Page 22 of Love Unbound
Jodi nodded in agreement. “You’re right, of course. It felt good to finally get over that block.”
“Oh, I did want to ask you, did you lock the front door last night before you left? It was open when I got here this morning,” Tessa said, coming around the counter. “Everything looked fine when I got here, but it was strange.”
Jodi stilled, her coffee halfway to her lips. She set it back down slowly. “It was unlocked again? I thought I was going crazy; it was unlocked on Monday morning when I got here, too. Maybe the lock is faulty? I’ll have my dad come by this evening before closing to look at it.”
“That’s scary that it’s been unlocked two nights in a row,” Tess said and shivered. “Ugh, that gives me the creeps. What if someone was here?”
“Yeah, that is scary,” Jodi agreed softly. She had brushed it off as being distracted the other morning by thoughts of Free, but her gut had been right after all.
Chapter 13
“I don’t know what to tell you, sweetheart. The lock is fine,” Levi Kendall rumbled apologetically. He pulled himself up from the kneeling position in front of the door, dusting off his knees. “Are you positive you girls locked it correctly?”
“Of course we did. We’ve been here for over a year, we’ve never had problems with it before,” Jodi murmured. Anxiety was running rampant through her, making her skin crawl. “I’m just glad no one was here when Tessa and myself got here in the morning.”
“Have you checked your cameras?” Levi asked, closing the door and striding to the back room. Jodi followed.
“I was going to, I just hadn’t had time. We were surprisingly busy today. It was a really good day,” Jodi said and smiled.
Levi winked at her, his cobalt blue eyes twinkling. His dark hair and beard were sprinkled with silver strands throughout, but it only made him more handsome. Jodi had always thought her father was one of the most handsome men she’d ever seen. He and Serenity were both gorgeous inside and out. Levi Kendall had made a name for himself in their small town. He owned and operated one of the largest and most successful contracting companies in the tri-county area. Serenity Kendall was an elementary teacher with a heart of gold. Married for nearly twenty-three years, Levi and Seren were still madly in love. Jodi and her siblings had grown up with the luxury of a healthy and happy home, with two parents that loved each other and their children with their whole hearts. Jodi had always wanted a lovelike her parents had. It had been a hard pill to swallow when she’d told her family after less than a year of marriage that she was filing for a divorce from Josh.
“Let’s take a look at the video,” Levi rumbled. He reached for the eject button on the recorder, but nothing happened. His brow wrinkled. “Uh, Jodi, there’s no tape in here.”
“What?” Jodi asked, shocked. “That’s impossible.”
Levi shook his dark head. “There’s nothing here. Did either of you take it out to replace it and forgot to put it back?”
“No, of course not,” Jodi mumbled, her mind reeling. What was going on! “I just checked it a week ago. It was there, I swear.”
“I believe you, sweetheart,” Levi soothed. “Do you have extras to put in?”
“Yeah, in the bin below,” Jodi said, distracted. She reached for the small cardboard bin and pulled it out, lifting the lid. She gasped. It was empty. “What the hell is going on?”
“I’ll call Warren and get him here to install a new system. I don’t like this,” Levi muttered darkly, fishing out his cell phone. Moments later, Jodi could hear her brother Warren’s voice on the other line. “Hey, it’s Dad. I need a new security system down here for Jodi’s store. Something isn’t right.”
Wrapping her arms across her middle tightly, Jodi shivered again. Something was definitely not right. The front door being unlocked was one thing, but missing security tapes, too? That was no coincidence, she was sure of it. She had a deep suspicion that it was Josh’s doing. But why?
Jodi went through the motions of closing the store. Seren sent down a delivery for dinner while they waited for Warren to arrive with the new system. When he arrived, it was nearly dark out, and the old fashioned, wrought iron streetlamps that the downtown district was known for had all come on, illuminating the sidewalks and streets like a runway.
They were there until nearly midnight, Levi and Warren working to install all new cameras, motion sensors, and a wireless backup system that would send footage to Jodi’s computer at home.
Yawning broadly, Jodi thanked her father and brother again. Warren Kendall was the third child of Seren and Levi, twenty years old, a giant at six foot four inches, and a tech genius. He was headed to Michigan State University at the end of the month for his sophomore year of college.
“This should cover everything you need it to. And I set up a camera for the back lot, that way your cars are under surveillance while you’re parked here, too,” Warren said, showing Jodi on the brand new, large monitor that he had installed. There were six cameras altogether covering nearly every inch of the store.
“I feel better already, thank you, Warren. Sorry we kept you up so late,” Jodi said and yawned again.
Warren laughed, his green eyes crinkling at the corners. “I’m a college student, Jode. I don’t usually go to bed until two am, back up for classes at eight. Usually hung over as fuck, to boot,” he mumbled out of the corner of his mouth so only she could hear. Jodi laughed.
“I heard that,” Levi muttered darkly around a broad yawn of his own. “If we’re done here, I think it’s time to head home. Your mom is probably waiting for me.”
Jodi laughed heartily. “Yeah, right. She’s sound asleep, loving that she gets the bed all to herself.”
Levi chuckled. “You might be right.”
Jodi went through and checked everything before they all made their way to the front door. Closing and locking it securely behind her as they left, she checked it three times to make sure it was locked properly. Levi insisted on walking Jodi around to the back of the building to make sure she got to her Jeep safely.They waved Warren good-bye as he climbed into his Subaru and pulled away from the curb.
Jodi hugged Levi tight, burying her face in the vastness of his hard chest. He always smelled of cedar, pine, and horse leather. He squeezed her back, then pecked a kiss to the crown of her head. “Good night, sweetheart. Get home safe, okay?”
