Seeds of Deception by Sheila Connolly

disturbed?”
    â€œâ€˜Disturbed’ is kind of a relative term, Meg. I know I’ve always laughed when I’ve seen this kind of thing on a television show, but it felt as though someone had been in the house. Not Enrique—he was always very respectful of the place, and he rarely came past the kitchen, where I’d offer him something to drink. But I had the sense that someone had walked through, touching things, moving them half an inch this way or that. I know; it sounds paranoid. I’ll admit your father and I were tired after a day’s drive, and already keyed up because of the problems with the car, so it’s possible that I could have been imagining things. That’s why I haven’t mentioned it to your father. There’s nothing I can put a finger on, but something feels wrong.”
    â€œI suppose you haven’t checked all your paper or computer files, to be sure nothing is missing?” Seth said.
    â€œNo, of course not. I probably wouldn’t even know what I was looking for. Phillip keeps his work files at his office, so they’re safe.”
    â€œAn intruder might not know that,” Meg pointed out.
    â€œTrue, but there’s no way I can sort that out.”
    â€œWhat if this person wanted to leave something
in
the house, rather than remove it?” Seth asked.
    â€œYou mean, like a camera, or a recording device? Or a bomb? Incriminating evidence? What? Seth, if you’re trying to help, so far all you’ve done is make me feel more upset.”
    â€œI apologize, Elizabeth. I don’t want to do that. If you’reright about someone being in the house, and I’m not doubting your word, there had to have been a reason. And if it’s true, it shifts the focus to you and Phillip rather than Enrique. Once this person got in, Enrique was an inconvenience, not a target. But maybe this person wanted no more than to walk through your home and lay hands on your possessions. Which implies that it wasn’t about the money, because I assume you have jewelry and other items that he could have taken and sold easily enough.”
    â€œWe do, but nothing extremely valuable.”
    â€œSomeone looking for money for his next fix wouldn’t care—anything he could sell would do.”
    Meg laid a hand on his arm. “Seth, a junkie wouldn’t have had the patience to plan and execute this so carefully. He’d be more likely to smash things and run.”
    â€œGood point. But say someone chose this house for a reason, and planned ahead. Maybe he slipped in behind Enrique and waited until he was gone, but Enrique forgot something and came back unexpectedly and messed up all his planning. And he had to be silenced.”
    They were quiet for a minute or more, each lost in their own thoughts, sipping the cooling tea.
    Meg didn’t have any reason to doubt her mother’s observations. She knew Elizabeth was meticulous about what she displayed and where she placed it, so if something had been disturbed she would have known, consciously or maybe subconsciously. But for someone to break in and not take anything was just plain creepy. An underwear-sniffer, maybe? Had Elizabeth inventoried her underwear drawer? Meg wasn’t about to ask such an absurd question. How about someone scoping the place out for a later heist? But she had to admit her mother was right: she had nicethings but none that were particularly valuable or rare. Surely there were better targets if someone was going to go to the trouble to plan a burglary.
    Planting a listening device or a motion-activated camera? Possible, but why? There was nothing about Elizabeth’s life that the world couldn’t or shouldn’t see. Which left her father. How much did she really know about what her father did? Who he represented? He’d always been careful about drawing the line: his clients and anything pertaining to them stayed at work. He never talked about his