If I Didn't Know Better (The Callaways #9)(55)

"You should go home. I'll wait for the police."

"I'd like to stay with you, but…"

"You should take Ashlyn home."

He looked toward his daughter. "Yes. Let's go figure out what we're going to have for dinner, Ash."

Ashlyn slid off her chair and walked over to Mia. She slid her hand into Mia's and said, "You come, too."

"I can't right now, honey. I have to clean up, but I'll see you later."

"Come now."

"Mia has some things to take care of," Jeremy said.

"I'll walk you back to your house," Mia said, sensing that Ashlyn was about to throw a fit. There were storm clouds brewing in her eyes, and she had a feeling the uncertainty of what was going on was bothering Ashlyn more than she and Jeremy could understand.

She held Ashlyn's hand firmly as they walked through the gate and down the side of the house.

As they neared the front yard, a police car sped down the street, coming to an abrupt stop in front of the house.

As the uniformed officer stepped out of the car, and headed toward them, Ashlyn let out a shockingly long scream of terror. She let go of Mia's hand and ran toward her father, her arms outstretched, begging for him to lift her up, to hold her.

Jeremy swept her up in his arms. "It's okay, baby," he said.

"Don't let them take me away," she yelled, tears streaming down her face. "Don't let them take me, Daddy. Please, please, don't let them take me away again. I won't be bad anymore. I promise."

Mia's heart tore a little more with each terrified, panicked word, especially the one that turned Jeremy's face white. Ashlyn had called Jeremy Daddy for the very first time.

"No one is taking you anywhere," Jeremy said firmly. "You and I are always going to stay together."

"You should take her inside," Mia said.

"I will." He gave Kent a nod and then took Ashlyn into his house.

"What's going on?" Kent asked in confusion. "What happened?"

"A few things," she said. "I think your police vehicle and your uniform scared Ashlyn. I don't know if you're aware of her background, but her mother was killed in a robbery. I assume the police must have arrived at the scene and were possibly the ones to take her away from her mother."

"Damn," he muttered. "Poor kid."

She nodded, hoping this event wouldn't be a setback for Ashlyn.

"So what's the other thing? Why did you call for the police?"

"The studio was vandalized. I'll show you," she said, leading him into her backyard.

As she showed Kent the cottage, Mia got angry. "Why would anyone do this?" she asked.

Kent studied the destruction with a sober gaze. "I don't know. It's a mess. This place looks nothing like it did when I stayed here a year ago. Then it was a safe, warm haven."

"Well, I don't think it's been that for a while. There was a lot of junk in here when I arrived, but someone came in here and deliberately destroyed things." As she spoke, she wondered if that person had been in the studio before, perhaps one of the artists who didn't want their work to be shown. But she doubted Christina Wykoff or Rita Phelps would do this, and Kent certainly didn't look like he was guilty.

It was possible some of the other artists had heard about the upcoming exhibition, perhaps someone she hadn't met yet. "Do you think this was done by someone who stayed here?"

"I don't want to believe that. Carly offered this studio up for free to give people a chance to recover from whatever they were going through. Coming here was the best thing that I could have done. The two weeks I was here changed my life."

"How so?"

"I needed a place where I didn't have to answer the well-meaning questions of my family; I didn't have to keep assuring everyone I was all right. I didn't have to worry that if I couldn't sleep at night that I would wake anyone else up if I turned on the lights or went for a walk at two in the morning. I got better here," he said. "I painted my demons and surprisingly enough, they went away once I put them on paper." Kent finally turned his head to look at her, and there was an apology in his eyes. "Sorry, this isn't about me. I got lost in the past for a moment."

"That's why you didn't want me to show your art, because you painted your demons."

"In crazy bad, big brushstrokes. They don't deserve to be displayed."

"I understand." She finally got it. It wasn't the quality of the work Kent was worried about; it was giving his demons public attention.

"I never thought about what Carly would do with the painting I left her," Kent said. "I assumed she would throw it away; it wasn't good. But maybe she would have put it in a gallery with the others she'd collected. I guess I should have asked her if she had that intent. Perhaps she had the same idea you did. It was her right. The painting belonged to her." He paused. "Carly was a wonderful woman. She helped me turn my life around. I wish I could say we'll find out who did this and punish them, but I don't think it will be easy. We're still looking for the vandals who broke into the high school last month. They messed up a couple of classrooms."

"Like this? Maybe it was the same person or persons."