You Belong to Me – 20

 

 

The first thing Corey did on Thursday morning was call a security company. When he told them why he needed them, the man said they’d have someone out there before noon. Then he called in to work to tell Mr. Zimmer he’d be late and why. Thankfully the installer came within the hour. The man showed him how to arm and disarm the box once Corey had decided on what code to use. He also taught Corey how to change the code if he wanted to.

 

As soon as the installer left, Corey finished dressing and took off for the shelter.

 

“You oversleep?” Archie asked with a grin when Corey ran into him in the rec room.

 

“Nope. I was getting a security box installed at my place.”

 

Archie frowned. “Why?”

 

“Someone broke in yesterday and stole the watch.”

 

“You’re shitting me. Is that all they took?”

 

Corey nodded. “Strangely enough, yes.” He smiled dryly. “Not that I have a lot of valuables a thief might want.”

 

“There goes your donation to the fundraiser.”

 

“No kidding.”

 

“Maybe the person who gave it to you decided they wanted it back since you weren’t using it.”

 

You have no idea how right you are, I suspect. Corey’s mouth tightened momentarily, and then he smiled. “They could have just asked me for it.”

 

“And ruined the surprise of who they are? Do you have any clue yet?”

 

“Not a one.”

 

“That’s so weird. Oh well, at least that was the beginning and the end of any communication from your secret Santa. Maybe she’s the wife of one of the board members. They were all here for the Christmas party. She was going to sneak it to you because she’s got the hots for you, but you were out of town. So she dropped it off and then decided you weren’t worth losing her meal ticket over, and that was that.”

 

Corey snorted in amusement. “Have you ever considered writing fairy tales? Because that would make a great one.”

 

“You wound me,” Archie protested. “I thought it was the perfect answer to the mystery.”

 

“Not. I’d better get moving, and hope to hell the guys didn’t decide that since I wasn’t around to monitor them, they could skip out without cleaning the dorms.”

 

As he walked away, Corey shook his head morosely. It would be great if Archie were right. But he’s not. Whoever gave me the watch has no intention of stopping with just that. And for damned sure it isn’t the wife of one of the board members.