Page 25 of Operation: Sharp Angel

His voice broke in on her thoughts. “Yes,” she said, knowing his statement held an unasked question. She glanced at him. He returned her gaze when he stopped at a red light. “An ex-boyfriend taught me how to shoot.”

“Was he a cop?”

“No, just a gun enthusiast. They say everyone comes into your life for a reason. I guess teaching me to handle a gun was the purpose why he was briefly in my life.” She flashed a small smile at him.

He picked up on her subtle message that she hadn’t previously found a reason the ex-boyfriend had been in her life, which he deduced to mean it hadn’t been a great relationship and it hadn’t lasted long. “Not that you need a gun to defend yourself. You’re pretty good with a heavy mirror.” He gave her a side glance and returned her smile.

Her lips turned up in a broader smile. “Death by mirror. That has to be a first.”

“Are you okay? I’m going to assume you don’t go around killing intruders with heavy mirrors on a regular basis. It wasn’t your fault, you know. His death is solely on him for being there and attacking you.”

“If I’m supposed to feel shockwaves to my morality for defending myself, I don’t. I mostly just feel relieved he’s the one dead in the closet and not me. Is that wrong?”

“Not at all,” he said. “As I said, his death is completely on him and maybe also on whoever sent him if he was working for someone.”

She hadn’t considered that. “Do you think he was working for someone?”

“I don’t know. It would depend on what they were looking for and exactly who they were. Was it something they wanted or did someone hire them to get it?” Tessman posed.

“I can’t even guess what it could be,” Becca thought out loud. “And why the hell did they have to kill everyone in the house? The kids…” Her voice cracked and then trailed off and she gazed out the window, tears filling her eyes.

She felt his hand atop hers, his fingers gently gripping her hand, which she had resting on the armrest between them. Hedidn’t speak, which she appreciated. After a few moments, she unconsciously flipped her hand over and she folded her fingers around his hand. His thumb softly stroked over her thumb from the base of it up to its tip. It was comforting.

With this realization, she pulled her hand away. “Um, how long do you think I’ll need to stay wherever you’re going to put me?” she asked, turning in her seat as if to justify why she’d taken her hand from his.

“Until you’re safe, Becca,” he said plainly. “Until we know these guys aren’t going to come after you again.”

“Well, they weren’t really coming after me, just whatever was in the house,” she said.

“Okay, until we identify what that is. There was a third person or more in the house tonight who got away out the back door,” he said. “So, there’s still at least one person, if not more than one, out there who wants whatever it is they were looking for and I doubt he or they are going to give up.”

His blunt statement sent a chill down her spine. He was right, and she knew it. She blew out a breath and nodded. He saw her head nod in his side glance.

“I’ll still need to help go through the stuff in that house and papers the police returned to me. Detective Davis gave me a box this morning before I left the house. It’s in the trunk of my car.”

“Where is your car?” he asked, realizing it hadn’t been at the house.

“At the dealership. There was a recall notice they were doing the work on. They picked it up at my sister’s house earlier and were supposed to return it to me. I don’t know why they didn’t. I’ll have to call tomorrow.”

They were quiet as Tessman parked the car in her driveway. Jackson pulled in behind him.

“Stay in the car until Jackson is by your door,” Tessman said as she released her seat belt and took hold of the handle, prepared to open the car door.

“Do you think we were followed?” she asked, turning in her seat to gaze out the back.

“Just being careful, that’s all.”

When Jackson stepped up beside her door, only then did she get out. The temperature felt like it had dropped ten degrees on the way over, which she knew it hadn’t. Why was she cold all of a sudden? They walked up the sidewalk to the front door together. She handed her keys to Tessman at his prompting, and he unlocked and opened the door. “The light switch is on the wall immediately to the right.”

Tessman hit the switch and light tumbled out onto the front porch. Viewing his profile, she instantly saw the focus come to his features. And he drew his weapon. “Stay behind me, Becca. Jax, the room’s been tossed.”

Becca’s eyes went to Jackson, who stood behind her. He too drew his gun. “What do you mean, tossed?” she asked, even though she knew what that meant.

Tessman stepped into the house. “I’m going to assume it didn’t look like this when you left earlier today?”

Becca stepped onto the tiled entry beside him. Her home had an open concept. From the entry, one could see the great room in the forefront, with her home office up against the front window, and the kitchen to the rear of the room. The wind was sucked from her lungs. Literally everything in her line of sight had been knocked over, dumped, or disturbed in some way.

Jackson crowded in behind her. “Fuck,” he muttered. “I’ll call Davis. He needs to see this.”

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