The reply came quickly enough to make my heart skip.
Matt: Didn’t find anything obvious. Nothing tampered with, nothing moved. I even tried every door and lock. You’ll be okay.
I exhaled, the tension in my shoulders easing just a little.
Then another message:
Matt: Even though I didn’t find anything. I’m still worried. Don’t argue. You don’t want to stay with me, that’s okay. I understand. Levi will be there to keep an eye on things.
Matt was stubborn. Relentless when he liked someone. Protective when he loved someone. And he wasn’t wrong to be concerned.
Me: Okay. Thanks. I appreciate it.
Matt: Next time I come over, I want to listen to the podcast from that night.
Me: I don’t see the point. I told you everything. But, okay.
I flipped on the lamp near the couch. The light filled the room, and for the first time in hours, I let myself think about sleep. I locked the door, set my phone on the nightstand, then changed into an oversized T-shirt. Through the thin wall, I heard the soft scrape of gravel. The low murmur of Levi’s voice was followed by the metallic click of something being adjusted. The door of the camping trailer opened. Closed. Opened again.
He was still out there.
Still setting things up.
Still here. For me.
I crossed to the bedroom window and pushed the curtain back just enough to see the edge of his trailer. The light inside glowed warm against the dark. Close enough that if we both opened our windows, we could talk without raising our voices. Close enough that we could climb through and be in each other’s beds. The thought should’ve made me nervous. Instead, it settled something deep in my chest.
Matt had said Levi volunteered. That he didn’t need details, just the direction. That he trusted him. I trusted him, too. More than I wanted to unpack right now.
I got ready for bed then slid in, pulling the covers up to my chin. It was early, and I hadn’t eaten dinner, but I was exhausted. Outside, Levi’s footsteps shifted again. Then quiet.
A door shutting.
A pause.
And then nothing but the steady hum of Riverside Pines at night.
I stared at the ceiling for a moment, waiting for my mind to do what it had done the last few nights—spin, replay, question, imagine worst-case scenarios.
Instead, I listened to the faint sound of his trailer settling. To the low rumble of his voice, maybe on the phone, maybe just clearing his throat. To the comfort of knowing that if something moved outside, it wouldn’t just be me hearing it.
It was ridiculous that this—him being ten feet away—made the difference. But it did. I turned onto my side, facing the wall that separated us.
“Goodnight,” I whispered, even though he couldn’t hear me.
Or maybe he could.
The last thing I registered before sleep finally pulled me under, was the steady glow of his light through the crack in my curtains.
Chapter 15
Becca
“I’m not live. I’m on my stupid voice note app. I just needed to talk it through. Sometimes hearing your own voice reminds you that everything’s still under control.”
Matt had shown up the next morning before I’d finished my first cup of coffee. Apparently, he’d already decided something was wrong and was working backward from that conclusion.
He stood at my tiny kitchen counter, one hand braced against it, staring at my laptop screen as if he could will the missing file back into existence. The light through the window hit the side of his face, catching the crease between his brows. He looked less like my brother and more like a cop trying to build a case out of air.
