Page 78 of Out to Get Her
Maybe Erin had gone to settle things with her at the station. Any conversation they needed to have could have waited, but Erin wasn’t exactly the waiting type. Something Samantha was growing to love about her.
Love?
Samantha decided to process that later.
Erin never made it to the station, and Samantha hadn’t passed her on the road.
A gust that had to be near fifty miles an hour almost swept Samantha off the porch.
Erin must have gone somewhere else. But where? And why? What was so important that she’d left during the worst part of this storm?
Zach would know.
Whatever his potential involvement was in the case, they both wanted Erin safe.
Samantha knocked on the door but heard nothing from within. She tested the knob and found it unlocked. Inside, the house was lit only by a small LED lantern on the living room carpet.
“McFly! McFly! McFlyyyyyyyyy!”
Samantha nearly jumped out of her skin with the bird’s screeching.
“Shhh,” she urged.
Marty gave a staccato squawk in reply and bobbed his head at her.
A quick glance in the kitchen revealed that Zach wasn’t scrounging for more snacks. A puzzle sat unopened on the table.
Samantha made her way down the hall. With every step, her stomach muscles tensed a little more, and she reached a hand to her side, placing it against the service pistol tucked in its holster. She always kept it on her when she was on call, but she never thought she’d need it here tonight.
How did she get here? Creeping through Erin’s house in the dark in the middle of a storm, looking for Zach, and reaching for her gun?
She left it at her waist, not wanting to alert him she had any suspicions. Just in case those suspicions were well-founded.
She considered calling out for him, but she decided against it and continued on to Mr. Sonnier’s old bedroom. Her bedroom for the night.
The door was closed, the way she’d left it. She pressed her ear to the wood but didn’t hear anything from inside. Not even Dexter.
No surprise. He was either sleeping in his little dog bed or hiding from the storm under the big bed. No cause for alarm.
Samantha turned the knob and opened the door slowly as she tiptoed inside.
She shut the door behind her, so as not to be startled if Zach did wander in from the bathroom or some other innocent task. Then her gaze fell on the outline of the bookshelves.
Samantha crossed the room carefully, feeling her way around the bed and squinting, desperately trying to see in the pitch-black room. When she reached the shelves, a chill went up her spine as her fear and suspicions were now fully realized.
Her fingers felt along the wooden shelves and book spines and the uncharacteristic space between them.
These were not the neatly arranged volumes she’d witnessed previously. Someone had removed books from the shelves. With a quick sweep of her foot, she confirmed books littered the floor.
A high-pitched bark rang out from under the bed behind her.
Dexter.
Before Samantha could reach for her gun, she felt a tug at her waist as it was pulled from the holster. A second later, the barrel pressed against the base of her skull.
“Hey, Sam.” The familiar voice spoke her name with a friendly cheer as if they were making lunch plans. “I’d hoped you’d stay at the station.”
Samantha put her hands up slowly.
