We were closing in, I could feel it, and I was going to make sure that it was my name and not Hanson’s on the front page of the news.

Chapter 23

CAIN

I whistled “You Are My Sunshine” as I wandered up the sidewalk, leash in hand. The homeless guy a few blocks back was nice enough to lend me the flea-infested beast for a twenty. The shaggy dog looked warily up at me as if sensing my true nature.

“Don’t worry, you’re not on my list for the evening,” I said as I neared my destination.Thanks to Kirby, I now had a key and the alarm combination for her mother’s home. A quick look at my phone showed the red dot on the tracker I’d slipped into her purse. It blinked. Margaret was still at work which gave me time to poke around her home.

Stepping under the large tree branches that hung over the sidewalk and shadowed me from the streetlights, I enjoyed feeling like I was one with them. Margaret had chosen a very manly look for her home, which spoke volumes about how she wanted to be seen. The woman in charge, one that couldn’t be pushed around, and someone aiming for the highest seat in her profession. It was a shame she’d never make it.

The door was dark blue with the lion head brass knocker, and white flowers decorated the front yard, but I was interested in the small camera tucked into the corner of the covered porch.

The fleabag and I continued around the corner of the block, and as I closed in on the backside of Margaret’s house, I dropped the leash and braced my hand on the wooden fence. Thankfully, I was able to leap over the five-foot structure in a single graceful movement. Crouching low among the bushes, I listened for neighbors or sounds of anyone on the street, but nothing much stirred at this late hour. Peeking through the shrubs, I opened the home security app on Kirby’s phone and looked at the images of the quiet house.

Hitting the stop button, I watched all the cameras go dark, sprinted from my spot, and headed for the back door. With a soft click of the lock, I pushed the door inward and punched in the security code. Now in the laundry room, I knew the other door straight ahead was the access to the garage. I’d already memorized as much as I could see on the cameras, so if one was planning on breaking into a home, then it was a must to research the area. The original neighborhood blueprints were on the builder’s website and what seemed like innocent information to promote their business was a treasure trove to me.