An hour later Mack finally showed up again. Doreen stared at him. “Really? And here I thought you would be gone for like five minutes.”
He shrugged. “Sorry about that.”
But he didn’t sound sorry. She glared at him.
He smiled. “You shouldn’t frown so much. It’ll put wrinkles on your face.”
At that, she rolled her eyes. “Will you still love me if I have wrinkles?”
His response was instantaneous. “Of course.”
She sighed. “I’m glad to hear that because Mathew would have given me a completely different answer.”
“And we aren’t discussing him,” Mack noted calmly.
She nodded. “No, we’ll discuss this.” She pointed to Richard’s house.
“It looks like somebody was trying to get into his back door. I had forensics come and check for fingerprints.”
“Oh.” She studied him. “So maybe it has nothing to do with me.”
“I don’t know about that yet. We did find another listening device outside though.”
She stared at him in shock. “What?”
He nodded. “Somebody is determined to hear either what you say or what Richard says outside.”
She stared, dumbfounded, as Mack held up yet a second device in his hand. “Wow. … I don’t even know what to say.”
“It’s just been that kind of a day.” His gaze landed on the plate of treats, and his face lit up. Then he stopped and asked, “You got these from Nan’s, didn’t you?”
“I did. Apparently Richie takes a little extra these days, so that he doesn’t starve and then pawns the extras off on Nan for me.” She sighed. “Everybody is afraid I’ll starve.”
“Everybody is caring,” Mack corrected. “I am sure they want to ensure that you’re doing okay.”
“Yes, that’s one way to look at it.” She smirked. “Sometimes it just doesn’t feel like that.”
“That’s because you’re looking at it from you trying to be independent versus them trying to help you out.”
She chuckled. “That’s fine. I’ll take food, whatever way they want to give it to me.”
“Exactly.” Mack pointed at the device. “Now … this one appears to be exactly the same as the one that was here before. Only a bit newer.”
She pondered that. “What do you think’s going on?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I can’t tell if it’s targeted at you or Richard—although, if Richard, maybe that’s why they were trying to get inside his house, to place another device there.”
“Did you ask Richard if he’s in any trouble or if he has any idea why someone would do that?”
“Richard told me that he has no idea why.” Mack’s lips twitched. “He did suggest that it was all because of you, though.”
She chuckled. “I’m not at all surprised. He doesn’t want anything to mess up his nice, peaceful little world.”
“I think that went out the window when you moved in.”
“So true.” She nudged the plate of treats toward him, and he immediately picked one. “It is a good system. I do quite like getting treats myself,” he admitted, with such boyish charm that she was laughing.
“You and me both,” she agreed. “I mean, … it’s almost expected, and I have to watch that because I don’t want to go down there and then not get something one day and be really disappointed.”
“And it is hard because very quickly, after you’ve gotten something on a regular basis, you do come to expect it. It’s a case now of remembering to be grateful for everything that you do get,” he pointed out. “I’m definitely grateful when you get treats like this.” And he took a big bite into a muffin.
She smiled. “You don’t even get half of what I get.” He stopped and stared. She shrugged. “What can I say? Sometimes there’s quite a pile of treats. And they do send me home with them. So it’s not that I’m not eating. It’s just I don’t need to eat as much because I get a lot from them.”
“I won’t argue with it, if it keeps you interested in food. Besides, you always share.” And he gave her a big fat smile, as he took another bite. Then he surveyed what was still on the plate.
She laughed at him. “Go ahead. I’ve already had three or four.” He stared at her in mock outrage and picked up two more. She added, “You’re just like a little kid.”
“Hey, it goes along with the brownies,” he explained. “Remember that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”
“Yeah, I didn’t quite understand that before,” she said. “Now I’m getting it.”
“Yeah, you just have to keep trying.”
“What if I don’t want to try?” she asked, teasing.
He gave her a mock look of horror. “Don’t ever say that. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a done deal anyway. But you? You still need to keep trying.”
She burst out laughing. And then, as soon as the laughter died away, she looked at him and turned serious. “So now what will we do?”
His voice was calm, his tone steady, as he told her, “We’ll wait and see if this guy comes back. I’ll keep some unmarked vehicles in the area, maybe even a guy somewhere along the creek.”