She winked. Her slender fingers scratched beneath Sally’s ears. “Perfect. Great! We’ll see you then. Bye.” She ended the call. “We’re all set for dinner at Robbie and June’s house day after tomorrow.”

“Good.” This hunt was finally regaining momentum. “Though I’m not lonely. Or underfed.”

“And yet I stand by my statement. You could use company and a good meal. We all could.”

He pushed away from the counter. “I should go.”

“You don’t have to. You could stay and hang out.”

“So we can . . . what? Repot your cacti and talk about the sad fate of the whales?”

“We can also sip herbal tea, don’t forget.”

“And make dreadlocks in our hair.”

“I don’t think you make dreadlocks. I think you just stop brushing your hair and they naturally form.”

“Whatever. I’m not doing it.”

“Spoilsport.” She picked up the calendar page. “I’ll just stick this in the safe with the other clues, then walk you out.”

He stopped in the doorway of her office as she slid open a desk drawer.

She went completely still. “Wait.” She pulled the drawer out farther.

From his position, he could see the safe inside the drawer.

“This isn’t how I left it,” she said slowly. She looked up at him. “I keep the safe sideways, so that the keypad on top faces me when I’m sitting in my desk chair. Now the keypad is facing the front of the drawer.”

Cold spread through him like ice. “Are you sure you didn’t leave it this way?”

“I mean . . . I’m ninety percent sure.”

A warning of danger prickled the skin at the back of his neck. “Are the clues still inside?”

She typed in her code, and the door popped open. “Yes. But . . . I really don’t think I left it this way, Luke.” She swallowed. “Do you think someone’s been in my house?”

Someone might still be in the house. His muscles tensed and his senses jumped to high alert. “I’m going to search the house. You stay here.”

“No. I—I’ve never had a burglar in my house, and I’m freaking out a little, which will only get worse if I’m in here alone. Also, this is my house. You need me with you because I’m the one who’s familiar with all the places where a person could hide. And I’m the only one who’ll know if something’s out of place.”

“Fine.” He went to the door of the bathroom beneath the stairs. “Stand back.”

She did. He pulled the door open. The small room was empty.

He made his way to her bedroom, which held the scent of her. Orange blossoms. “Stay near the doorway, please.”