“I’m ready when you are.”

Chris thought Portland police detective Drew Sanchez didn’t look old enough to buy cigarettes. He’d greeted Chris and Gianna and invited them into Gianna’s home like he was the owner. Chris saw the amusement in Gianna’s expression, but she didn’t say anything. Not that she could get a word in edgewise. The detective talked like he’d drunk a triple espresso on an empty stomach.

The three of them stood in Gianna’s home office. It was a pale room with white crown molding, white wainscoting, and a huge white desk. The walls were a faint blue, and he wondered if she’d simply kept the decor from the previous owner. In Chris’s opinion it didn’t fit Gianna’s personality at all. To him she was about color. He’d envisioned a home full of deep reds and yellows and purples. He’d always associated people with colors. Jamie was the cool, calm green of her eyes. Michael was red for his impatience and intensity.

Gianna was not lifeless pale blue and white.

Black powder had been lightly fanned all over the filing cabinet, light switches, and desk. The evidence team had already left, but Detective Sanchez had waited to speak with Gianna. The files that the police had said had been all over the floor were gone, and the drawers of the filing cabinet were empty.

“The police took every file?” Gianna was stunned.

“Whoever broke in pulled every file out of the cabinet and dumped them on the floor. We took them for prints. Would you know what was missing from an inventory?”

“I have no idea. I can look, but there had to be at least forty files in there. Everything from appliance warranties to Violet’s report cards from grade school.”

“Can they pull prints off those paper files?” Chris asked.

“Yep. You’d be amazed what they can get prints off these days.”

Gianna nodded in agreement.

“Anything else look missing or out of place?” Sanchez asked.

“No,” said Gianna after a long look. “The computer tower is gone, obviously, but everything else looks normal.”

“Let’s walk through the rest of the house.”

They followed the detective. Gianna checked some cupboards in the kitchen and drawers in her bedroom but couldn’t spot anything missing. She rooted through a box of jewelry, shaking her head. “I would have at least expected them to take these rings. They’re pretty valuable.”

“What about the walk-in closet?” Chris asked. “You’d said you leave that door closed.” Again, black dust on the handle of the closet door.

Sanchez followed the two of them into the closet. Gianna appeared to have a weakness for bags and shoes. Two walls of the large closet were covered with shelves neatly displaying an obscene number of both. In contrast the section of clothing seemed quite small.

Gianna tapped her toe against a pink-striped shopping bag on the floor. “This shouldn’t be empty. I just bought this stuff the other day, and it still had the price tags on it.”

Chris glanced in the bag. A sheet of pink tissue paper lay in the bottom. “What was in it?”

“Lingerie. Two bras. Three pairs of panties,” she stated.

Sanchez’s cheeks reddened, and Chris’s mouth suddenly went dry as he tried to look anywhere but at Gianna’s chest. She wasn’t top-heavy. He’d noticed early on that her proportions were perfect, but her description of the bag’s contents suddenly seemed to shine a spotlight on her body. She stood there in his sister’s rolled-up sweat pants with her long hair casually twisted and clipped on top of her head, and he realized he had no desire to look at another woman.

Gianna Trask was stunning even at her worst.

“Any other . . . lingerie missing?” Sanchez asked.

Gianna went back to the dresser and dug through two more drawers, a frown on her face. Chris looked away again. Bits of black and pink and lace and satin flew through her fingers. She shoved the drawers closed. “I don’t think so. But frankly, I don’t think I’d be able to tell. I have a lot of stuff.”

Sanchez nodded and made a careful note on his pad.

“That’s kinda creepy.” Gianna wrinkled her nose. “Although maybe they’ll just try to return it to the store for cash since it still had tags.”

“Or someone has a girlfriend the right size,” Sanchez said with a small grin.

“If they wanted something to sell for money, they would have taken the jewelry.” Chris pointed out. “They took the computer tower but left your huge expensive monitor. You were targeted; they wanted the information on your computer.”

Gianna stood perfectly still, holding his gaze. A small tremor flickered near one eye.

I rattled her.

“Do you know why someone would want your computer?” Sanchez asked.

“Identity theft,” she said.

Her tone told Chris she didn’t believe her own words.

“I can see the computer being stolen along with other items if these were thieves looking for a fast buck,” stated Sanchez. “But they left the easy stuff. Unless you have all your passwords on an easily accessible Word document, they’ll have to do some work to get anything useful. Most thieves are pretty lazy. I have to agree with Chris’s suggestion on this one.”

“Let me look around a little more.” Gianna abruptly left the bedroom.

“What’s she not telling me?” Sanchez asked Chris. He tapped his notepad with his pencil. “This will be a lot easier if I don’t have to guess everything. I think she has an idea of what’s going on.”