Ch. 34

The next day Randy went with Katelyn to her shop planning to help her out then break the news to Chris that they were moving in together. They were all smiles till Katelyn saw the back door to her shop was slightly open. Randy stopped her as she tried to go closer.

"The alarm should have gone off if someone broke in. I didn't get any calls from the alarm company," she said as Randy moved between her and the door.

"The lock is broken, call the police," Randy said gently pushing her towards the car. She started dialing while Randy inspected the door. He carefully pushed it open.

"Randy, don't you dare go in there," she yelled at him. Randy looked at her then at the shop a few times before walking back to her knowing if he went in she would be right behind him and could be in harm's way. He wrapped his arm around her trying to keep her calm as she talked to the dispatcher and her voice cracked a few times. "They are on the way," she said staring at the door. "Maybe one of the girls broke the lock last night when they closed up and forgot to set the alarm," she softly said hoping it wasn't a break in.

"Sweetheart, they would have called you if they broke it. Whatever the police find we will deal with it," he pulled her close trying to soothe her.

"I want to take a walk around front see if that door is messed up," she said as Randy nodded ok keeping a tight hold of her hand as they went around the front. She was relieved to see the front looked fine till her eyes were drawn to a few of the gowns in the front window. She felt the air being sucked out of her as she saw all the gowns covered with what looked like different colors of paint splatter. Her knees buckled as Randy caught her around the waist. "My dresses are destroyed." she sobbed holding onto him. Two police cars pulled up as Randy tried to settle her down.

"Let the police make sure the shop is safe then we will take a look maybe it isn't that bad maybe it's just the dresses in the window," he whispered against her ear as she nodded ok. He slowly let her go so he could go talk to the officers. She felt her heart pounding out of her chest as two officers went around to the back to go in and inspect the shop while two waited out front.

"Do you have the key for the front miss?" an officer asked as she reached into her pocket handing him the key. He unlocked the front door cautiously pushing it open. Katelyn felt Randy wrap his arms around her. She turned looking up into his eyes before breaking down against him. Randy didn't say a word just held her tight hoping the damage to her shop was minimal. Once the officers made sure there was no one still in the shop, one of them came over to Randy and Katelyn.

"It's definitely a break in. We will do everything we can to find out who is responsible. One of the detectives will be here shortly. I will let you in to see the damage but please do not touch anything," the officer looked at both Randy and Katelyn as the nodded in agreement. "Follow me please."

Katelyn death gripped Randy's hand as they stepped inside. She saw the area around the register was left untouched then her eyes fell on her showroom. A cry escaped her lips as she looked at all the dresses covered in paint with spray can bottles tossed all over the floor.

"They are all ruined," she trembled scanning the damage as she slowly walked towards the back. She saw one of the storage closets torn open with supplies thrown all over the floor. "Oh no!" she exclaimed seeing someone had cut up and sprayed painted the dresses that were supposed to be picked up over the next few weeks. Randy grabbed her around the waist not liking how much she was trembling and shaking as her crying grew louder. He felt powerless once again like he did when her home caught fire. "How will I explain to my clients their wedding dresses and bridal party dresses are destroyed," she cried out looking towards her office, work room and the other storage room seeing they were all shut. "Can we check if there is any damage in those rooms?" she asked the officer.

"Are the keys for them with your front door key?" he asked as she nodded yes. He went and grabbed the keys from the officer opening each door one by one. She was relieved to see they were exactly how she had left them.

"At least not everything is destroyed," she softly said looking around again. She kept hoping it was just a bad nightmare and she would wake up from it.

"This is Detective Harris, he will be handling things," the officer introduced them to the brown haired tall husky man looking to be in his late 40s that walked into the shop.

"Do you two mind stepping outside so we can finish the investigation and I can ask a few questions?" the detective asked as they agreed following him outside.

"We will answer whatever you want but you need to track down and arrest Wade Barrett right now. He did this," Randy said staring at the detective.

"Who is he and why would he do this?" the detective asked.

"He is Katelyn's ex-boyfriend. They had a bad breakup. Since they broke up her house has gone up in flames, someone tried to sabotage her business, and now this. He has every reason to want to ruin her life right now," Randy tried to keep his anger under control but it was brewing over into his voice.

"Ok, I will track him down. Anyone else you can think of that might have a grudge against you?" the detective asked looking at Katelyn as she shook her head no. "How about you?" he shifted his stare to Randy.

"I have pissed off a lot of people in my lifetime but no one I can think of that would go after my girlfriend to hurt me."

"Well if you think of anyone else call me," the detective handed Randy his card. "I will get to the bottom of this and be in touch. I will let you know when we are done here and you can freely move around your shop. I'll be back." He disappeared back into the shop leaving Randy and Katelyn on the front sidewalk. Katelyn looked thru the window again seeing the dresses thinking of all the damage and all the heart wrenching calls she was going to have to make. Her knees buckled beneath her as Randy caught her sinking to the ground cradling her.

"Katy, I promise everything is going to be ok. We will fix this," he tried to reassure as she kept shaking her head no feeling in her heart that her life was shattering into a million pieces and there was no way to stop it.