Kaleidoscope (Colorado Mountain #6)(15)
“Good, then maybe he and Faye can come over to your house when I’m there drinking your homemade beer. Though Faye obviously can’t drink it.”
He again grinned at his phone as he saw light coming through the trees. He switched his flashlight off and kept up his approach to her house.
“I’ll arrange that. And soon,” he told her.
“Right, great,” she replied. “Then, I was so busy taking your guff about my girl I forgot to ask you over for dinner tomorrow night.”
Pleased she was asking him to dinner, still, Deck moved toward the light but addressed the more important part of what she said, “A Bronco is not a girl. A Bronco is definitely a guy.”
“Her name is Persephone.”
Jesus.
Deck bit back laughter and returned, “I’ve just re-anointed him Elrod.”
“Persephone,” she shot back.
“You don’t like Elrod, you can pick Cletus.”
“I’m not renaming Persephone!” she snapped, but there was humor in her tone.
“All right, baby,” he muttered, smiling at the phone, keeping to the shadows but moving toward the lit clearing he spied through the trees.
He got silence. Complete silence.
So he called, “Emme?”
There was another moment’s quiet then, “Are you coming over for dinner tomorrow night or what?”
He had work to do, that work important, work that would mean getting her clear of that ass**le.
“Yes,” he replied.
“Good. The yard is open until six but I go in early and leave early. So I can have dinner on the table by six. But I’ll have beer available from five o’clock on.”
“Then my ass’ll be at your door at five o’clock,” he told her, stopped in the shadow of a tree and trained his eyes on her house.
His back shot straight and he stared.
Jesus.
Fuck.
It wasn’t a money pit.
It was what Chace described it as being.
A nightmare.
He could see under all that dilapidated mess that there was beauty. Amazing beauty.
But she had a long way to go before she got it back to that state. This wasn’t only because it was a nightmare. This was also because it was huge.
As his eyes moved, he decided, first and foremost, his girl needed new insulation. They’d had sun that day, it was cold but Colorado sun could burn snow off a roof. But there were tall pines all around the house, short days in February, limited sun and the shade those trees would bring would mean the snow they had yesterday should still be on her roof—if her insulation was good.
The snow was gone.
Her insulation was shit and she was losing heat.
She was also probably losing heat through some of those boarded windows.
Fuck.
“Five o’clock,” she said in his ear, again taking his attention. “Now, I’ll expect you to get on your knees before going to bed tonight and pray my oven works tomorrow or we’re going to be reduced to ordering pizza.”
Looking at her house, if the inside was anything like the outside, Deck had no doubt every time she turned on her oven, it was a crapshoot.
“I’m multi-tasking, talking to God right now,” he told her and got another chuckle.
“Good, honey. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
“See you then, babe.”
“ ’Bye.”
“Later.”
He disconnected, his eyes scanning her house, automatically prioritizing. Insulation. Inspection of the roof, probably reshingling. Definitely windows. Double-paned but wood framed so they would work with the look of the house but hold in the heat.
That was just a start.
And that would cost a small fortune.
Fuck.
The investigation notes said she’d been living there for near on three years. One of those years she’d been ill. Still, that left two others, and it looked like the place hadn’t been touched.
He set aside thoughts of her house, bent his head to his phone, texted Chace with In position, got back a Copy and he shoved his phone in his back pocket.
Five minutes later, he got a text that said Incoming, and a minute after that, the pimped-out Sierra made the approach, parked outside by Emme’s Bronco and McFarland climbed out.
Deck’s throat prickled as he watched the familiar way McFarland approached the house.
The prickle eased when he didn’t walk right in but knocked, waited, and Emme opened the door to him.
It came back when he watched McFarland round her waist with an arm, smile down at her and back her inside.
The door closed.
Deck instantly revised his schedule.
Emme would not be shot of this guy in a week.
He was thinking more like two days.
His phone vibrated and he got a text from Chace.
Man’s in.
Deck texted back, Saw that. Doing a perimeter check.
Chace sent back Copy and Deck moved stealthily around Emme’s property.
As he did, he began to see it. Why she picked this place. He’d even consider it, but only if he viewed it on a day when he felt like taking on a challenge.
There was an outbuilding, built after the main house and not well, and it looked like it was meant to store cars at one point but with Emme’s Bronco out front, it was not used for that now and he could see why. It was in worse shape than the house.