Liam:You got it. I’ll let you know what I find.
Me:Call Pops. Have him come stay so Violet can leave. I don’t want the girls there anymore. Especially one carrying my niece or nephew.
Liam:Already planned on it.
I approach my exit in half the time, ready to get home. From there, I throw on the sirens again to make it home faster but shut everything off when I get close so that I don’t scare Sophia.
Leaving my cruiser haphazardly in the driveway, I meet Liam by the garage.
“Did you find anything?” I ask him.
“Nope. All quiet here. Kane called too. None of the sensors have been going off, so if he’s here, he’s not here-here.”
“I guess that’s good. Did he say anything else?” I pull out my phone, getting ready to call Chief.
“Just to give him a call when you can. He’s still at the station.”
Nodding, I dial Chief’s number.
“Keaton. Are you home?” he answers gruffly.
“Just got here. Liam said there’s been nothing going on here. What did you and Kane find out?”
“That he’s remoting into the system from somewhere. I don’t know how or from where though. So we can’t rule out that he’s here in Balsam Cliffs.”
Running my hand through my hair and pacing back and forth isn’t helping to settle my nerves.
“I’m going to go in and check on Sophia. What’s our plan?” I ask.
“Kane is going to keep trying to find where he’s coming in from and hoping that it’s not near here. But we have to be careful. He very well could be operating from one of the old hunting cabins near your property. I think we should check those out. I’ll call Old Man Robinson to get permission.”
“Sounds good. Let me know, and I’ll be here to go with you. Do you think we should bring someone else in? I don’t really trust Adam yet to bring him into this.” I’d never thought about it until now, but Adam transferred into the department right before Sophia showed up, and hehashad an uncanny infatuation with me and the systems we use to keep the town running. If you add to that his dating Tiff? Nope, don’t trust it.
“Now that I think about it, it’s suspicious that he got transferred here around the same time, Chief.”
“Let’s call in Stoll. For all we know, the drugs and Hugh Chiave are connected.”
I nod my head before realizing he can’t see me processing the situation. “Yeah, sounds good. I’ll be here when you two are ready.”
“Yup. I’ll let ya know.”
Clicking my phone off, I slip it back into my pocket and head inside to find Sophia sitting on the couch with Dad, looking at old photo albums and giggling.
“Hey, son.”
“Hey, Pops. Thanks for coming by.” I hug him when he stands and comes over to me.
“Of course. Call me when you need me. I’m going out to talk to Liam.” He slips on his shoes and goes out the door.
“What are you doing back already?” Sophia looks up at me from her spot on the couch.
“We need to talk.” Slipping off my boots, I sit next to her and pull her into my lap.
“He did something else didn’t he?” Her face drops. “He’s the reason Violet had to leave because he’s close.”
None of that is a question from her. Just her life continued.
“We don’t know where he is. We sent Violet home out of precaution. But he hacked into the department’s signage.”
