Chapter 4

Alex turned her head in Mrs. Krueger's direction and offered a smile. The older woman tilted her head to the side and leaned toward her. "How are you holding up, dear?" she asked as she reached forward and patted her hand.

"I'm fine," Alex replied with the typical head nod response.

"That's good. You take care, dear."

Alex reminded herself of Mrs. Krueger's sincerity, but she still couldn't help hating all of the sympathetic head tilts she received from people since Sam's death.

After finishing at the grocery store, she drove to the veterinarian's office to pick up Lili's special food supplement, and then stopped at the dry cleaners to pick up her suits.

To mentally prepare herself, before entering, Alex looked through the glass door to find Mrs. Warner working the pick-up counter.

Ugh! Here we go again.

Alex pressed through the door and walked to the counter. "Good afternoon."

Alex watched as Mrs. Warner tilted her head just as she'd predicted. "How are you holding up?" she whispered as if it were a "top secret" question.

"I'm fine," Alex responded. Her head bobbed. It was as if she couldn't control it, it just kept bobbing.

"That's good. Oh, by the way, my Jenny is still single. Do you think you could mention that to Peter?"

"Yes, ma'am, I'll make sure he knows," Alex replied as she mentally rolled her eyes.

Just like the million other times you've asked me to mention it.

Mrs. Warner didn't know that Jenny and Peter had already been down that road and that Jenny is psychotic behavior, post-breakup, caused Peter to file a restraining order against her. Jenny wasn't Peter's first stalker, but she was certainly the craziest.

How did Peter get such a hold on women?

Alex paid her bill, grabbed her suits, and headed for home.

She parked her vehicle in the driveway, gathered her things, and headed toward the front door of her house. With her arms overloaded with groceries and dry-cleaning, she found it difficult to maneuver the house key into the slot on the doorknob. But it didn't matter; the second she touched the doorknob, the door swung open on its own. Simultaneously, a loud crashing noise sounded from the back of the house.

Instantaneously, she dropped her items, ran back to her SUV, started the engine, and drove off.

With one hand, she white-knuckled the steering wheel, and with the other, she dialed 911 on her cell.

"911. What's the address of your emergency?"

"Um..." Alex's dry throat impeded her speech.

"Ma'am, where are you located?"

She swallowed hard and cleared her throat. "I'm at 642 Bluebird Street. Someone broke into my house and they're still in there."

"What is your name?"

"Alex Polecheck."

"Alex, are you in the house now?"

"No. I'm down the street. When I entered my house, I heard a loud crashing noise, so I turned and ran out, hopped in my car, and called you from my cell."

"Good. The police are en route. Alex is it okay for me to hang up, I have another incoming call."

"Yes, I'm fine."

Alex watched her home and waited for the police to arrive. Two squad cars whizzed by her, red lights flashing and sirens blaring. The officers exited their vehicles in what seemed to be some sort of practiced, practical system. They drew their weapons and entered her house. A few minutes later, they exited decisively. She drove back to her home and parked on the street.

She climbed out of her vehicle and glanced toward the squads in her driveway. Displeasure rippled through her veins as she caught a glimpse of Captain Franke walking between the squads. She didn't like the man.

In the next beat, anxiety washed over her. It wasn't like him to respond to a 911 call. This must be big. This break-in meant something, something bad. Just as she suspected, the murder of the officer from the neighboring community was probably linked to Sam's murder.

Her knees weakened. She stiffened them as Franke sauntered toward her. The sight of his unshaven face and wrinkled shirt, accessorized with coffee stains, caused her anger to manifest.

"Alex," Franke said with a nod.

"Captain."

Franke pulled a small notebook and pen from his shirt pocket. "Can you tell me what happened?"

Alex explained what little she knew. She paused only briefly before she perched her hands on her hips and cut to the chase. "What did you find in my house? Does the break-in have anything to do with Sam's case? And speaking of Sam's case, where are you with that?"

Franke shifted his weathered, hazel eyes away from her. "We didn't find anything in your house, and we're working on Sam's case. It has been, and still is, the top priority."

"Do you think there's any correlation between the murder of the police officer reported on the news last night and Sam's murder?"

"We're looking into it."

She arched a brow. "Are you? Really?"

Captain cut his stare back to her, his glare was so sharp Alex felt the pain of it slicing through her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Peter's black Chevy truck screaming up the street. When he reached her driveway, the truck jerked to a halt, and with the engine still running, he jumped out and ran to her.

"Alex, are you okay? I heard the call over the radio and got here as fast as I could."

She stared into Peter's caring gaze and lost herself in the comfort of it.

"Alex?"

She flinched. "Yes, I'm fine. I didn't really see anyone. My door was open when I got home, and I thought I could hear someone in the house. I just ran away and called 911."

After the officers completed processing the scene, Captain Franke cleared Alex to go back into her home. Peter joined her. Though the living room had been ransacked, nothing seemed to be missing. It appeared as though the intruder had been looking for something specific. Goosebumps lined her arms. She wondered if the perpetrator found what he was looking for, or if they'd be returning.

She walked around her house, calling for Lili. He didn't appear, even when she popped open a can of chicken and giblets cat food. Lili always came running when she opened a can of food.

She moved about the house a bit more quickly, checking under the beds and chairs. Still no sign of him.

Peter rested his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. He's got to be here somewhere."

"What if he snuck outside when the perpetrator came in, or left?" Her eyes watered. "What if he's lost?"

She'd already lost Sam, she couldn't bear to lose Lili, too.

"I'm sure he's fine," Peter reassured.

The words were hardly out of his mouth when Lili's head popped out from under the couch. His big, blue gaze inspected the room before he completely slid out from his hiding spot. He looked unharmed. Alex scooped him up, pulled his little, warm body tightly to her chest, and showered the top of his soft, apple-shaped head with kisses.

"Freaking lucky cat," Peter whispered so quietly that Alex wasn't sure she heard him correctly.

She stopped kissing Lili and looked at Peter. "What did you say?"

Peter's eyes widened. "Nothing."

"Tell me. I didn't hear you."

Peter smiled sheepishly. "It was nothing," He mumbled as he turned away from her.

As they cleaned up the mess left behind by the intruder, Alex questioned Peter as to why someone would break into her home, and what exactly they could be looking to find. His vague responses irritated her, but it didn't bother her nearly as much as his lack of eye contact.

What does he know that he's not telling me?