Page 9 of Rescuing Macie

“That’s not the point—” Truck began.

“Actually,” the detective interrupted. “I think that’s a great point, and one I was going to get to. Who is he? What’s his name? Could he have had anything to do with what happened tonight?”

Macie turned to look at the police officer. Amazingly, she’d forgotten he was sitting there listening. Her mind was still reeling with everything her brother had told her.

“Yeah, Mace. Who is he?” Truck asked, standing once more.

“We broke up a while ago.” The last thing she wanted to do was talk about Teddy.

“What’d he do to you?” Truck growled.

Macie shook her head. She really really didn’t want to discuss Teddy, especially not with Colt and her brother there. “Nothing.”

“Hon,” Colt said, “It’s okay. We aren’t going to judge you. We need to know if he had anything to do with this.”

She looked down at her leg and almost laughed out loud. Not judge her? She felt as if every single person she met, every single day of her life, was judging her…and finding her wanting. Intellectually, she knew it was probably the anxiety messing with her head, but what if it wasn’t? What if she really was an awful person?

She felt somewhat out of it after taking the Vistaril tablet, but not so out of it that she wanted to talk about what a colossal mistake she’d made in dating Teddy.

When no one said anything after a long pause, she sighed. They weren’t going to give it up. It was better just to get it over with. “I met Teddy online. He seemed nice. We started dating. He came over and watched movies with me a few times, but I never really felt comfortable with him. We went out for lunch one day, and I had an anxiety attack. He got embarrassed and left.”

“He left you there? When you needed him? What an asshole,” Colt said.

Macie looked up at him in surprise. His hand had tightened on hers and it was obvious that he was upset on her behalf.

“He came over later that night but I wouldn’t let him in. I broke up with him. He was upset, but he left without protest. I haven’t heard from him since.”

“What was his last name?” the detective asked.

“Dorentes.” Macie said.

“Theodore Dorentes?”

“Yeah.”

The detective whistled long and low.

“What?” Truck asked. “Do you know him?”

“Yeah, you can say that,” the detective said dryly. “Possession, possession with intent to distribute, assault, larceny, and disorderly conduct…to start with.”

Macie sucked in a breath. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” the detective confirmed.

Macie turned to Colt. “I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t know.” Then she turned to her brother. “I didn’t!”

“Shhhh, we know you didn’t,” Colt soothed.

“Okay, so I think we know who ordered her house broken into,” the detective said dryly. “The question is why. What was he looking for?”

All three men looked at Macie.

She gulped and shrugged. “He was only here a few times.”

“He obviously stashed something somewhere,” Truck said.

Macie felt her chest getting tight and her fingers began to tingle once more. She looked around and didn’t see anything that looked out of place. “What? Where? I haven’t seen anything.”