Top Dog

Enrico and I were going to have to have a serious talk, and soon.

CHAPTER 15

ROMEO

“You said you heard the intruders just before three in the morning?” the detective asked.

“Yes. I looked over at the clock to make sure it wasn’t my brother or someone.”

“Your brother work the night shift?”

“He does. At the plant in town. He never walks in the door until five, maybe six. Depending on if he gets breakfast out,” I said.

“What happened after that?”

“I went to go check on my mother, then I locked her in her room so no one could get to her. I came down the stairs, the rustling stopped, then I was hit in the back of the head.”

“You said you were hit twice. When was the second blow?” he asked.

“After I was done beating the shit out of the first guy.”

“So there’s a chance that blood on the staircase isn’t only yours.”

“A great chance,” I said flatly.

“Then we’ll make sure to take samples with us. Do you have any idea how they got into your home, Mr. Martine?”

“I don’t know, but they would’ve had to disable the alarm system first.”

“We’ll check the electrical boxes and see if anything’s been cut or tampered with.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Is there anyone you can think of that would want to do this to you? Any enemies of yours? Or maybe your father’s?”

I panned my gaze up to the detective and automatically went on my guard.

“None,” I said.

“No angry customers?”

“Nope.”

“No third-party deliverers?”

“Is that phrase supposed to mean something?” I asked.

“Just trying to flesh out a suspect list, Mr. Martine. It’s standard procedure.”

“Is this standard procedure about to wrap up?” I asked.

I ground my teeth as the detective finished his notes.

“That’ll be all for now. We’ll call you if we need clarification on anything.”

“I’m sure you will,” I said coolly.

The detective walked away, and I slumped back into my seat. Fuck. They were digging around for something. But I knew this was a burglary. Those men had said, “we got what we came for.” They took something of mine, and I wanted to know what it was. I’d recounted my story three times to three separate police officers, and I was ready for them to get out of my fucking house so I could start my own damn investigation.