Free Deathtrap by Dana Marton Page B

of plants had walked off in the night. Frustration pumped through her as she marched inside to call the police.
    While she waited for them, she fed Peaches, then brushed her teeth and washed her face. She hadn’t asked for Bing. Petty theft wouldn’t require the captain of the police. But he came anyway.
    He seemed tired and preoccupied as he strode up her walkway and, maybe for that reason, more approachable than he’d ever been. He looked sexy in the morning. She pushed the thought away and went to meet him halfway.
    “Thanks for coming out. This is what I was talking about.” She gestured toward the empty strip of flat grass, irritated all over again.
    “When did this happen?”
    “Sometime last night after you left.”
    “Peaches didn’t bark?”
    It was the first time she’d seen him in uniform, and it fit him pretty darn well, distracting her for a second, but then she caught herself and shook her head. “If he did, it didn’t wake me. He’s in the back, and my bedroom’s in the front.” She hesitated. “It’s probably unrelated, but… When I first moved in last year, I planted a row of flowers.” Practically wearing a hazmat suit to dig them in. “They were torn out by the next day.”
    “Stolen?”
    “No. Just killed.”
    His mocha eyes narrowed. “You have any enemies?”
    “I’ve been sick most of my life, haven’t had the chance to do much of anything, let alone anything controversial enough for someone to want to hurt me. I’m going to make up for that,” she added.
    A dark eyebrow slid up his forehead. “Making enemies?”
    “No. Doing all the things I missed.”
    “Keep it on the right side of the law. Fought with anyone lately? Ex-boyfriend?”
    “Jeremy wouldn’t do something like this.”
    “Jeremy who?”
    “Jeremy Denvil. Ex-fiancé.”
    “Don’t know him. Lives in Broslin?”
    “Actually, I’m not sure where he lives right now. But he has his own consulting company. He rents a small office in Wilmington.”
    He pulled a notebook from his pocket and wrote down the name.
    She shouldn’t have mentioned Jeremy. “I don’t want him contacted.”
    He ignored that. “How big were the bushes that went missing?”
    “About a foot. I had a dozen. I was going to edge the walkway with them. In the winter, once they grew, they would catch some of the snow, so I would have less to shovel.
    “Good plan.” He wrote some more. “Would they fit in the trunk of a regular car?”
    She thought for a minute, trying to visualize it. “Probably.”
    He put away the notebook. “I’ll walk around. See what I can see.”
    Standing there and staring at him felt silly, so she went inside to put on coffee.
    Twenty minutes passed before he came in after her.
    “I didn’t see any tire tracks. I wouldn’t necessarily, unless they pulled up on your lawn. But the bushes were small enough to carry them out to a vehicle waiting by the curb.” His voice wasn’t exactly laced with optimism. “I’m going to file a report when I get back to the station. Just to make things official.”
    “What are the chances of finding something like this?”
    “Unless someone saw the car and wrote down the license plate, close to nil.” He gave it to her straight. She liked that. She wasn’t in the mood for sugarcoating.
    So there went a hundred bucks. He’d probably known that before he came out, but he’d come anyway, immediately. She appreciated that.
    “Would you like some coffee? Decaf.” She flashed an apologetic look. “I’m not allowed the real thing. If it’s okay for you to accept it while on duty.” She’d seen something about that on a prime-time crime show.
    “I’m not on duty yet. I was just heading to the station when I heard that you called in. I keep the scanner on all the time. Occupational hazard.”
    “Milk and sugar?”
    “Black.” And when she handed him the cup, he said, “Why don’t we sit outside on the deck for a minute?”
    She grabbed her coat before she