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Another knock on the door. This time, Detective Rod Kelter walked into the room. His grim expression had Matt on alert. Something was wrong.
“How are you, Delilah?” Rod dragged out his notebook and pen.
“Concussion and cracked ribs. You drew the short straw on my break-in, huh?”
“This isn’t a simple burglary.”
CHAPTER THREE
Delilah stared at the red-haired detective. She had to have heard him wrong. Ice water ran through her veins. Her grip on Matt’s hand tightened.
“Who wants to hurt you, Delilah?”
“Until the man attacked me tonight, I would have said no one.” Was Rod right? Did someone want to hurt her? Based on the attack and the snakes, she had to consider that possibility.
“Tell me what happened tonight. What time did you leave work?”
“I closed the shop at six like normal. I stopped at the grocery store.” She wouldn’t have bothered with the groceries except that Matt had been on her case to take better care of herself. “When I got home, I went into the house through the back door. At first, I didn’t notice anything. Then I noticed the almond milk on my counter.”
The detective was silent a moment. “You’re sure you didn’t leave it out yourself?”
She shook her head, hissing when the pain in her head increased exponentially. “I didn’t have time for breakfast this morning so I didn’t use the almond milk.”
Matt scowled at that.
“I bought breakfast from That’s A Wrap,” she assured him. “The wrap was my breakfast and lunch.”
He squeezed her hand in silent approval.
Yeah, he took his medic duties seriously. Although Delilah loved the fact that he cared about her, she didn’t want to be of medical interest to him. Oh, who was she kidding? There was no way Matt Rainer would be interested in her. With his looks, he could have any woman he wanted on his arm. What would he want with her?
“What did you do when you noticed the almond milk?” Rod asked.
“I set my grocery bags down and turned around to leave the house. I planned to call Matt to see if he could check the place for me.”
“Why not the police?”
“And tell them someone moved my milk while I was at work? No, thanks. I didn’t want to face the officer who responded. After Matt searched the house and told me it was intruder free, I would have gone through the place and then thought more about calling the police if I found more items out of place.”
“What happened when you turned to leave the house?”
“I heard heavy footsteps behind me. Before I could open the door, strong hands shoved me into the door so hard I almost lost consciousness.”
“Concussion with eight stitches as a result of the shove,” Matt murmured.
“I slid to the floor,” Delilah continued. “The guy cursed and kicked me in the ribs a couple times.”
“Did the intruder leave at that point?”
She nodded.
“Did he say anything else aside from cursing?”
“No. I don’t know if I would recognize his voice if I heard it again. He spoke in a whisper.”
“Did you see his face?”
“I only saw his feet. He wore black boots like Matt’s.”
