“But it might be something else.”
“Go upstairs and check the street…see if there’s a car that wasn’t visible before. And remember, it might not be the same one we saw today. No telling how many vehicles these guys have lifted.”
Ida Belle hurried out, and I waited until I heard her going up the stairs before slipping through the living room and into the office located off the living room at the back of the house. I rarely went in there but right now, it had something I needed—a window that led into the backyard and was hidden by the bushes. Ida Belle would be angry when she realized I’d sent her upstairs mostly to get her out of the way, but I’d deal with that later. The bottom line was suitability. Ida Belle was a crack shot, but I was lethal in hand-to-hand combat. Besides, if someone was lurking around my house, they had to get here somehow. As long as she had eyes on the street, I had coverage from above.
I shoved up the window and peered outside. The hack job we’d done on the bushes had thinned them a good bit, but I’d had the forethought to wear black pants and tee, so they probably wouldn’t see me exiting the house. I just had to make sure they didn’t hear me. If they were in the backyard, then they’d seen me let the cat in and knew I was awake.
I slipped my legs over the window and lowered myself to the ground. So far, so good. I hadn’t rustled so much as a single leaf with my exit. A faint rustling sound echoed somewhere off to my right, and I crouched down and crept to the end of the hedges, peering out as I went. The light from the back porch illuminated a small piece of the backyard and provided enough light to get me halfway down the hedges, but after that, progress was by feel and memory only. I prayed we weren’t all in the bushes, headed on a collision course. I hated the thought of having a fight among all the jagged branches.
When I got to the end of the house, I stopped and peered around the corner. The streetlight lit up a good piece between my house and my nosy neighbor Ronald’s, and it was clear. I heard the rustling noise again and this time it was behind me, somewhere in the backyard. I scanned the backyard through the bushes, squinting as I tried to make out movement, but the clouds overhead blocked the moon, leaving most of the yard in complete darkness.
I was just about to head back the other direction when the clouds parted a bit and the moon cast a faint glow over the yard. I scanned from one end to the other and then I saw it. A shadow slipping behind the storage shed. The shed held lawn and fishing equipment and some power tools, but it wasn’t big enough to hold an economy car, much less an SUV. Why would someone be lurking around there? The only thing I could figure is that they must be using the structure to conceal themselves while they watched the house, because there was no good reason to break into the shed.
I waited for the moon to disappear behind the clouds again, then dashed across the open space into Ronald’s yard. He had a thick row of azalea bushes on the property line and I hurried down them toward the shed, planning to ambush the intruder as soon as I had enough light to spot him. When I reached the stretch of bushes across from the shed, I stopped and stared into the darkness. My eyes had started to adjust and probably would have been able to pick out someone standing in the middle of the yard, but with the trees and bushes, the area around the shed was pitch black.
Come on, moon.
The seconds ticked by like hours, and I grew more antsy. The more time went by, the more chance there was that Ida Belle would find the open window and come out to help. I could hear rustling near the shed and was just about to move on the sound when the clouds cleared and I spotted two shadowy figures at the small window on the back side of the building. One of them took out a flashlight and shone it inside.
I had everything I needed.
Chapter Seventeen
I launched through the bushes and threw a flying kick at the guy holding the flashlight. The flashlight flew across the yard, and he flew backward into the second man, sending them both to the ground, which was exactly what I’d been hoping for. Before they could scramble to get up, I pulled out my pistol and chambered a round. There’s no mistaking that sound.
“Move and I’ll shoot,” I said. “Put your hands up in the air and don’t make an attempt to leave a sitting position.”
The dim glow from the moon didn’t allow for me to see anything more than the silhouettes of their bodies on the ground, but I could see their arms go up over their heads.
“There’s been a misunderstanding,” one of them said.
Were they kidding me? A misunderstanding? As though they’d accidentally strolled through my flower beds or delivered a package to the wrong address? Not the kind of misunderstanding where they were here to steal an SUV and potentially bash us over the head when they didn’t find it. Were these two the Seal brothers? Ida Belle and Gertie had said they weren’t very bright, but did they really think I would buy that line of bull?
“You’re darned right there’s been a misunderstanding,” I said. “You’re trespassing on private property. Threatening women. Who sent you? And what are you after?”
“We’re not at liberty to say,” one replied.
“You’re going to be at liberty to wear some hot lead in your butts if you don’t.”
I was just about to fire off a warning shot, both to get them talking and to call for backup, when a spotlight hit us all and lit up the area surrounding the shed as if we were on stage. I put my left hand over my eyes and turned my head slightly to block the worst of the light, but made sure I kept my pistol trained on the two men on the ground, who, now that I had a good look at them, didn’t appear to be the Seal brothers at all.
Unless the Seal brothers had aged and liked to wear black suits.
Uh-oh.
There was only one kind of person who drove an unregistered black sedan and who crept around at night wearing a black suit.
“I’m Deputy Carter LeBlanc,” I heard Carter’s voice sounding from behind the spotlight. “Everyone stay exactly where they are. Miss Morrow, could you please lower your weapon?”
“Not a chance,” I said. “Not until I know who these men are and why they’re sneaking around my property.”
Carter stepped up next to the men, spotlight in one hand and pistol in the other. “I’ve got them covered.”
I stuck my pistol in my waistband and stared down at the two suits. The back door flew open and Ida Belle and Gertie came running outside and hurried over to me.
“What’s going on?” Gertie asked.
“I’m still waiting for them to answer that question,” I said.
“You heard the lady,” Carter said. “Who are you and what are you doing lurking around her property?”
“I need to reach for my ID,” one of them said.
“Two fingers,” Carter said.