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The squad car in her driveway somehow

Mary slowly opened the door while Glen talked with the driver

The front door was open, the tarp from inside kicked out with the wind

The sound of footsteps running across the street acco out

"Mary!"

From her peripheral vision, she saw Glen and Walt do a quick handshake as they both walked beside her

"Thanks for checking on the place" The words were autopilot from Mary’s lips

"No probleot that from Dakota’s conversation "I’m okay"

Walt’s expression told her she wouldn’t be

She crossed the threshold, e of the ith her shoulder

Her condo was trashedthere was no other way to describe it with one word Everything that stood upright was on the floor Her lamps tossed across the room, her couch was upside doith the cushions slashed and the stuffing pulled out The few pictures she had were slass scattered all around

"Mary" Glen said her na she was soh her home

Two uniformed police officers stood in her kitchena kitchen that looked a lot like her living room Drawers had been opened, duar, if she wasn’t mistaken, had been poured from the container she kept it in directly onto her stove, the container tossed to the side

"Officers, this is Mary Kildare The ho look like this?"

Walt looked her in the eye "Just about"

Glen stood at her side, his jaw a tight, unreadable line

"Miss Kildare, we have some questions--"

She held up her hand

Their questions could wait

She walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs

Her bedroom orse The bed had been torn apart Feathers from the pillows looked like a sixteen-year-old’s sluht It didn’t look as if any of her clothing was still inside the dresser She slowly asped Like in every Hollywood movie that contained a break-in, lipstick had been used on her bathroom mirror

BITCH!

Bold print

Excla started at her feet and she felt it slowly rise and hit her knees When the ripple had her catching her breath, she felt her body sluot ya C’et you out of here"

She didn’t re the street When she looked up, she was sitting in Dakota’s living room with her best friend’s arht drifting in the air