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“We can start in the office,” she
suggested.
    “Sounds good to me. Lead the
way,” he said, staring at her intently.
    Lana walked toward the stairs,
glancing around as she did. There would be no point putting things into storage
until she knew exactly what she planned on doing.
    To keep them protected from dust,
Lana had covered the couch, loveseat, and chairs. The bookshelf in the corner
of the living room stood empty. She had packed and taken those books with her
to keep for herself. If she came across duplicates, she took her own copies to
the bookstore and kept her mother’s.
    “How many rooms does this house
have, anyway?” Cole asked as he followed her up the stairs.
    She glanced behind her. His lips
were curled up slightly, just enough to tell her he liked what he saw. That
pleased her on several levels.
    Her mother’s house had been her
pride and joy. “It has four bedrooms and two and a half baths. Mom converted
one bedroom into an office. And, of course, the living room, dining room, and
kitchen.” Duh. Of course it had a living room and kitchen, she thought, more
than a little flustered at her rambling.
    They reached the top landing, and
Lana entered the second room on the left. “This was her office.”
    “Did you already take the books?”
he asked.
    “Yeah, we had similar tastes in
novels.”
    She sat down in the computer
chair, reached for the desk drawer, and pulled it open. It wasn’t as organized
as it had been during her last visit. She knew, because she had personally gone
through each and every one, sifting and boxing any papers that had to do with
her house, cars, bills…her mother’s will.
    Maybe she wasn’t as organized as
her mother was, but she left things the way she found them since everything was
labeled and she didn’t have to search for anything.
    Thinking perhaps she was
mistaken, Lana yanked open the second and bottom drawers and found them in a
similar state to the first.
    She frowned. “Someone’s been
through these,” she said with certainty.
    Though her tone had been quiet,
Cole heard her and walked over to the desk. “Are you sure?”
    The chair squeaked as she
swiveled to face him. “Yes. She kept her drawers perfectly organized. She was a
bit OCD,” she admitted with a shrug. “When I went through them before, I left
the drawers how I found them.”
    “She didn’t have a friend or
lawyer she trusted to go through her things or anything like that?”
    “As far as I know, no, but I
guess I can check on that.” She said nothing more of it and continued their
search. Neither the office nor bedroom turned up anything useful. “Want a tour
of the place?” she asked.
    Cole looked up, noticed the
attic. “What’s up there?”
    “Nothing. It’s just the attic.”
    “You never checked?”
    She shook her head. “No. They
have bees and bats and things that go crawl in the night.”
    He leaned against the doorjamb
before responding, his arms folded across his broad chest. “You don’t like bees
and bats?”
    “No.” She couldn’t quite suppress
a slight shudder.
    “You’re not terrified to stay in
your apartment alone after someone breaking in, but you’re scared of a little
ole bee?” he teased.
    “No. And if you must know, I’m
not scared of them. I’m terrified of them. Bats with their little wings and
vampire fangs and bloodsucking ways and bees with their buzzing and giant
stingers,” she said as a shiver ran through her body. The thought of them alone
was enough to scare her.
    Lana watched, eyes narrowed, as
he tried to hold back a laugh. If he laughed at her, she’d deck him. Really hard.
    When he didn’t seem to be
controlling it well, she glared more. Obviously, he wasn’t concerned since he
reared his head back and laughed. She felt no sympathy whatsoever as his head
rammed into the doorjamb.
    That shut you up .  She
smiled sweetly with a ‘you-deserved-that-jerk’ look.
     
    §§§
     
    Cole stopped laughing immediately
and rubbed