Luke gathered me close and whispered, “Whatever happens, we’ll fix it. You’ll be safe, Lily.” He shifted me back into my seat and ordered me to stay inside the truck as he exited to talk to my dad. I stared out the window and tried to calm down. I got out of the truck, stumbling a little bit on my high heels. Luke caught me with an arm around my waist and didn’t let go.

“Whoever it was, they’re gone,” Dad informed us as he clipped his gun back into his shoulder holster.

“And they trashed Gram’s house. She’s going to have a fit. They were looking for something, did a thorough job of tearing the place up,” Cade added, shaking his head.

“Oh God, oh no.” I gasped. “Can I go in? I need my stuff. I was going to pack.”

“I’ll take you. Don’t touch anything unless I clear it first. Got me?” Dad said. I nodded and took his hand. I heard Luke and Cade start talking as I headed up the front walkway with my dad. I waved at the other two officers as I passed through the living room to go upstairs. They nodded back to me.

“Good thing your mom packed up the kids already,” Dad remarked as we walked by their trashed bedrooms.

I nodded. I was too overcome with the mess I was seeing to respond.

“Lily, we’ll clean it up.” He squeezed my hand. I held his tight as tears started to fill my eyes. I quickly blinked them back. We got to my room, and I stopped dead in the doorway next to Dad. Who would do such a thing? I mean, you could search a place without destroying it completely, couldn’t you? I didn’t know if it was anger or fear that I felt.

“Go ahead and pack some clothes, Lily,” he said.

I looked around in the small walk-in closet. The clothes were mostly on the floor, pulled off the hangers, the previously folded stacks on the shelves in complete disarray as well. Some of the clothes were just tossed to the floor outside the closet and all over the stripped bed with its mattress askew, and the ripped-open pillows tossed here and there. Gram’s beautiful quilt was under my feet, and I quickly stepped off it. I stared at it all, suddenly not wanting to touch any of it. Not wanting my hands to be where his had been. I stumbled backward, away from the closet. Dad caught me before I tripped over a pile of my books that had been tossed from the shelf in the corner.