“Lindsey!” Charlie yelled as he ran up the stairs behind her. “Wait for me. It might not be safe.”

He joined her in front of the door. They looked at it and then each other.

“We should call the police,” he said.

Lindsey knew she couldn’t do that. Not until she knew it wasn’t Jack. Maybe he had gotten away. Maybe he was hiding in her apartment even now. She went to push open her door with hope pounding through her. Charlie stepped in the way and stopped her.

“Don’t touch anything,” he said, grabbing her hand before it made contact with the door. “Use your elbow or something.”

Lindsey realized he was right. For all she knew, the big man from the beach could be in there. Heathcliff looked like he was ready to dash in, but there was no way she was going to let her baby lead the way.

She grabbed his collar and held him back. She looked at Charlie and said, “Hold him?”

Charlie squatted down and held Heathcliff. Lindsey stepped forward when Sully and Robbie stomped onto the landing. They were both huffing and puffing, looking as if they’d run a race.

“What’s going on up here?” Sully asked between breaths.

“Yeah, it sounded like a bloody ruckus had broken out,” Robbie wheezed.

“Someone broke into Lindsey’s apartment,” Charlie said. “I heard them about three fifteen last night. I thought it was her, but Lindsey said she spent the night at your place.”

Charlie gave Sully an approving look with raised eyebrows, which Sully, in a show of singular good sense, ignored.

“Just as friends,” Robbie clarified. He looked at Charlie and said, “Opposite ends of the couch, if you must know.”

Now the look Charlie gave Sully was one of supreme disappointment and Sully rolled his eyes.

“Boys, enough,” Lindsey said. She gestured to her apartment. “Break-in, remember?”

“I’ll go first,” Sully said.

“Like hell,” Robbie said.

He moved to stand beside Sully, and Lindsey blew out a breath. The temptation to clonk their heads together and knock them out was becoming almost more than she could bear.

“If you don’t mind,” she said. “My apartment, I’ll go in first. Charlie, keep Heathcliff out here, please.”

Charlie nodded. Lindsey stepped between Sully and Robbie. They both shifted to the side, barely, and she could feel them both leaning in on her as if determined not to let her out of their reach.

Lindsey used her elbow to push open the door. A gasp escaped her as she took in the wreckage that used to be her home sweet home.

“Whoa!” Charlie said from behind them. He was crouched down with the dog and looking through their legs.

Lindsey couldn’t think of a better word to describe the devastation. Chairs were turned over, cushions and throw pillows slashed. Her bookcase had been emptied with the books tossed to the floor in a careless heap like dead bodies after a natural disaster.

She covered her mouth with her hand to keep from crying out. She wanted nothing more than to scoop them all up and examine their boo-boos like a child’s skinned knee on the playground, but Sully caught her elbow and held her still.

“You have to report this to the police,” he said.

“But—” Lindsey began to protest, but Robbie interrupted.

“Much as it pains me, I have to agree with sailor boy,” he said. “This is too serious to ignore.”

Lindsey nodded. She knew they were right. She was being followed, someone had trashed her apartment, and her brother was still missing. It was time to call for backup.

“I’ll check the bedroom,” Robbie said. “And make sure our uninvited visitor isn’t here.”

“I’m coming with you,” Sully said grimly. “If our bad guy is here, we can’t have the famous thespian risking a punch to the kisser, although some might argue that it would be an improvement.”

“Only the jealous ones,” Robbie said as he led the way.

Lindsey stepped carefully around the room, taking in the damage. Every cabinet in the kitchen was hanging open, but she was relieved that no dishes had been smashed. They weren’t of any value, but the thought of having to clean up shards of glass was not her idea of fun. A chill went through her when she realized if she hadn’t stayed at Sully’s, she might have been here when they broke in.

Sully and Robbie returned moments later. They both looked grim, and Lindsey wondered if they were thinking the same thing she was—that this could have gone very badly had she been home when the person decided to do their search.

“It doesn’t look as if anything was taken,” Robbie said. “Just more of the same mess.”

“So it’s safe to assume they were looking for something specific,” Lindsey sighed.

“Come on,” Sully said. “Let’s go down to Nancy’s and call the police.”

Lindsey was about to protest when Robbie frowned at her.

“If you don’t call them, we will,” he said.

“All right, fine,” Lindsey said.

She left the door open as they all trooped back down the stairs to Nancy’s apartment. Freshly brewed coffee and some breakfast croissants awaited them, but Lindsey couldn’t eat. Charlie took Heathcliff for a walk, which left Lindsey free to report the break-in.

Chief Plewicki, Emma, answered her call and she sounded overtired and cranky when Lindsey reported the situation. Emma said she would be right over, and Lindsey spent the time trying to figure out how she could tell Emma about her brother without telling her about her brother.

“You have to tell her,” Sully said. Lindsey was standing by the living room window, keeping an eye out for Emma’s car.

Panic made Lindsey’s insides clench. “What if it gets him killed?”

“What if not telling gets you killed?” Robbie asked as he joined them. Lindsey looked at him and he gave her a small sad smile. “Maybe you could live with that, but me and the water rat would be devastated, and I’m pretty sure your brother would be unhappy with you, too.”

“Water rat? Really?” Sully asked. “Spoken like a true canned ham.”

“Hey—” Robbie began to protest, but the front door opened and in strode Emma Plewicki and she did not look happy.

“Show me,” she ordered without greeting.

“Upstairs,” Lindsey said. She exited the room, but when Sully and Robbie would have joined them, she said, “Stay,” in much the same tone she would have used on Heathcliff.

Both men stopped and Emma nodded at her in approval. “The fewer bodies up there, the better.”

The two women began up the stairs, and Emma unzipped her thick uniform coat and took a pad and pen out of the inside pocket. Lindsey took this as a sign to start talking so she began at the beginning with arriving home to find that her apartment had been trashed but nothing stolen.

When she mentioned that she’d spent the night at Sully’s, Emma didn’t even flicker so much as an eyelash. It occurred to Lindsey that one of the things she liked best about Emma was that she never judged, never gossiped and played it all pretty close to the vest.

She told Emma that Charlie had heard noises in her apartment and thought it was her. Emma surveyed the damage from the doorway and then called for one of her officers to come over and do a crime scene sweep.

“Officer Wilcox will photograph the damage, take fingerprints and look for any hairs or fibers left behind by whoever broke in,” she said. “Nothing is missing?”

“Not that I could see,” Lindsey said.

“Do you have renter’s insurance?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll make sure you get a copy of the police report in case you need to file a claim.”

“Thanks,” Lindsey said.

They stepped into the room, being careful not to touch anything. Emma scanned the room and then did a cursory walk-through. When she finished, she stopped beside Lindsey and frowned.

“Why you?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Why your apartment?” Emma asked. “It’s not as easy as a ground-floor apartment. You don’t seem to own anything of tremendous value. So why you?”

“Maybe they knew I was out,” Lindsey said. “Maybe they saw me with Sully and just assumed I’d be gone for the night.”

“Then why not take anything?” Emma asked. “Your laptop is right there. Your jewelry box has a few pawnable sparklies in it. It’s like they were looking for something specific but didn’t find it.”

“Maybe they got the wrong address,” Lindsey said.

Emma studied her. Her brown eyes were narrowed in suspicion as if she knew Lindsey was holding something back. Lindsey knew this was her opportunity to tell Emma about Jack, the kidnapping, all of it. And yet she kept hearing Jack’s voice telling her that the fewer people who knew about him, the better, and she couldn’t make herself do it.

She knew she could be in trouble for obstructing an investigation, but really, would she risk her brother’s life just to stay out of trouble? Hell no.

“Yeah, maybe,” Emma said. Lindsey knew she didn’t believe it.

Together they left the apartment. As they walked down the stairs, Emma began a discussion about safety.

“It was a forced entry on your door,” she said. “You may want to invest in an alarm system. Another great deterrent is leaving a light on.”

“Do you think they’ll come back?” Lindsey asked. She was pleased that her voice didn’t shake.

“I don’t know,” Emma said. Her voice was sharp. “I can’t really answer that, given that I don’t know what they were looking for.”

Lindsey remembered the state of ruin her apartment had been left in, and for the first time, a sense of violation swept through her, making her feel fragile on the inside as if the burglars had stolen something after all. Then she realized they had. They’d stolen her peace of mind and sense of well-being in her own home, and there was no way leaving a light on or even having an alarm was going to give that back.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Nancy and the others were waiting.

Nancy looked guilt ridden and she grabbed Lindsey’s arm and said, “This is all my fault. I forgot to lock the dead bolt on the front door. They never would have gotten in here if I had remembered.”

“No,” Lindsey said. “I refuse to let you blame yourself. It could just as easily have been Charlie or me. Besides they forced their way into my apartment. If they were that determined, they would have forced the front door, too.”

“And if you had heard them and come out to investigate, Nanners, who knows what they would have done to you?” Charlie said.

“He’s right,” Emma said. “I’m sorry Lindsey’s apartment took a hit, but I’m relieved she wasn’t there and that neither of you meddled. Charlie, I’ve got some questions for you. Can you walk me to my car?”

“Sure,” Charlie said, and he rose to his feet and grabbed his jacket off its hook in the foyer and followed her out.

“Why don’t you run upstairs and pack a bag?” Sully said.

Lindsey blinked at him. “Excuse me?”

“You’re not staying here,” he said.

“Where am I going to go?” she asked.

“My house,” Sully and Robbie said together and then looked at each other in annoyance.

Nancy made a noise that sounded like she was choking on a chicken bone. Lindsey gave her a dark look and she stepped back into her apartment.

“Is that the timer on my oven?” Nancy asked no one in particular. “Yes, I do believe it is.”

The door shut behind her and Lindsey faced the boys.

“Thanks, but I can find my own place to sleep,” she said. Both men looked like they were about to protest, but she held up her hand to silence them. “That is all.”

Sully heaved a put-upon sigh. “Fine, but English here and I are going to take turns babysitting, since you obviously did not tell Emma anything about your brother.”

“I call the night shift,” Robbie said with a quick grin.

“We’ll split it,” Sully agreed with a glower.

“No, you won’t,” Lindsey said. She saw the concern on their faces and she softened her tone. “Listen, I didn’t tell Emma about Jack, but I have my reasons. The minute I know he’s safe, I’ll tell her everything. I promise. In the meantime, I really appreciate your concern, but I’ll be fine. I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation for all of this.”

Neither Robbie nor Sully said anything, and she knew they were just too polite to point out the obvious. This was hell and away from anything resembling reasonable.