“Call me the second you find her.”
“You got it.”
I hung up and stood there with the phone in my hand.
Inventory could wait.
Everything could wait.
I grabbed my keys, shoved my phone into my pocket, and headed for the door. I checked to make sure the front sign said closed, killed the back lights, and locked up behind me.
Main Street was starting to wake up. Cars rolled past. A woman pushed a stroller down the opposite sidewalk. Two older guys stood outside the hardware store arguing about something that probably didn’t matter.
Normal.
I crossed the street, my boots hitting the pavement hard. A feeling of dread hit me when I opened the door to Scoop & Swirl. It took a second for my eyes to adjust, and when they did, my entire world stopped.
Brandi had Josie backed against the wall with the giant mural. She had a knife pressed to Josie’s throat and her back was to me.
My blood went cold.
Josie’s eyes snapped to mine and I saw pure terror.
Her hands were held out slightly, palms open, like she was trying not to move too fast. Her face had lost all color, and a thin red line marked the side of her neck where the blade had already nicked her.
I wanted to kill Brandi. The thought was immediate.
Clean. Simple.
But wanting it and doing it were two different things.
If I moved wrong, Josie paid for it.
So I shut everything down. The rage. The fear. The instinct to charge. I locked it all behind my teeth and made my voice calm. “Brandi.”
Her head jerked toward me.
The knife stayed at Josie’s throat and Josie flinched.
My hands curled into fists at my sides, but I didn’t move.
Brandi smiled. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t flirty. It was cracked. Like something inside her had snapped and whatever was left didn’t understand how bad this was. “Rome.”
“What are you doing?”
She laughed softly. “What does it look like?”
“It looks like you’re making a mistake.”
Her eyes flashed. “No. No, I already made the mistake. I waited too long. I let her get in your head.”
Josie swallowed and the blade moved with her. I saw the red mark deepen and my heart slammed against my ribs.
“Brandi,” I said, keeping my voice low. “Move the knife.”
“No.”
“Move it.”
