Then her mind began to skim through the headlines she’d read over the years ... about the Russian sleeper spies who’d spent years pretending to be a normal suburban family, until they were arrested by the FBI ... or the double agent who left messages for his Soviet handlers while walking his dogs in a Northern Virginia park. Or the Cuban spies who passed stolen documents to their handlers at a Safeway in Georgetown.
Things like this didn’t happen at home in rural Minnesota—as far as she knew—but things like thisdidactually happen out here.
Kiersten closed her eyes and forced her mind open, wide open, pushing herself to really consider the possibility that a dangerous person was targeting her neighbor.
What if Piper’s fears were real? What if Piperwasn’tparanoid?
“But why would someone go to all this trouble to do something so mean?” Kiersten asked.
“Because they’re crazy.” Piper shrugged. “And crazy people do crazy things. Something even creepier showed up on my doorstep this afternoon.”
“What could be worse than Madagascar hissing cockroaches?” Kiersten asked, dread slinking up her spine.
“A man with handcuffs, an ostrich feather, and a bag full of sex toys.”
Kiersten’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
Piper explained what had happened that afternoon.
Kiersten gasped. “Asex manshowed up on your doorstep?”
“That’s right.”
“Is that a . . . thing?”
“Apparently.”
“Is that why you now have a puppy the size of a Shetland pony?” She gestured to Piper’s backyard, where a chocolate brown puppy chased the girls around the swing set.
“Yeah. I just feel better having an extra set of ears in the house when Brendan is out of town.”
Kiersten tossed the package of cookies onto the coffee table. Maybe the sugar rush was clouding her judgment. “Maybe ... maybe this Hawkeye Slaughter guy is just trying to scare you. Maybe he has no intention of hurting anyone.”
The corner of Piper’s mouth curved in a faint smile. “Because most people are good?”
Kiersten’s mind wrestled with the dichotomy presenting itself here. People could be angry, rude, impatient, and petty, but in her experience, most people were decent and kind.
Then her mind traveled back to Dottie’s wedding announcement—if everything she’d just read in the library was accurate, then one of her neighbors was truly evil.
“Maybe he’s ... Hawkeye the Kindly Stalker?” she asked tentatively.
Piper shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Maybe he’s just . . . lonely?”
“He’s probably very lonely,” Piper conceded. “But I don’t think inviting him over for hotdish is going to solve his many problems.”
“You can move in with us,” she said impulsively, squeezing Piper’s hand. “We’ll protect you.”
“With what? Dairy products?”
Kiersten’s face broke into a smile. “I could kill him with Midwestern kindness.”
“You could build a lethal hotdish bomb using nothing but cream of mushroom soup and your bare hands.”
“I’m serious,” she said. “Stay with us when Brendan travels. Until this ... situation settles down. At least until they find this Hawkeye person.”
Piper took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I’ll talk to my old boss again and see what they can do, though I suspect the answer is nothing. I’ll talk to Brendan and see if he can ease up on his travel for the next few weeks. He gets paid to protect diplomats from bad guys. He’s more than capable of protecting his own family. And I’m more than capable of protecting my family too. But I’d feel better if he were home more often.”
