Chapter 30
"Did you see anyone?" I stood up and started idly fastening the buttons on my shirt. Natalie sat on the couch watching me, and I felt a pang of regret for putting clothes back on. At that moment, part of me was tempted to not care about the state of my apartment in exchange for more time with her.
"No," Phoebe replied. "But I thought I heard someone in the hallway after things quieted down. I thought I heard someone talking on the phone. That's when I looked out the door and saw yours open. I didn't see whoever was on the phone though."
"Have you called the police?" I said, half my buttons done on my shirt. At that question, Natalie's face transformed from disappointed confusion to full concern.
"No. I didn't want to call the police without talking to you first," Phoebe said.
"Okay, thanks," I said, "Could you go ahead and call them for me? I'm on my way."
"Sure," she said. "See you soon."
"Wait," I said before she had a chance to hang up. "Did you see Jack?"
I hadn't seen my cat since I left the house yesterday, and the thought of something happening to him before I got a chance to see him again caused my stomach to tighten.
"He was under your bed," Phoebe said, and I immediately breathed a sigh of relief. "I brought him back here to the apartment. Nate's playing with him. I don't think I can keep him long though. Jim hates cats."
"Thank you!" I said. "I'll be there as soon as I can!" I said and ended the call.
"Natalie, I'm so sorry," I said. "I have to go. Someone broke into my apartment."
"Oh damn," she said, adjusting the sleeveless top she'd just slipped back on. "What happened? Do you need me to go with you?"
I wanted her to go with me, if for no other reason because it was Natalie, and I enjoyed her presence, but she also had things to do.
I shook my head. "No. Thank you. That means a lot, but you need to stay here and finish getting set up and be a boss."
She nodded. "Okay, well give me a call when you can. Keep me updated."
"I will."
I took a moment to look at her and she stared back, offering me a small smile. She was obviously as disappointed as I was. "I'm sorry our time was cut short. I… wanted more," I said, reaching out with one hand to brush her cheek.
She looked at me with heat in her eyes. "I did too."
"What is this?" I asked, searching her face and trying to burn her beautiful features in my brain as if they weren't already there.
"I don't know," she said. "What do you want it to be?"
"Something," I said, not knowing what that meant. I just didn't want to scare her off with words like 'relationship'.
Natalie reached up and cupped my face in both her hands and offered me a sweet kiss. After just a few short moments, she pulled back just enough to look me in the eyes. "I can work with 'something'."
She let my face go. "You just got dumped a few days ago, my friend. My relationship ended a month ago. I'm still a little fresh, but you're just raw. Let's just take our time and see what happens."
That sounded like a horrible idea, but I didn't voice the thought. However, I must have telegraphed it pretty hard because Natalie's face took on a look of concern.
"I'm interested in more, Marcus," she followed up. "I just want to be a little careful about getting into another relationship with anyone right this second. Especially with you. I don't want you to just be a fling."
I smiled at that, my heart warming as her words took most of the sting from me. "Yeah. I don't want that either."
"Good," she said, grinning at me. "Now you better get back to your apartment. Let me know what happens."
"I will," I said as I reached for the door. I unlocked it, paused with it halfway open, and glanced back at the woman behind me. She was already looking through a small stack of files on her desk, and I drank in the curves of her body, amazed at how lucky I was to have the attention of someone like her. Yet there was a pang of longing for what was cut short. I pushed it down and exited the office, leaving Natalie to finish her day.
I quickly made my way to the bottom floor of the building, passing Andrew and whoever was the current security guard on duty. "Hey, guys. Could you call me a cab? I've got to get back to my house super quick."
"How about I give you a lift?"
I looked over my shoulder and saw Erin standing in the middle of the lobby smiling at me as she was finishing putting a fresh-looking badge to the building on her lapel.
"Erin? What are you doing here?" I asked.
"I'm starting my job," she said as she closed the distance between us. "Helen had these gentlemen process me for building access, and she took all of my information to get me set up on payroll. She asked when I was ready to start and I said right now, so she told me to come and find you."
I glanced back at Andrew; both of the guys at the security desk were trying to hide smirks.
"Okay," I said, still in a hurry. "Good to have you on board. You said you have a car?"
"I do. I was just about to take it to the parking garage now that I have a sticker for it," Erin said. Her eyebrows knitted in concern. "Is everything okay?"
I started toward the large front doors to the building with Erin working to keep up with my pace, "I just got a call from my neighbor. She said it looked like my place might have been robbed."
We emerged from the building and Erin pointed out the dark blue Lexus idling nearby. "Oh shit! Did you call the cops?"
"Phoebe did," I said as I climbed into the passenger seat. As soon as Erin dropped in the driver's seat, she handed me her phone with a map application already open. I typed in my apartment address.
"You'll need a place to stay," Erin said.
"I have a place, actually," I said, impressed that Erin was already in problem-solving mode. Her initiative and ability to just jump into the moment reassured me that I made the right choice. "It's only for the week though."
"That should be enough," Erin said. "I don't imagine an investigation will last more than a day or two, and you can hire someone to clean it up pretty quickly."
"I don't think I want to keep living there though," I said. "Not now that I can afford better."
"Oh," she said, sounding a bit surprised, and I wondered exactly how much Helen had filled her in on the details of my situation before inheriting my fortune.
"You'll see what I mean."
_______________
"Well, they certainly did a number on the place," Detective Reese said as he crossed his arms over his chest. He appeared to be in his late forties. His short, dark hair was already speckled liberally with silver to go along with his bright grey eyes. He had the beginnings of a gut hanging over the waist of his jeans, evidence of the sedentary lifestyle of a detective who spent more time filling out paperwork than actually hitting the streets. He scanned the living room of my apartment, making sure his officers were proceeding just as he'd instructed. "And you're sure you don't know what they were after?"
I didn't respond at first. I was still trying to come to terms that my home had been invaded and almost all the things I'd collected over the years had been completely shattered. My bookshelves were turned over, and all the books weren't scattered across the floor - pages were torn from them and tossed. My Playstation had a hole in it where it looked like someone had stabbed it with something long and thin. My kitchen counter had been completely cleared, and all its contents lay scattered around the small kitchen.
I wasn't trained like the detective, but even I could tell this didn't look like a simple robbery - this had a malevolence behind it that superseded a motive like greed.
"I recently came into some money," I replied. "But I haven't told anyone about it besides my lawyers."
"Hell of a coincidence," Reese said.
"Yeah."
I looked over at Erin, who was walking around the room, taking stock of everything like she was trying to memorize it. I'd given her a brief account of what had happened over the last few days from finding out about my grandfather to the moment I ran into her in the lobby. I hadn't given her the exact amount I was worth, but she picked up on the fact that it was an incredibly significant amount. The look on her face when we first entered my apartment was one of shock. Erin carried herself as if she came from privilege, and even if she hadn't belonged to a super-wealthy family, it was a safe bet she'd never set foot in a one-bedroom apartment.
"You got a place to stay? It'll be a couple of days before we can finish up here," Reese said.
"Yeah. Solomon's Palace. I got it for a week," I said as I continued to look around, trying to decide if there was anything here I would want to take with me. I was so wealthy that I could just buy anything I needed, so I was primarily on the hunt for sentimental things. Unfortunately, they'd done such a good job ransacking my place that almost everything had been destroyed beyond recovery.
"Fancy," Reese grunted.
I caught sight of Phoebe peering through my apartment doorway and glanced at the detective and Erin. "Could you guys excuse me? I'll be out in the hall." Reese nodded and Erin gave me a small smile.
"Hey, Mrs-" I caught myself. "Hey, Phoebe," I said as I stepped into the hall.
Phoebe hugged me, squeezing me tight against her. "I'm so sorry this happened, Marcus! I should have followed my instincts and checked on it sooner!"
I hugged her back, a little surprised. Phoebe and I'd never really had a relationship that involved hugs… not that either one of us was stand-offish or anything. We'd just never had that kind of relationship. I suspected it was because of her husband, Jim. He was a jealous man who never seemed to like me - or any man. I suspected Phoebe had developed a habit of keeping her distance to keep the peace in her marriage.
"No, I'm glad you didn't," I said. "If they'd seen you, something might have happened to you. This is just stuff, and I wouldn't want to see you hurt over things that can be replaced."
She finally pulled away and looked up at me, her eyes bright with unshed tears. It was easy to imagine she was upset, with such a vicious robbery happening mere feet away from where her son was. "That's sweet of you. Still, I feel ridiculous that it happened right across the hall while I was home."
I shook my head and said, "Don't worry about it. Seriously. You did me a solid by calling me and the cops. I'm grateful."
She scrubbed at the corner of one of her eyes and gave me a weak smile. "Of course."
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