Someone had been in my house.
The couch cushions in the living room were turned up at odd angles. The drawer of one of the end tables was hanging open. Even the movies in the entertainment stand had been pulled out, like someone had searched behind them.
The disarray continued into the kitchen, where all of the cupboard doors were open and the drawers ajar. I walked as quietly as possible down the hallway toward my bedroom, hoping that if the intruder was still inside, I’d catch him or her in the act.
But my bedroom and adjoining bathroom were empty except for the items tossed and turned out of their normal place.
I turned from the bedroom, retreating quietly down the hall toward the other end of the house. My heart was racing, but I did my best to keep my breaths shallow and even as I approached Ryder’s room.
As I peered around the door, I saw no one. Though his room was in much worse shape than the rest of the house. Whoever had come in here had obviously spent most of their time in this room. The mattress had been upended completely, tipped on its side against the wall with a huge gash cut into the back. The nightstand was smashed to pieces and the drawers to his dresser were scattered across the floor, each of them broken.
I finished my search of the house, hitting the laundry room and other bathroom, but I was alone. Whoever had come in here had either found what they were looking for and left or run before they could get caught.
“Fuck,” I cursed in the living room, taking it all in.
Who had done this? What were they looking for?
The screech of tires outside sent me hustling out the front door. Willa was still inside the truck, watching with panic from the passenger window as Sheriff Magee and two of his deputies hopped out of their cruisers.
With hands on their holsters, they rushed toward the house.
“Is anyone inside?” Magee asked.
I shook my head. “No. I checked all of the rooms. They’re all trashed but there’s no sign whoever did it is still in there.”
“Mind if we check, just to be sure?”
“Be my guest.” I stepped out of the way as he and his deputies rushed inside to sweep the house.
Meanwhile, I went over to the truck, opening the door for Willa.
“What happened?” she asked, clinging to my hand as I helped her out.
“I don’t know, babe. Someone broke in and made a mess of the place looking for something.”
“What?” she gasped. “Who? Why?”
I pulled her into my chest, hoping some of my body heat would stop her shivering. Though I doubted it was from the cold.
“I don’t know. Let’s go inside and talk to Magee.”
She nodded, leaving her arms wrapped around my waist as we walked. The minute we stepped inside, she gasped again and slapped a hand over her mouth. “No.”
“Better stay there,” a deputy warned from the kitchen. “We’re going to dust this whole place for fingerprints.”
Fuck. Even with the carnage all around us, it was hard to believe this was happening. When were we going to catch a break?
“All clear, Sheriff,” one of the deputies called from the direction of my bedroom.
“Same here.” Sheriff Magee’s shout preceded him as he emerged from the hallway going to Ryder’s room. As he stood in the living room, he surveyed the mess and shook his head. “Your brother’s room is the worst. Whoever did this spent more time in there than anywhere else.”
I nodded. While things in the rest of the house had been upended, his room had been fucking destroyed. “I noticed the same thing.”
“I think you’d better go get him from school and bring him to the station,” Magee said.
I sighed, tucking Willa closer to my side. “I think you’re right.”
My brother had some explaining to do.
Willa and I left the house immediately, driving straight to the school. We went inside, stopping at the office to request Ryder’s early release. One of the aides went to get Ryder from his classroom and it only took a couple of minutes for him to come rushing around a wall of lockers. The moment he saw us in the hall, he jogged toward us.
“So?” he asked, hiking his backpack over his shoulder. “What happened?”
“They know I didn’t do it,” I told him.
Ryder dropped his backpack and flung himself at my chest.
I wrapped my brother up in a hug, realizing then just how much of his worries this past week had been for me.
“I was worried they’d take you away.” Ryder’s voice was muffled in my chest. “Then they’d take me away too.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” I dropped a cheek to the top of Ryder’s head. “Neither are you. Love you, kid.”
“Love you too.”
I looked up at Willa just in time to see her turn to a bulletin board and swipe a tear from the corner of her eye. Did she know that it was because of her I could even say those words to someone?
Besides her, I’d never said them to another living soul, not even Hazel or Thea or Charlie. But since I’d begun saying them to Willa often, they’d become easier to speak. And if there was another person on earth who deserved to hear them, it was the kid in my arms.
After a few moments, Ryder pulled himself together and stepped back, looking up at me with pleading eyes. “I don’t want to go back to class. Do I have to?”
“No.” I clapped him on the shoulder. “But we need to talk.”
“About what?”
I took a deep breath. “Someone broke into the house today and tossed the place.”
“No way.” His dark eyes widened.
“They went to town on your room.”
This time there wasn’t just shock on his face, but guilt as he dropped his chin to study the floor.
“The sheriff needs to talk to you.”
Ryder nodded. “Uh, okay.”
“We’ll be with you the whole time, but you have to be honest with him. About everything.”
“What if I get in trouble?” he whispered.
Willa stepped up to his side and took his hand, just like she did for me whenever I needed some reassurance. “Then we’ll help get you out of it.”
Ryder and I might have gone through a lot of our lives alone up to this point, but from here on out, we’d tackle problems together. Like a team.
“Go get your coat, kid.” I motioned for Ryder to go down the hall to the lockers. “Then we’ll get out of here.”
It didn’t take us long to be right back in the place where I’d vowed earlier never to set foot again.
The interrogation room.
Ryder, Willa and I sat on one side of the table with Magee on the other, his recorder in its place.
“Okay, Ryder.” Magee steepled his hands under his chin. “I’m going to ask you some questions and it’s imperative that you tell me the truth. The whole truth. Can you do that?”
Ryder, who’d had his gaze locked on the table since we’d arrived, nodded along with a murmured, “Yes.”
“I’m trying to find the person who—”
“Killed my mom?” Ryder interrupted.
“That’s right. And to do that, I need to know more about her.”
The kid nodded, keeping his eyes focused on the table.
“But before we talk about her, I’d like to know more about you.”
Magee looked to me, asking silently for permission to launch into his questions. I gave him a slight nod, then looked over Ryder’s head at Willa sitting on his right side.
I wasn’t sure if it was a mistake or not to be in this room again without our attorney, but I was going with my gut. And my gut said Magee would do everything in his power to make this the last time we met here.
For the next hour, Willa and I sat quietly as we listened to Magee’s questions and Ryder’s answers. It took the kid a while to open up, but once he did, Magee only had to guide the conversation.