Colby Velocity by Debra Webb

think the cops are buying it, either.” He slowed for another turn, this one right. “Not for real. If they are, then they’re not too bright.”
    Kendra turned in her seat to study him. “What did you see in the other rooms besides Yoni’s lack of decorating skills?”
    She had that part right. “I’m guessing he ate out a lot.”
    She smiled, her expression—her eyes—distant. Rocky’s throat tightened. The smile hadn’t been for him but he’d liked it a lot all the same. “He ate out and with his parents. Cooking was not one of his fortes.”
    â€œNo beer or hard stuff, either.”
    â€œFocused and unusually straitlaced.”
    Rocky felt a twinge of sympathy for the parents. They had raised a good, hardworking son it seemed and this happened to him. Not fair. Not fair at all.
    â€œWhat about his bedroom?”
    â€œNow there,” Rocky made another slow turn, “is where things got interesting.” He rolled carefully past a house where children played kick ball in the yard. “Sayar’s wallet and computer were missing. But not the thirty-two-inch flat-panel television in his bedroom. An MP3 player lay right on the bed side table in plain sight. No cheapo, either. This was one of the high-dollar jobs. And if that isn’t enough to convince you this was no robbery, forty bucks was next to the MP3 player.”
    â€œI knew Wayne was holding out on me.” Kendra shook her head, her lips compressed in a firm line.
    â€œThat’s his job,” Rocky offered. He had no ideawhy he felt compelled to defend the guy, but it was a reasonable explanation.
    Kendra opened her mouth to argue, but then snapped it shut.
    Didn’t take a mind reader to know what she’d started to say. She had expected more from her former lover. Maybe the two had been a lot closer than Rocky had suspected.
    â€œI suppose the burglar could have been interrupted by Yoni’s return before he made it to the second floor,” Kendra suggested, playing devil’s advocate.
    â€œPossibly,” Rocky agreed. “But if he had that much notice that Sayar was coming, why not run out the back door and avoid the whole confrontation?”
    â€œExactly,” Kendra agreed.
    No way it was a robbery.
    â€œThere’s an alley between the rows of town houses,” Kendra said, “take the one directly behind Yoni’s side of the street.”
    Rocky doubled back, then maneuvered down the narrow alley, careful of the garbage cans and bicycles. Each town house had a privacy fenced patio area and a parking pad designed for two vehicles.
    â€œThat’s Yoni’s car.” Kendra pointed to the next parking pad on the left.
    Rocky pulled in beside the small green hybrid. “He must have taken a taxi to the airport and thenback.” Otherwise he would have entered his home from the back door.”
    â€œMakes sense.”
    Kendra was out of the car as soon as Rocky had shifted into Park. As he emerged from the vehicle she lifted the latch on the gate and disappeared behind the eight-foot dog-eared fence.
    Rocky scanned the alley. A cat pilfered through an open garbage can a few houses down. Otherwise the alley was quiet and vacant.
    Satisfied that Burton or one of his buddies wasn’t going to show up and arrest them for breaking and entering, Rocky stepped through the gate she’d left standing open. He’d expected to find her moving patio chairs or prowling through the two shrubs flanking either side of the steps leading to the back door.
    He hadn’t anticipated finding her dismantling the barbecue grill. She’d opened the lid, removed the rack and was digging through the mound of unused charcoal.
    Rocky was just about to ask her what she hoped to find when she produced a large zip plastic bag. Inside was a square boxlike device.
    Kendra turned to him with victory on her lips. “Yoni’s external hard