“Who?”
“Couldn’t tell.”
“Nothing’s missing. No window broken. Doors locked up tighter than a drum.” Wes rested his hips on the old scarred desk.
“You were lucky.”
“Was I?” Wes asked. “I’ve had this shop here for, oh, what? Nine years. Never a break-in, never anything stolen, and tonight you see someone you don’t recognize, take off after him, lose him in the snow. That’s what you’re telling me?”
“That’s what I’m telling you.”
“You who had one dead body, three missing women, and all kinds of emergencies countywide were just cruising through town and saw someone poking around my place.” He skewered Carter with a look that screamed bullshit.
“I was on my way home.”
“You live in the other direction.”
“I was on one last patrol, but hey, if you don’t want my help, I’m outta here. Believe it or not, Wes, I’ve had a long day. I’m cold, tired, and don’t need to take this crap from you or anyone else.” Carter was angry now and saw no reason to mince words. “As you pointed out, there are more important cases than this.”
Wes rubbed his jaw thoughtfully, didn’t seem the least chastised.
“Took you a helluva long time to get back here.”
Carter reached for the door. “I’ve got better things to do than listen to this. I thought you’d want to know that someone was hanging o
ut at your shop. It seemed to me that he was intent on breaking in. Maybe I was wrong. See ya.”
“Someone was at my house tonight.”
“Who?” Carter asked calmly, every nerve ending alert.
“I’m not sure. But someone came in. I think I scared him off.”
“How’d they enter? Break down a door? Through a window?”
Wes shook his head.
“No sign of forced entry?”
“Nope.”
“Maybe you forgot to lock the place.”
“Nope.”
“Then what?”
Wes scowled darkly.
“Anything taken?” The pictures and videotape still in Carter’s pocket felt like lead.
“Don’t know yet.”
“If you want, I could come out and look around. Go through the house. Find out what, if anything’s, missing.”
Wes blinked, then caught himself, but there was a trace of panic in his eyes that he quickly hid. “Maybe I was mistaken.”
“You sure?”