Page 17 of Chasing Justice
Maya opened the car door and went around to the side of the house where the woodpile sat. The fake log was tucked in with the other pieces of timber.
“You’re predictable,” Maya said out loud. Somehow talking to Doug made her feel better. She slipped open the compartment with the key.
She opened the front door and stepped in, surprised by what she saw. In the past Doug’s house hadn’t looked too different from hers—a cliché bachelor pad. Instead, these floors were clean and new rugs decorated various areas. A vase of bright yellow sunflowers sat on the coffee table in front of a new couch with stylish pillows at each end. Maya peered in the kitchen and saw new hardwood floors and granite countertops.
Not only did the place look immaculate, but some good money was spent on the remodel. Where would Doug get that kind of money? While their salary wasn’t terrible, it didn’t allow a top-of-the-line remodel. Not to mention, Doug was a typical guy and Maya was expecting not only a bachelor pad, but also a couple mounted deer or elk heads. She suspected the mystery girl had something to do with the decor.
To confirm her suspicions, Maya went to the bedroom where a down comforter and more stylish pillows adorned the bed. She peeked in the master bathroom and saw a hairbrush with some blond hair. Doug’s hair was dark brown. There were two toothbrushes. Maybe she should have knocked before coming in. She didn’t even think about someone else being here, which was silly considering the ring.
Maya retreated toward the kitchen looking for where Doug stored Juniper’s items. As she gathered Juniper’s things, she thought through every single woman she could think of with blond hair—about half of the town. A couple were natural blondes and the others had help from the local hairdresser.
Did it matter who the mystery girl was? The only thing that bothered Maya was if Doug and this girl had such a serious relationship, why wasn’t the town talking about it and why wasn’t this person at the hospital? Doug had gone to great lengths to keep this relationship quiet, and yet he had bought a ring, which would eventually make the relationship public.
“Get on with it, Thompson,” Maya muttered to herself.
In a mudroom off the kitchen leading to the backyard, she found Juniper’s food dishes and other items like extra balls, Kongs, and a fire hose to play with. A large crate sat in the corner of the kitchen. Maya would need to take that today.
After a couple trips to the car with dog food and other items, she stopped to gaze at some pictures. There was one of her and Doug when they were about twelve. They’d each caught a rainbow trout and proudly held up the fish that glittered in the sun. Maya remembered her grandfather snapping the photo. Then they both released their fish back into the river.
Maya grabbed the picture to take with her.
There were a couple of other snapshots with Doug and Juniper together. Juniper stared lovingly up at Doug in all the photographs, her pointy ears alert as she sat back on her haunches. Maya stuffed those prints in the box she had with all of Juniper’s toys. She didn’t care if the mystery girlfriend came in and found her stealing. She needed something to remember Doug.
Looking around, she realized there were no pictures of Doug with another person. Curious, Maya decided to snoop. She felt guilty, but not enough to stop what she was doing. Obviously, someone else was living here, but who?
Maya went to the closet back in the master bedroom and opened it, but there wasn’t much to reveal as far as female clothing. There were some jeans with blinged-out back pockets and western-patterned shirts, but everyone wore this style around town.
On a snooping roll, Maya went into Doug’s office and flipped through his papers. They were all bills, some marked paid, some weren’t. She opened drawers and poked through them one by one, but there was nothing exciting. The last drawer contained letters—two stacks. She recognized one stack.
They were from her.
She’d written home about once a week when she was deployed. It was old-fashioned, but time to call was limited and she didn’t have kids or a spouse, so she’d often given her phone time to soldiers with families. It earned her respect with her unit and it also meant she didn’t have to talk to anyone and lie about how things were fine when all you heard was bombs in the distance, jets taking off, and soldiers talking about friends not returning home.
Maya grabbed the letters and shoved them in her pocket. She wanted them back. She didn’t want to share them with anyone else—especially not the mystery girlfriend.
The other stack, Maya realized, were from Doug addressed to her. He’d written back but never mailed them. She’d always wondered why he hadn’t sent letters back.
Maya snatched that pile and shoved them in her other pocket. That was the last drawer, and she walked back out of the office feeling frustrated. If Doug was so in love with someone, why wasn’t there something indicating who that person was? Why was he being so secretive?
Maya took one more look around the kitchen both to snoop and to make sure she didn’t leave something important that she’d need for Juniper. A box of dog treats sat in the corner, and Maya decided she might need all the bribes she could get. Switching handlers was not easy for a dog.
She also needed to get the crate. Maya grabbed the crate from the front to pick it up, but it didn’t budge. She wiggled it, thinking maybe it was stuck somehow. Crates were awkward to carry, but not heavy. It didn’t move. Maya crouched down and inspected the sides and back. Why wasn’t this thing moving?
She realized it was bolted to the floor. “Great, thanks, Doug. Hope this isn’t a sign of what Juniper is like when kenneled.”
Maya stood back up and rummaged around for a wrench. She found one and started to undo the first bolt. When she loosened the bolt, she heard an echo beneath her. Did Doug have a crawl space under the house? She couldn’t remember. She continued getting all the bolts free and pulled the crate out. The same echo came from underneath her.
She felt around the flooring, trying to find a loose board, but there was nothing. The wooden floor was new and smooth. Why would you bolt something down through a new wooden floor?
Maya knocked around on the flooring and every time, she heard an echo beneath her. Curiosity driving her, she tried pulling up on the bolt holes. Nothing moved. She jiggled the flooring. Nothing moved. She was about ready to go get a crowbar and then decided tearing out flooring was going a little too far. She sat down on the floor and leaned back against a cabinet.
That’s when she noticed the space under the trim. Maya got on all fours and peered under.
The gap was barely noticeable, but there was enough room to slide about a foot worth of flooring. Maya took ahold of the holes where the bolts had been and pushed back. The board slid underneath the trim. Down below was a dark space. She grabbed a flashlight.
A safe.What the heck was Doug hiding down here?
Maya tried entering Doug’s birthday. The safe didn’t open. She tried other number combinations, including her own birthday. Nothing worked. She couldn’t give up now. She had to know what Doug was hiding. Maya thought about numbers she had used for combinations. She often used her badge number, so she tried Doug’s badge number and heard a click. The door opened.
