The male officer indicated the drawers on the floor. "In most burglaries, especially when you have houses this close together and it's daylight, they usually grab some big ticket items and run." He shined his flashlight at her television, still on its stand in the corner in front of her tall windows. "They didn't even grab your TV."
The female officer nodded in agreement. "Not to mention, it appears the alarm was tripped on their way out of here. Like they were trying to draw you out or something."
Tory scowled at them. "Why would they want to draw me here? That doesn't make any sense."
"No, it doesn't," the male officer said, turning his light off and returning it to his belt. "Unless they were looking for something."
The woman offered her a kind smile. "We've got the CSI unit coming over to take some prints. There's really nothing else we can do. Make a list of whatever's missing and we'll put it in your file and run it through the local pawn stores. Other than that, you'll have to file a report with your insurance company."
The male officer concurred. "And you might want to have your boyfriend stay with you tonight."
A wave of fear went through her. "You think they'll come back?"
The male officer shook his head. "We don't know. Besides most burglary vics have trouble sleeping for a night or two after a breakin."
Tory sat on the arm of her couch as she surveyed the destruction around her. She was grateful she kept her precious artifacts either with her or locked in a vault on campus. "I can't believe this." Ash took her hand in his and didn't speak while the police questioned her about possible suspects and their people came in to dust various areas and pieces for fingerprints.
They found nothing. Not a single smudge. Either the burglars were wearing gloves or they were mutants.
Personally she voted for mutants. She preferred to think that than deal with the fact that a normal, everyday person could do something like this to another.
When the police were finally gone, she turned to Ash. "I'm sure you have something better to do than baby-sit me."
"It's all right. I don't mind. There are some things you shouldn't be alone for."
There was a slight note in his tone that made her think he'd been alone through a lot of them.
He stooped down to pick up the pictures of her parents before he returned them to her mantel. She didn't know why, but the way he handled them made her heart clench with tenderness at his consideration for her.
"Do you have any family, Ash?"
He put the pictures right back where they'd been, as if he remembered the exact spot from his previous visit. "We all have people we love."
She didn't miss the fact that he avoided answering her question. Without looking at her, he went to the items that'd been knocked off her end table.
Kneeling on the ground, Ash frowned as he picked up a shadow box that had a small black rock in it. A tiny bronze plaque on the bottom read SOTERIA'S FIRST EXCAVATION 1985.
"What's this?"
Her eyes misted as she moved to take it out of his hand. "It's from the first time my parents allowed me to dig with them. I was so proud when I found this. I thought I'd discovered a rare spear point. My father didn't have the heart to tell me it was only a rock. So they framed it for me and put it in my room by my bed with a light that used to shine on it." She sobbed as a tear escaped past her control. "Those bastards touched my parents' belongings!"
Ash came to his feet to hold her as she cried. She clung to him as if her entire world had been shattered. He'd learned to bury his tears so deep inside that he couldn't fathom the passion and hurt it took for her to cry like this. All he knew was that the few times in his life when he'd cried this way the one thing he'd craved had been comfort.
And not once had there ever been any.
So he offered to her what no one had ever given to him. He let her sob until she was spent and the shirt over his chest was damp from her tears.
Tory pulled back, wiping at the wet spot she'd made. "I'm so sorry, Ash. I'm not an emotional person. I'm not." She cleared her throat and gave him the most determined look he'd ever seen. "I will not let them do this to me. I'm stronger than this."
"Everyone cries sometimes, Tory. There are some pains that run too deep for even the strongest to take without breaking. I don't think any less of you for it."
She laughed nervously. "You really aren't the asshole I thought you were, are you?"
He offered her a kind smile. "Actually, I have moments of great assholishness. Unfortunately, you seem to have been witness to most of the recent ones."
Tory patted his muscular arm in gratitude for his understanding. He was so easy to talk to at times. Sniffing back her tears, she looked around at the mess. "I'll never get all of this cleaned up."
Her house phone rang. She left Ash in her living room as she went to the kitchen to answer it.
Ash returned to gathering up the photographs as he tried to understand what had happened here. He should be able to replay the entire scene in his head, but like trying to see Tory's future, it was blank. This just wasn't normal for him.
He was a god of fate . . .