Page 44 of Lost Without You
“Don’t be ridiculous, Ethan. We were caught off guard and whoever it was ran like a goddamn Olympian with their ass on fire. I doubt most people could have caught them. Certainly not me.”
When they got back to Ethan’s, Gabe met them at the front door which was still ajar.
“Don’t touch anything,” Gabe reminded them.
The other two officers arrived a short while later along with a crime scene tech. While Ethan and Rachel waited for them to finish checking the house and gather evidence—if there was any left—Ethan called Dalton but got his voicemail.
“My house just got broken into. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. That press conference needs to happen sooner rather than later. Call me as soon as you get this.”
He ended the call and turned to Rachel.
“What do we do now?” Rachel asked.
“I doubt whoever it was will be coming back tonight. Once the police are done here, we’ll be safe for a while.”
“I agree. Although, I don’t know how much sleep I’m going to get.”
Ethan pulled her into his arms. They held each other tightly, no words exchanged. What was going to happen next? With every passing day, and the stress of new developments, the tension kept ratcheting up.
Rachel was just waiting for the breaking point that would push her right over the edge.
****
Ethan
Once the police had finished in the house and Ethan and Rachel had given their statements, they were alone again. Ethan’s bedroom had been ransacked, but nothing of value was taken. They hadn’t succeeded in breaking into his safe, thank God. Rachel went up to bed at 10:00, but Ethan was restless and decided to do some work.
He perused every article he could find on Harrison, and HJR, including the various VPs. Doing a deep social media dive, he learned that Harrison did indeed have lots of friends in high places including politicians, police commissioners, and lawyers.
His phone rang and he glanced at the number, then tapped to answer.
“Hey, Dalton.”
“What happened?”
Ethan proceeded to recount the events of the evening.
“This has to be related,” Dalton murmured.
“Yeah, they didn’t take anything. They just tore apart a few rooms.”
“Most thieves will grab laptops and other electronics, or jewelry. Do you have security camera footage?”
“I reviewed it with the police and sent them the file. All you can see is a figure in black, they had a hoodie on, a mask, gloves. I can’t make out any identifying features.”
“Send me the file and I’ll review it. By the way, our analyst had a look at that email Rachel received. We traced the IP address to a coffee shop in Brooklyn. We’re going to see if we can access their WiFi log. In the meantime, I need you and Rachel to fly back to New York. I’m setting up the press conference.”
“All right, we’ll make the arrangements tomorrow.”
“Now would be better.”
“Rachel’s gone to bed. She’s exhausted and frightened. I’m not going to wake her up to talk to her about something that can wait until morning.”
“I would advise you to…”
“No,” Ethan interrupted him. “Tomorrow. It won’t be a problem to get a last-minute flight. Plus, I need to call a friend of mine, a lawyer, so Rachel has representation. I’ll call you first thing.”
“Fine. But I’m having one of my team meet you at the airport. We’re not taking any chances.”