Gwen shoved aside the track her thoughts had taken as she pushed away from the railing. She’d been about to head back inside when a dark shadow shifted away from the side of the barn.
A spike of adrenaline shot through her bloodstream.
Her gaze immediately jetted to the same spot as it had earlier this morning when she’d thought she’d seen someone near the corral.
Nothing moved.
Not even the slight breeze left over from the earlier storm moved the blades of grass.
Had she been mistaken?
Was her imagination playing tricks on her?
The hairs on the back of her neck began to slowly rise, and the gradual heat that began to form on her skin told her that she was no longer alone.
Someone was out there…blending in with the shadows and standing as still as the night.
Gwen’s palm itched to hold a weapon, but she’d only just arrived into town yesterday. She hadn’t had time to follow the proper protocol to obtain her carry permit for her home state. Her firearm was back at her dad’s place, anyway. Becoming a civilian had been an adjustment, but the financial field wasn’t much of a breeding ground of criminal activity. She hadn’t had to carry a weapon on her side in a number of years.
That didn’t mean she would allow someone to trespass on her property.
Who would be stupid enough to do something so foolish in the midst of an ongoing murder investigation? And one that had to do with a serial killer stalking local women?
A damn reporter, that’s who.
Gwen almost called out to whomever was there. There wasn’t a damn bit of evidence he or she would find that could tie the Kendalls to this case any more than what had already been written in the press. Her brothers had spilled the beans about a redheaded reporter wrangling her way into conversations at the tavern.
What was her name?
Charlene something. Winster? Winter?
It finally clicked. Winston. Charlene Winston.
Well, little Miss Charlene had chosen the wrong Kendall, because Gwen didn’t have to abide by the rules that her brothers had been taught about women growing up. She’d knock the little debutante senseless for messing with the Kendalls.
Never taking her gaze off the area of the barn where she was ninety-nine percent certain the reporter was purposefully shrouding herself in the surrounding shadows, Gwen slowly set her pad of paper down on the railing. She then flipped the pen so that it fit into her hand more like an improvised weapon than a writing utensil.
Gwen purposefully relaxed her shoulders and began to walk back across the porch to where she could descend the three wooden steps. She forced herself to stop and pick up a large rock that was lying in the yard. She didn’t want to give away that she’d caught sight of the trespasser. She was just casually gearing up.
She tossed the hefty stone up with her left hand, only to catch it and do the action over and over again. She even stopped to glance back at the house as if she were just appreciating the gift she’d been given by her parents.
The piercing snap of a branch changed everything.
No lightweight woman could have caused such a heavy impact.
Gwen wasn’t dealing with a woman, and now she wasn’t so sure she was dealing with a random reporter in search of a story at her expense. She had no choice but to spin around, letting whoever was standing in the shadows know without a doubt that his or her presence had been detected.
Was it the man responsible for the mass grave the police had found on the bottom of the lake?
“Who’s there?” Gwen called out, forcing the tone of her voice to remain steady. She tightened her grip on the pen and dropped the rock so that she could have her other hand free if the situation called for hand-to-hand combat. “You’re trespassing on private property.”
In all conflicts, one individual always waited out the other to make the first move.
Gwen never took her gaze off the side of the barn, but she was mindful enough to keep enough of the old broken-down fence between her and her opponent. She kept herself on alert for any possible attack from behind, now truly not knowing what type of situation she was dealing with.
Was the individual alone?
“Show yourself,” Gwen called out sternly, taking a small step forward.
Something inherent that she’d relied on during her deployments told her to stop moving, so she once again came to a stop. Her eyesight couldn’t distinguish anything in the shadows, but he was there…waiting for her to make a mistake.
When she’d first come out of the house, the crickets and bullfrogs had been in competition to see who could chatter the loudest. There had even been an owl who’d made his voice known.
Now?
Even the wildlife seemed to sense the predator in their midst.
“The only choice you have is to—”
The rumble of an engine cut through the silence.
Within seconds, headlights sliced through the darkness and highlighted her position.
Damn it.
It was then that she heard the sound of heavy footsteps running deeper into the shadows to the stretch of woods in back of the property.
Whoever had been watching her was gone.
“Gwen?” Chad called out after having stepped out of his truck. He’d already shut off the engine, leaving a ringing sound behind as her hearing adjusted once again to the heavy silence. “What are you doing out here?”
Gwen bit back the accusation that he’d just allowed what could have been the killer to escape, but it wasn’t like she’d had the man cornered just yet. She swung her gaze back to the edge of the woods, but whomever was in the shadows was long gone. It wasn’t fair to take her frustration out on Chad.
“I was…” Gwen let her response drift away in the breeze that had chosen to return. What deep-seated fear had been hidden in this town for so long? She had promised herself that she wouldn’t get involved, but that choice seemed to have been taken out of her hands. “There was someone on the property. Chad, what are you doing out here at this time of night?”
Gwen hated that she sounded so suspicious, but there was no reason for him to be here now. She had to force her grip to loosen on the pen as she closed the distance between them, purposefully leaving a bit of space.
“I forgot my phone,” Chad said distractedly, not bothering to close the door on his truck. His gaze now fixed to where she’d been looking when he’d pulled into her drive. “What do you mean that someone was here? Someone was in the barn?”
“Next to it, standing in the shadows watching the house.” Gwen cleared her throat so that her voice remained steady. For some reason, she didn’t want Chad to view her as some helpless female in the face of some unnamed danger that she wasn’t even sure existed. “I was on the porch when I thought I saw someone out there.”
“And you thought it was a wise decision to confront whoever was stalking you?” The headlights on Chad’s truck had yet to shut off. He stepped in front of the beams, preventing her from seeing his expression. She didn’t need to, though. His concern and shock were evident. “Did you at least call Mitch?”
Gwen startled a bit when the headlights on the truck abruptly died. Her irritation rose, even though she understood it was an overreaction. She was mad at herself for putting herself in this position.
“No, I didn’t.” Gwen didn’t bother to look back over her shoulder, already accepting that whoever had been on the property was long gone, along with any chance of catching him. She began her trek back to the steps of the porch. “And for your information, I thought that maybe one of the reporters had decided to check out another Kendall property. They have no right to come out here and invade my privacy.”
Gwen didn’t wait to hear if he had any other questions. She quickly made her way onto the porch, where she took the time to retrieve the pad of paper she’d set on the railing. It was hard not to notice that the crickets had begun conversing now that the danger had passed. She wished it were that easy to go
back to her evening as if the past five minutes hadn’t happened.
“Gwen, stop for just a second.” Chad had quietly come up behind her, preventing her from walking back toward the door. The golden hue of the artificial light shining through the living room window highlighted his worried expression. “Please tell me what happened here tonight.”
Gwen wasn’t ready to relive that brief flash of terror that had flooded her system when she’d realized she wasn’t dealing with that woman reporter who’d been hounding her brothers for anything she could find in order to splash it across the front page of tomorrow’s paper.
So, Gwen did what she always did when pushed into a corner.
She went on the offensive and found herself immediately regretting the automatic reflex of lashing out.
“What did the federal agent want to speak to you about tonight, Chad? Do you know something that the rest of us don’t?”
Chapter Seven
Chad ran a hand over his face in exhaustion, having already dealt with enough people who obviously doubted his accounts of recent past events. He sure as hell didn’t need to take that crap from Gwen. She really didn’t know him, anyway. She hadn’t shown herself around Blyth Lake for over a decade, except for the occasional holiday visit—appearing one day and gone a few days later. She didn’t get to stand there in front of him like some holier than thou saint and all but accuse him of keeping some kind of important information from her.
“Chad, I’m—” He’d been about to head into the house, retrieve his phone, and drive back to his place in an attempt to put today behind him. Gwen stopped him, though. She wrapped her fingers softly around his wrist, bringing down his arm so that he was forced to turn and look her in the eye. “I’m sorry. I truly am. I’m on edge, and I seem to be taking it out on you for some strange reason. In case you missed it this morning with the various lists that I’ve been texting you over and over, I—”
It was then that Chad saw the pen and pad of paper in her other hand. Something had him reaching out to take the articles from her, which was when he saw the impression of the writing utensil in the white, bloodless palm of her hand.
She’d been scared. She’d been gripping the pen so hard that she’d left marks and now the adrenaline was leaving her body as she crashed.
“You’re getting better at this apology thing,” Chad muttered, drawing the smile he’d been hoping to see grace her lips. They were still the same red color as they’d been this morning, and he had to curb the instinct to see if he could rub off the lipstick. He’d already thought this through, and he needed to stay far away from her for more reasons than he could easily name. That didn’t mean they couldn’t be friendly. Not quite friends, but maybe something akin to neighbors or acquaintances. Hell, he could use a sounding board after the evening he’d had. “Come on. Let me grab my phone, and then we can head over to my place for a drink. I think we could both use three fingers of my old granddad’s sipping whiskey.”
Gwen didn’t argue, which told him either she was in desperate need of that drink or she just didn’t want to go home to her father and spill the details of what happened here tonight. Chad would see to it that Mitch was well aware of what occurred this evening. There wasn’t anything anyone could do tonight about some asshole trespassing on the property, but at least Mitch could keep an eye on things and put in some security cameras. A peeping tom would be much less likely to hang when there was a chance of being caught on camera.
Chad held the door open for Gwen, handing back the items he’d collected from her. She didn’t say a word as she walked toward the kitchen, her gaze being drawn to the two windows. He flipped on the light above the stairs before taking two steps at a time to reach the upper landing. Sure enough, his cell phone was sitting on one of the windowsills of the main bedroom.
There were quite a few messages from his dad, Wes, and a few other townsfolk checking in to make sure he was alright after Agent Thorne had all but demanded he speak with Chad this evening.
Chad would eventually get back to each and every one of them to signal the all clear. Right now, he needed to let Mitch know that someone had been on Gwen’s property. He created a short note, then hit the send button.
Another message came through before he could slide his phone into his pocket.
Irish.
Well, the man would have to wait.
Chad had been one of the few people in this town who’d given the recent stranger the benefit of a doubt.
And what did Chad get for his acceptance?
A fucking lawyer, of all things.
“Ready?” Chad asked, having made sure all the lights were turned off as he came downstairs. He probably should be grateful that he hadn’t had to hand over a month’s paycheck to a random stranger for being present during questioning that he’d answered numerous times before. As a matter of fact, he could pretty much recite his answers in his sleep. “Did you check the lock on the back door?”
Chad decided to keep his phone at the ready, because Mitch was sure to respond to the message that had been sent. Gwen was the man’s sister. There was no way in hell a deputy wouldn’t be out patrolling these grounds in the next ten minutes.
“Yes, it’s locked. Chad, why would someone be watching my house from the barn?” Gwen had come out of the kitchen with her purse strap slung over her shoulder. It was one of those oversized leather bags he’d seen the women around town carrying lately. It must be the latest fashion trend. “I arrived in town yesterday. I have nothing to do with this case, and didn’t that detective rule out a connection through the real estate deals my dad made? Why would someone be on my property watching me?”
She was referring to Detective Kendrick, who had indeed ruled out such a connection. That didn’t mean a mistake hadn’t been made. His last few hours had been spent answering questions for Agent Thorne. That special experience had Chad believing that everyone in town had been put back on the suspect list, as far as the FBI was concerned.
Harlan Whitmore was the town’s realtor, and he’d been at the tavern when Chad and Irish had left to go over to the station as directed. But had he remained there with his wife or had he taken her home and headed out here because of something he might have left behind when he had the place on the market?
No. Chad couldn’t bring himself to believe that someone he’d known his entire life could do something so horrid.
“We’ve known Harlan our entire lives,” Chad reminded Gwen as he glanced toward the two living room windows. The artificial overhead light was similar to that of a spotlight, making them sitting targets. It would be best for them to take this conversation elsewhere. “I don’t believe he has what it takes to abduct, kill, and leave fifteen bodies at the bottom of the lake, if you’re asking me. Listen, we should head out of here.”
Chad walked to the front door from his position at the bottom of the staircase. He was relieved when Gwen followed suit, removing her presence from in front of the far window. She’d mentioned that she thought it could have been a reporter, and he was hoping that she was right in that assumption.
Charlene Winston wasn’t the only reporter in town hoping to scope the story of a century. It could have been anyone out there in the dark near the barn. The police weren’t the only ones who believed the Kendalls were strategically connected to the murder investigation. Hell, discovering the killer’s gravesite had all but drawn the parasites like mosquitoes to a fresh source of blood.
He trusted that Mitch would get to the bottom of it, especially given that the matter involved his only sister fresh off the bus.
“The reason the police even looked at Clayton was because he did renovations in all the houses, right?” Gwen asked, though there was no accusation in her tone. It was just a well-reasoned question. It eased his concern that she lumped him in with his brother, even though she’d all but said so earlier today. “Does Clayton remember anything out of the ordinary back then? Was someone following him around?”
“
Wes and I were working on those properties, too. Neither of us recall anyone acting strange or seeing anything to indicate that Harlan or anyone else we hung around with was involved in something so sick and twisted.” Chad didn’t take the key ring that Gwen offered as they stepped out onto the porch. He used the key that Noah had given him, sliding it into the slot and ensuring that the deadbolt locked securely into place. “We’re assuming the person responsible is from here, but I’m still not convinced of that. It might be a regular tourist that comes here every year.”
Gwen hesitated from her spot on the porch, not following Chad down the wooden steps.
“Gwen?”
“I feel like I should stay.”
Gwen was more like her brothers than she’d care to admit. Noah and Jace had decided to stay at their places earlier than scheduled, due to the situations that each had encountered. It wasn’t a surprise that soon afterward they’d had state of the art security alarms installed in their homes.
“What? So you can sleep on the floor without a blanket or pillow?”
“I’ve slept with less comfort,” Gwen reminded him with a flash of that smile he was coming to really like. She gave a light shrug and finally followed in his footsteps. “You’re right. The house will be fine, especially given that you’ve already texted Mitch and his little army of deputies. Am I right?”
“What can I say? I had a responsibility. I actually texted both Mitch and Noah,” Chad confessed, walking Gwen to the driver’s side door of her Jeep. The wildlife in the field was having a party now that the predator was gone, with all sorts of bugs, insects, and rodents raising hell. They were in their element now, telling him that nothing was amiss. “It wouldn’t surprise me to find Noah camped out in the living room with a sleeping bag, shotgun, and a lantern come morning.”
“And leave Reese’s warm bed? Highly doubtful. Have you seen the way those two look at each other during daylight hours?” Gwen tossed her oversized bag over the steering wheel and into the passenger seat. He didn’t miss the not-so-casual glance over her shoulder toward the barn. “You offered me a drink. Are you still extending the invitation?”
Unlocking Shadows (Keys to Love, Book Four) Page 6