Seaside Heartbeats: A Sweet Romance (The Seaside Hunters Book 2) (11 page)

He rolled over and looked at the time. If they were going to have lunch, he needed to get up. Brayden stretched, and then got up, slipping on his slippers and robe. Then he went out to the living room to check the AC. For some reason, it was a full ten degrees colder than normal.

Brayden fixed the temperature and then went into the kitchen for a quick breakfast. It was a cold cereal kind of morning since he had so much to do. Shivering, he wished he had time for a big bowl of plain oatmeal. He tightened the robe and then poured bran flakes into the largest clean bowl he could find. Then he poured in skim milk and sat to eat, never one to eat on the go. It just wasn't good for the body.

He looked out through his sliding glass door. It looked like it would be another hot, summer day. For once, he would appreciate it. His fingers felt like ice. A hot shower would fix that.

Brayden emptied the bowl and then headed back for the kitchen. He froze mid-step looking at his living room. Books lay on the floor and other things on his shelves were strewn around the room.

Goose bumps formed down his back that had nothing to do with the cold condo. He set the empty bowl on the table, walking to the living room. His remote controls were out of order and medical magazines were on the floor instead of the coffee table.

His head whipped to the front door. Everything looked as it should. It didn't look broken into. Walking over to it, he examined it. He went to unlock the deadbolt, but it wasn't locked. Neither was the knob.

Brayden opened the door and looked into the hall. Some kids ran past, squealing. Nothing looked out of place. He turned around and looked at the outside of his door. It all looked at as it should, but what had he expected? Axe marks? No, whoever came in had used some kind of lock-pick—or had a key.

His breathing grew heavy as anger set in. Brayden went back inside, grabbed a baseball bat from the front closet, and looked around in all of the rooms. The cabinet doors in the bathroom were open, and some of his stuff had been knocked over.

Brayden clutched the bat so tightly that his knuckles turned white. How dare someone go into his condo and rifle through his things? Who would do that? Crime was so low in town he couldn't remember the last time anything had been broken into.

Sure, there were petty thefts. People swiping things from stores. It happened in his parents' shop on a fairly regular basis. That was just part of running a store like that no matter where it's located. It's common practice to budget for a certain amount of loss.

But breaking into someone's home. That was a completely different level of crime. Anger continued to build as he went through everything again, double-checking that no one remained. Despite his Hippocratic oath to always help others medically, he'd be more than happy to send someone to the hospital with a few
minor
injuries over this. But whoever had done this had left long ago, adding insult to injury by making it so cold.

He went back into his room and grabbed his phone. A missed call from Jake. He'd have to call his brother back later. Brayden dialed nine-one-one.

"Nine-one-one. What's your emergency?" asked a nasally female voice.

"Someone has broken into my condo."

Brayden told the lady his address.

"Is the perpetrator there now?"

"No."

"Okay. Please stay on the line with me. I'm sending officers over now. In the meantime, please answer my questions."

Brayden took a deep breath. Even though he knew he was alone, he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. Probably because he'd been looked at while sleeping in the safety of his own home.

He answered the dispatcher's questions, pacing through the condo until there was a strong knock on the door.

"They're here," Brayden said into the phone.

"Please stay on the line until the officers come inside."

Was she worried the intruders had come back in the middle of the day? Unlikely. Also, Brayden could take them. He was taller than average—a full head taller than any of his brothers—and they were all fairly tall themselves.

He opened the door and three policemen stood at his door. Brayden pulled open the door and stepped back, giving them room to get inside. "They're here. You sent more than enough."

She finally let him disconnect, and then he turned to the officers, thanking them. He gave them the grand tour, showing everything that had been disturbed.

"Anything disturbed in here?" asked Officer Williams, a skinny, jumpy-looking man. He indicated toward the living room.

"I hate to admit that mess is mine." His condo was where he gave himself some freedom to just be…human.

"Why don't you stand by the front door while we look around ourselves?" asked Williams.

"Sure." Brayden tightened the sash around his robe and went to the front door. He strained to hear their hushed conversation. Clicks sounded as they took pictures with cell phones.

Brayden hated having strangers going through his home, but even more, he hated the thought of uninvited strangers going through his things as he slept. He never thought he'd need a security system—most in town didn't. It wasn't a place where these things happened.

His phone rang in his hand, and Brayden silenced it. It was Jake calling again. Brayden sent him a text.

Something came up. I'll call you when I can.

Is everything okay?

I'll call you when I can.

Do you need anything?

The police have it handled.

What?

Don't worry. I'll talk to you soon.

If you say so. You know where to reach me.

Brayden didn't respond to that one. He wanted to focus on the officers. They must have been trained in speaking so low that no one could make out a word.

The officers finally came over.

"Is anything missing?" Williams asked.

"Not that I could tell. I didn't check my safe."

"Let's have a look."

Brayden went to his room, followed by the entourage. His closet was already open, so he got down on his knees and moved aside the things covering the safe and typed in the code quickly, hoping the police were giving him the privacy he needed. Brayden pulled out important paperwork and some expensive watches he almost never wore.

"Everything looks good here." And now he would have to find a new hiding place for his little safe and change the code.

"Okay. We have some more questions, and then paperwork to fill out. Would the dining room table be a good place to do that?"

Brayden sighed. "Why not?" He put everything back into the safe and locked it back up. Looking at the time, he knew there wouldn't be time to clean his car before having lunch with Lana. He would probably end up taking her to a diner—the furthest thing from classy.

Fourteen

Lana sat at the booth next to Brayden, across from his brother Jake and his sister-in-law, Tiffany. They both seemed really nice, though overly chatty. Maybe it was a small-town thing.

She looked over at Brayden, who looked to be in his own world. Lana could have waved her hand in front of his face, and he probably wouldn't have noticed.

When there was a lull in Jake and Tiffany's conversation, Lana said, "I really like this diner. It's cute. We don't have anything like that back home."

"Where's home?" asked Tiffany, looking genuinely interested.

"Seattle."

"Really?" Tiffany's eyes lit up. "Me, too. Kittle Falls is about as opposite as you can get from there."

Lana smiled. "Except for the water and woods. You don't have to drive very far to find either one."

"That's true. If it wasn't for the beach, I'd miss our lake house like crazy."

"Did you live on the lake?" Lana asked.

"My grandpa has a place at Lake Goodwin."

"Oh, fun. I have relatives near there." Lana glanced over at Brayden again. Had she done something to upset him? Maybe she should have called in between this date and the last one. She had sent him some cute texts, not wanting to disturb him while working or sleeping. She knew how busy he was—just as busy as she had been the last nine years. The last thing she wanted to be was a bother. He could have taken that as a lack of interest.

The food came and Lana hoped that would bring Brayden out of his shell. The longer he was quiet, the more worried she grew. Now that Jake and Tiffany were eating instead of talking so much, she wondered if they had been trying to distract her.

She watched a pile of shrimp spill out from Jake's sandwich. Lana raised an eyebrow. "Shrimp on a sandwich?"

Jake nodded and then swallowed. "You really should try the
Oceanic
sometime. It's divine. Sprouts, avocado sauce, cheese. Mmm." He took another bite, spilling more onto his plate.

Tiffany shrugged. "He swears it's delicious, but I refuse to try. I'm afraid of shrimp on a sandwich."

Jake wiped his face. "You guys don't know what you're missing."

"We'll keep it that way." Tiffany bit into her meatball sub.

"More for me." Jake smiled at Lana.

Lana looked back over at Brayden, who had barely touched his food. She couldn't take it anymore. "Is everything okay?"

He blinked a couple times and then looked at her. "I'm sorry, Lana. I'm being a terrible date."

She almost disagreed, but couldn't. "I don't mind you being quiet. It's just unlike you."

"I don't want to be a downer, but my condo was broken into this morning. I had to deal with that from the time I woke up until just before I got here. I wanted to take you somewhere nice, but there wasn't time to plan anything. I should've figured this all out yesterday."

"Broken into? When? Are you okay?" Lana stared at him, concerned but also relieved that she hadn't done anything wrong.

"While I slept. Nothing was taken, so they might have had the wrong place." He shrugged and then took a bite of his salad.

Lana's eyes widened. "While you were there?"

Brayden nodded, picking at a tomato. "If they try it again, I now have an alarm system that will wake everyone within a two block radius."

"Have there been other break-ins?" Lana asked.

He shook his head. "First all year according to the cops."

"Crazy. I'm so sorry."

"It's weird," Jake said, "because that almost never happens around here. It makes me angry that it happened to my family."

"We're getting a security system, too," Tiffany said. She and Jake exchanged a look like they had a big secret.

"What?" Brayden asked, sounding more curious than despondent.

Tiffany and Jake exchanged the look again, and then Jake looked at Brayden. "You can't say anything to anyone else. We're going to announce it at the family dinner on Sunday."

"What?" Brayden asked.

Tiffany squealed. "We're going to have a baby."

"Congratulations," Lana said, trying to get excited.

"Wow," Brayden said. "Yeah, congratulations."

"Sorry to spring this on you today of all days," Tiffany said.

"Don't be," Brayden said. "I'm glad for some good news. Now it's time to celebrate." He called over the waitress and ordered pies all around, and then mentioned the entire check was on him.

"Brayden," Jake said. "You don't have to—"

"I know I don't. I want to. My baby brother is having a baby."

Jake scowled. "I'm not a baby."

"Obviously," Brayden said, and then laughed. "Mom and Dad are going to be thrilled."

Lana relaxed as the conversation—and Brayden—became full of excitement and joy. After the meal and desserts had been eaten, Jake and Tiffany took off to check on the shop.

"Do you want to walk to the beach?" Brayden asked. He looked at his phone. "I have a couple hours before I have to get back and meet the security installers."

"A walk sounds nice. I guess we don't have time to go back to the museum. I just can't get the mystery out of my mind."

"I'll tell you what. On my next day off, we'll go there and then have dinner at a nice restaurant just outside of town."

"I'd really like that. Maybe we could plan that outing in the woods?"

"Sure. Maybe we'll have something to go on by then."

"Hopefully." Lana finished her iced tea. "I've searched everything online. I think if we're going to find any real clues, they're going to be here in town, or maybe out by the caves."

The waitress brought back the bill with Brayden's card. He put the card in his wallet and then signed the receipt. Then he stood and held his hand out.

Lana took it, noticing that his skin was cool. His nerves were probably on edge after having his home broken into. She took her other hand and rubbed her hands around his, trying to warm them.

"We should walk in the sun," she said. "You need to warm up."

"That I do. I've been cold all day. The burglars cranked my AC."

"Why? That's weird."