”
“Not Jay,” she said stubbornly, her heart sinking. “Look, if you accuse him of this, you’re going to ruin any chance I have of getting through to him.”
“If he vandalized your workplace, I’d say you’ve already lost him.”
She wanted to shake him, and she gripped her hands together to keep from giving in to the temptation.
“That’s so easy for you to say. You’ve never had to struggle
