Right Where We Belong (Silver Springs #4)(104)

Please be careful.

She returned to the hotel she’d rented before going to Walmart. It was right next to the airport, so it wasn’t a far drive from downtown Salt Lake, where Dorothy lived. Savanna was exhausted, physically and emotionally, and yet she couldn’t seem to unwind.

She took a hot bath before climbing into bed, where she finally drifted off. But then she dreamed of getting trapped in Dorothy’s basement, of being unable to breathe, of Gordon coming down holding that knife the police found in his duffel bag, of waking up to find that she was covered in blood.

When she finally gasped awake, she interrupted a nightmare where spiders were crawling all over her bruised and battered body.

*

Gavin was at work when Detective Sullivan called him.

“What’s going on? Have you heard from Savanna?” he asked without preamble.

Gavin had been trying to fix the boiler in one of the dormitories. Dropping the screwdriver he held, he sat up. “She’s heading home today, as expected.”

“Where’d she go last night?”

“She drove to Salt Lake, couldn’t bear to stay in Nephi any longer.”

“She could’ve called me. Or Detective March. We’ve tried to reach her several times.”

“Maybe she thought it was pointless to tell you what you already know. She couldn’t get anything out of Gordon. Surely, you’ve listened to the recordings of her visit by now.”

“Of course. Still, we thought she’d check in, follow up.”

“She’s probably upset. This can’t be easy for her. You realize that.”

“Of course I realize it. But how hard would it be for her to give one of us a quick call?”

“She’s been through a lot. Just leave her alone,” he said. “She’ll contact you if and when she’s ready.”

“You two are seeing each other, right?” he asked before Gavin could hang up. “You’re romantically involved?”

Gavin didn’t have time for this guy’s nosiness, couldn’t imagine how his relationship with Savanna figured into anything. “What business is that of yours?”

“None,” he admitted. “But if Gordon gets out of jail, you might want to keep an eye out,” he said, and hung up.

Gavin cursed as he shoved his phone back into his pocket. Savanna had asked him not to tell the detectives what she was up to, so he was keeping his mouth shut.

But he knew he’d never forgive himself if something happened to her as a result...

*

Although Dorothy was gone, Savanna couldn’t be sure Gordon’s mother was at her job. Normally, Dorothy worked full-time. Had to in order to survive. But that could’ve changed. Maybe she’d been fired. Or she’d quit. She’d been far more stable in recent years than ever before, but Savanna supposed anything was possible. She could only hope that wherever Dorothy had gone, she’d stay away long enough for Savanna to get in and out of the house.

It was a hot day for mid-May. Savanna could feel sweat rolling down her back as she approached Dorothy’s house from the rear.

Dorothy’s car was gone, but three small children were playing in the fenced yard of the neighbor closest to her garage. There was also a pit bull at the house kitty-corner to Dorothy’s off the alley. But neither the kids nor the dog paid Savanna any mind. She told herself to walk confidently, as if she belonged in the area and had every right to be doing what she was doing, and that seemed to work. She arrived at the door leading into Dorothy’s tiny laundry room without incident.

The door was locked, but Dorothy had always left a key out for Gordon so he could get in if he ever stopped by when she wasn’t there. Savanna had been with Gordon once when he used it. She was relying on that key to get her in, but when she checked under the rock where Dorothy typically kept it, there wasn’t anything there.

“Shoot,” she murmured, and began to circle the house to see if she couldn’t find another way in.

She checked the front door. It was locked, too, but the weather was warm enough that Savanna found several windows open. One was in the bathroom, too small to squeeze through. Another was in the living room, where she could be seen by any car that drove by. The last was in Dorothy’s bedroom, which looked out on the neighbor’s side yard. Savanna didn’t have a lot of cover there, should that neighbor come around the corner doing yard work or whatever, but it was her best option.

Putting on her gloves, so that she wouldn’t leave any fingerprints, she tried to remove the screen and couldn’t. Finally, in desperation, she took out the pocketknife she’d bought when she got her clothes and other supplies and cut the edges.

She bent the screen back, forced the window up higher and managed to wiggle through the small hole, although she fell on the dresser and knocked off the lamp.

Fortunately, the lamp didn’t break. Savanna recovered as quickly as she could and righted everything before beginning a quick and dirty search of every drawer, closet, nook or cranny in Dorothy’s house.

Before too long, she realized she was lucky the house was so messy. Thanks to the garbage, discarded clothes and worthless knickknacks that were strewn everywhere, Dorothy would be much less likely to notice that she’d had a visitor—although she would wonder about the cut screen, if she saw it. Savanna wasn’t sure what to do about that. She thought she might use the duct tape she’d seen out in the garage to tape it shut on the outside. With Dorothy’s lack of attention to detail, and the messy house in general, she might never notice.