Distortion (Moonlighters Series) by Terri Blackstock Page A

gray, with black chairs and couches, art on the walls. She turned to the keypad on the wall. “Something’s wrong. The security system isn’t armed. It should beep when we come in until we type in the code.”
    “Maybe the staff forgot to arm it,” Cathy said.
    Frowning, Juliet crossed the room to the receptionist’s desk.
    She gasped. The office behind the desk looked like a tornado had hit it. File drawers were open, papers on the floor. The computer that had been on the receptionist’s desk was missing, leaving only a tangle of cords.
    “Someone beat us here,” Michael said. “Stay back.”
    Juliet and her sisters waited, holding each other’s hands as Michael went through the office, making sure that the thieves weren’t still there.
    After a moment, he came back. “It looks clear. But they’ve been all through the place.”
    Juliet felt sick. Of course the people who’d killed her husband had been here. They had invaded her home. She should have expected this.
    Cathy pointed. “What was there, in the wall?”
    Juliet looked and saw a large rectangular hole in the wall. “There was a safe there, hidden behind a picture. They gutted it right out.”
    “What did he keep in there?”
    She shrugged. “The proceeds from each day, if they couldn’t get to the bank.”
    “Where was his drug supply closet?”
    Juliet headed down the hall to the closet she knew was there. “He kept samples from the pharmaceutical reps here.”
    She opened the walk-in closet. The shelves were empty. “They got everything. I haven’t been this far into the office in a few months. When I’ve come here, I never go past his office.” She stepped into Bob’s office and saw that it had been ransacked too. Drawers open, files strewn on the desk, others left on the floor.
    She took each blow calmly, like an abuse victim who expected nothing less.
    They went through each examining room until they reached the last two on the left. Juliet opened one of the doors and saw that the room had been turned into someone’s office. A picture of a woman and child sat on the credenza. “Whose office is this?” Cathy asked.
    The woman was pretty and blonde, and the child . . .
    “Why does she have a picture of Abe?” Everyone turned to the picture Holly was studying.
    Juliet took the picture off the shelf. “Wait. That’s not Abe. That must be her baby.”
    “Looks a lot like him, though, right? Spitting image.” Holly’s voice trailed off as she realized what she was saying.
    Juliet turned to her, stricken. Her heart raced, and she put the picture back.
    “Her name’s Amber Williams,” Cathy said, pointing to a nameplate on a file cabinet.
    Juliet tried to think. “I know he hired a new financial secretary about a year ago. He never talked about her.”
    Michael picked up a framed picture of the woman from her file cabinet. She was on a sailboat in a bikini, posing in front of a sign that said “Nassau Marina.”
    “The Bahamas,” Cathy whispered.
    Juliet took the picture, then turned back to the one with the baby. Her stomach plunged, and her heart slammed.
    “What did they take in here?” Michael asked, as though to shift her attention. “Looks like another computer,” he said, pointing to unplugged cords. “Possibly more files. Did Bob have security cameras?”
    “I think so,” Juliet whispered, putting the pictures back.
    Michael disappeared up the hall and quickly returned. “They got the hard drive of the security system. Whoever came in here knew how to disarm it. They covered their tracks, but maybe we’ll get lucky. They might have left prints or other evidence.”
    “How would you be able to tell the intruders’ prints from the patients’?” Holly asked.
    Michael shook his head. “The police can run prints on the security keypad or the computer cords or the areas around the safe and the security system.”
    “I’ll call,” Cathy said.
    They all seemed to turn to Juliet, waiting. But she couldn’t