by Jane Godman
When darkness fell, this part of the park changed. Teenagers came down here to drink and make out. There had been a campaign in the Mustang Valley Times to get the park gates locked at night, but it hadn’t gotten any momentum.
Maybe she should call someone. Suzie would bring the dogs over to help protect her. But that would mean explaining things to Suzie... Probably she should call Spencer. But he would take over, would try to talk her out of this meeting. She needed to hear what this mystery caller had to say about Eliza. That was the most important thing.
Lost in her thoughts, she gradually became aware that someone was watching her. A young woman clad in jeans and a lightweight sweater was standing across the other side of the slide area. She had dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. Her face pale, she appeared poised to run at any second.
Katrina got to her feet and walked toward her. “Hi. I’m Katrina Perry. Are you the person who called me?”
The other woman gulped, then nodded. “I’m Christie Foster.”
“Shall we sit down?” Katrina indicated the bench. Together they walked across the playground and sat down. “Thank you for meeting me, Christie.”
“I wanted to do it sooner. It’s just difficult, you know?”
“Can you explain why?” Katrina was concerned at the other woman’s manner. She reminded her of a bird, her jerky movements making her seem as though she was constantly ready for flight.
Christie ducked her head, then cast a quick glance around. “Because of what happened to Eliza. If anyone knew I was here, talking to you...” She pressed a hand to her lips. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”
Getting to her feet, she ran off in the direction of the park gates. Katrina started after her, calling out her name.
“Leave me alone!” Christie’s echoing cry was like that of a wounded animal.
Torn between the need to know more about her sister’s fate and Christie’s obvious distress, Katrina let her go. What had just happened here? Christie was the one who had called her, yet within minutes, she’d run off. Torn between annoyance, frustration and sympathy, she dug her hands into her pockets and bowed her head.
At least she had a name and the number from where Christie had called her. What the other woman had told her made it obvious that something bad had happened to Eliza. It was also clear that Christie feared the same fate.
First Helen. Now Christie. It must be enough for the police to investigate the AAG further.
By the time she reached her house, Katrina’s whole body was aching, as though tension had pulled every muscle a little too tight. She needed dinner—and since she hadn’t gotten any groceries, that meant takeout—a hot bath and a good night’s sleep. She got out of the car and stretched her arms above her head, then she headed toward the front steps. As she drew nearer, though, panic hit like a bucket of ice-cold water.
Her little house looked the same as ever, except for one key detail. The front door was hanging wide open, marks scarring its wooden surface as though someone had repeatedly kicked it. In the center, there was a white piece of paper, secured in place with tape. A message was scrawled on it in black felt pen.
From the yard, she could hear the sound of furious barking. Her mind registered that the dogs were angry but safe. With a pounding heart, she drew closer. Remaining poised to run, she read the words.
Stop poking your nose where it’s not wanted, or next time your dogs will get steaks with antifreeze for dinner.
Chapter 6
By the time he left the hospital, Spencer was undecided whether to drive over to Katrina’s place or leave it until the following day. His mood was already low after the failure of the sting, and his feelings about Katrina were confused.
From the first moment he met her, he’d experienced an instant attraction. Even though she had the ability to infuriate him, that pull had continued to grow. But, alongside the developing warmth, alarm bells rang when he thought about Micheline Anderson’s warning. If Eliza was unsteady and attention seeking, wasn’t it possible her sister had similar traits?
When Billie died, grief had caused him to lose some of his inner strength, and to shut down his feelings. He still did his job with the same expertise, and, until now, he’d never been unsure of his ability to judge the people he’d encountered. But he’d never come across anyone quite like Katrina...
It troubled him that he had no real evidence besides her word that she had been targeted. Her friend had been in the yard when Katrina had entered the house and told Suzie there was a man in the kitchen. When he’d asked how the intruder had gotten in, she’d talked vaguely about an open window. Then there had been the guy who’d followed her in the park. Had that really happened, or had she imagined it? Could it even have been another trick to get his attention?
Spencer had been there when the car mounted the sidewalk and almost plowed into her. But he hadn’t been satisfied that the driver intended to hit her, or even warn her. After his meeting with Aidan Hannant, he was even less convinced.
Katrina seemed to feel that the Affirmation Alliance Group was connected to her sister’s disappearance. Or at least that someone in the organization was involved in a cover-up. He reviewed the possibilities. First, there was a chance she could be right. But even if Eliza had encountered a problem during her time at the AAG ranch, why would the group’s leadership, including Micheline, hide the issue? Surely, a socially responsible enterprise like theirs would want to assist if a crime had been committed.
That led him to the second option. Leigh Dennings had suggested that, prior to her departure from the AAG ranch, Eliza had appeared strung out. She’d implied that there were similarities to Katrina’s own behavior. With their intense attitudes, the AAG members, particularly Randall and Bart, with their tough-guy act, were a little hard to take. It was possible that Katrina was simply overreacting.
Then there was the possibility that Katrina was right to be worried, but that the AAG was not the problem. Eliza could be in serious trouble and, as a result, Katrina might be the target of the same unknown aggressor. If that was the case, Spencer needed to investigate further.
Finally, there was the option he didn’t want to consider. What if the hint Micheline had dropped was correct? What if Katrina had made up all of this? He had no clue what her motive might be. Perhaps she was simply looking for attention.
But that would be one hell of a coincidence. And Spencer didn’t believe in those. Experience had taught him that if there appeared to be a connection between events, there probably was. The simple truth was that victims of crime generally didn’t lie.
These thoughts were going through his head as he drove from the hospital to the police station to collect Boris. As he pulled up in the parking lot, his cell phone buzzed. He alighted from his vehicle and checked the caller display. It was Katrina.
“Hi—” He didn’t get a chance to say anything else.
“Someone has broken into my house.” Her voice was so shaky he barely recognized it. “And left a note threatening to kill my dogs.”
“I’m on my way.”
Sprinting across the parking lot, he crossed to the side of the building where Boris’s kennel was located. He unlocked the cage door and gave the dog one of his favorite treats. Calling Boris to heel, he headed back to his vehicle and was soon on the road toward Katrina’s house.
His mind raced as he drove. What would he find when he got to her place?? For the first time since Billie’s death, he was attracted to another woman... And someone was trying to kill her! Or were they? He had no idea who Katrina really was.
When he reached her house, she was sitting on the front steps with Dobby on one side and Holly on the other. A quick look at her face told him she was either genuinely scared, or she was playing her part well.
What was it Micheline had said? Not all actors are on the stage.
As he approached, Katrina lif
ted a tearstained face to his. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
And in that instant, all of his suspicions disappeared. Her dogs bounded forward to greet Boris and Spencer sat next to her. When he placed a comforting arm around her shoulders, she leaned against him with a sigh.
“I haven’t been inside. I was too scared.”
“Do you want me to take a look? Or shall we go together?” he asked.
“I’ll be okay if you’re with me.” She tilted her chin and some of her usual determination returned. “I won’t let them beat me.”
“Them?” He stood, then reached out a hand to help her to her feet.
“The AAG.” She clicked her fingers to Holly and Dobby and the two dogs ran to her side. Boris trotted obediently to Spencer’s heels and, as a group, they mounted the steps to the porch. Katrina cast a sidelong glance in Spencer’s direction. “They sent someone to threaten me yesterday.”
“What?” Aware that the word had cracked out like a whiplash, he tried for a calmer tone. “Where and when did this happen?”
“A guy came to Look Who’s Walking pretending to be a client. He told me that the car was a warning and that I needed to stay out of things that don’t concern me.”
“Did anyone else witness this?”
“Suzie saw him, and the security cameras will have picked up his arrival. I wasn’t there when he arrived, so Suzie asked him to wait in the office. But I was alone with him when he threatened me.” She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know much about these things, but thugs don’t usually make threats in front of an audience, do they? Naturally, he made sure we were alone.”
How was he supposed to respond to that? He couldn’t tell her the truth. That he was hoping another person had overheard so that he could finally put to rest a nagging suspicion...
“Anyway, he told me his name,” Katrina continued.
“He did what?” Spencer frowned. Readily identifying themselves to a potential victim wasn’t generally in the criminal handbook.
“He told me his name was Aidan Hannant. He said he hadn’t planned to hit me with his car.” She shivered slightly. “Not this time.” Catching a glimpse of his expression, she frowned. “What is it? What have I said?”
“When did this happen?”
“Lunchtime. Just after I left you.”
Spencer’s mind was racing. None of this made sense. Why would Aidan Hannant threaten Katrina, then go to the police station and confess that he was the person driving the car? Unless Katrina wasn’t being honest. But even if she was making up the story of the threats, how could she have known Hannant’s name and that he was the driver of the car?
“When he threatened you, did this guy tell you he was from the AAG?” Spencer asked.
She paused, her expression thoughtful. “No. Now that I think about it, he didn’t. But why else would he give me that warning?”
“There could be any number of reasons. He could be working for a client you’ve angered. It could be something to do with Eliza.” Her eyes widened and he quickly hurried on. “Or maybe he’s a stranger who saw you in the store one day and didn’t like the way you looked at him. Sometimes these things don’t need a reason. For now, let’s go inside the house. We’ll come back to Hannant later.”
He turned his attention to the door, which looked like it had been given a few good, hard kicks. The wooden boards had splintered under the strain and the hinges had given way, leaving the door hanging from its frame. Katrina pointed to the note that was taped to the center panel.
“See? Another threat.”
“Did you touch anything?” Spencer asked.
She shook her head so hard her ponytail swung wildly from side to side. “No way. I got close enough to read what that said, then I backed away and called you.”
Instructing the dogs to stay, Spencer moved closer. What he saw when he looked inside the house made his blood run cold. Katrina’s neat living room had been trashed. Every item of furniture had been flipped over. Cushions and throws had been torn. Vases and mirrors had been smashed. Paint had been sprayed over her pastel walls. The place was an unrecognizable mess.
And yet, as Katrina placed a hand on his arm and peeked over his shoulder at the devastation, the doubts persisted. Could she have done this herself?
“Oh, no.” She lifted a hand to her lips, the tears that filled her eyes quickly brimming over. “What am I going to do?”
“You don’t need to do anything.” There was one obvious way to silence his suspicions and get her the protection she needed. Only time would tell whether that protection turned out to be from herself or an external force.
“I don’t understand.” A frown furrowed her smooth forehead.
“I’m moving in.”
* * *
Katrina faced Spencer with her hands on her hips. “You can’t just move yourself and your dog into my house. We need to talk about this.”
Although Katrina’s fiercely independent streak had kicked in, part of her was wondering why she was raising an objection. Surely, a handsome cop and his canine companion living with her while she was being threatened would be a good thing. Spencer had checked the rest of the house while she waited on the front doorstep. Although the intruders hadn’t touched any of the other rooms, the damage they’d done to her living room was bad enough. She crossed her arms over her body as she surveyed the scene, a sick feeling starting low in her stomach.
“You can stay at my place instead, if you want. But the yard isn’t really big enough for three dogs.” Without waiting for her reply, he stepped onto the porch with his cell phone in his hand. A few moments later, he was deep in a conversation about fingerprints and handwriting analysis.
Sighing, Katrina took another look at the destruction that had once been her living room. Since Spencer had told her not to touch anything, she backed away carefully from the door and collected the dogs, then led them around the side of the house to the yard.
After spending about ten minutes encouraging Holly and Dobby to use the training equipment, while Boris watched her with interest but declined to join in, she took a seat on her favorite bench and left the three of them to indulge in a little canine free play. As always, her fingers strayed to her cell phone. She’d restricted herself to three calls a day to Eliza’s number. Morning, midday and night. Anything else would be obsessive. Even though she had never gotten an answer, giving up on her sister would feel wrong.
Instead of calling Eliza, she sent a message to Suzie. She wanted to let her assistant know about the break-in. Doing it without causing Suzie to storm out of her date to come and check what was going on. It was a tricky balancing act. When her phone rang minutes after she’d sent the message, she wasn’t sure she’d succeeded.
“I’m on my way over.” Suzie sounded like a woman who wasn’t going to take “no” for an answer.
“You don’t need to do that. Sergeant Colton is here.”
Suzie gave a snort. “You need your friends more than you need the police.” Katrina decided now was probably not the best time to mention that Spencer might also be moving in. “You think this was the same guy who was in your kitchen the other day?”
“I don’t know.” Katrina’s mind refused to process that line of questioning. It was as though her thoughts couldn’t connect and were bouncing around in random directions. “All I know is that my living room looks like a herd of cattle stampeded through it.”
“Hold on a second.” Suzie engaged in a muffled conversation before continuing. “Rusty said don’t worry. He’ll be over tomorrow morning with his brothers to help repair the damage.”
For a second or two, Katrina’s throat tightened so much she couldn’t talk. At some point, Suzie had stepped up from friend to family, becoming the sister Eliza had never been. It was a sweet feeling, but also a painful reminder of all the things her life had been missing. When she d
id speak, her voice was husky. “Tell Rusty thanks.”
“What’s the point of four grown men sitting around a hardware store all day?” Suzie’s voice was breezy. “One of them can take care of the business while the other three come and straighten out your place. Now, are you sure you don’t want me to keep you company tonight?”
“No. By the time the police have finished up, it’ll be late. I’ll see you at work in the morning.”
It took a few more minutes to convince Suzie that she would be okay. By the time she ended the call, Katrina felt more tired than ever. When she looked up, Spencer was leaning against one of the fence posts, watching her. Although his expression was neutral, his eyes were shadowed.
“Are you okay?” He shook his head. “Stupid question.”
She scrubbed a hand over her eyes. Somehow, the concern in his voice made her feel more vulnerable. “I, uh...” She searched for a distraction. “I just spoke to Suzie. Her boyfriend is Rusty Linehan. You know, from Linehan’s Hardware Store? He’s coming over tomorrow with some of his brothers to try to straighten the place out.” She frowned. “If that’s okay.”
He came to sit next to her. “It’ll be fine. My colleagues are on their way now to take fingerprints and take crime-scene photographs. Once those things are done, we can start to clean up.”
We. She sneaked a look at him from beneath her lashes. “Did you mean what you said? About moving in?”
“Yeah.” He leaned back, stretched his long legs and crossed his booted ankles. “I know a strange guy sleeping in your spare room is not what you signed up for when you reported Eliza missing, but we need to find out what’s going on here.”