Page 236 of Secrets Hidden In The Glass

“I need to let you go so Shawn and I can sweep the house. I’m here. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“Okay.” She kept her phone at her ear with her shoulder, even after Nate disconnected. Time ticked by—perhaps in minutes or maybe hours—before she finally heard his voice. “Callie.” He knocked on the door. “Callie, it’s me. You can let me in.”

She fought to breathe as she hurried forward, twisting the lock on the knob.

“Callie.” He rushed in, grabbing the gun from her hand and setting it on the dresser as he yanked her against him. “My God, Callie.”

She touched his hair then his cheeks. “You’re all right.”

“I’m fine.”

She couldn’t stop shaking any more than she could stop her tears as she gripped him tight, breathing him in. “I thought they were going to hurt you.”

“It’s okay now. Everything’s okay.”

She felt his heart hammering against her cheek as he slid an unsteady hand through her hair, trying to comfort her. Nothing was okay and they both knew it.

~~~~

Nate clutched Callie in his arms as two more cars raced down the lane with their lights blazing—Mac and Denny hurrying to the scene. Less than a ten-minute response time from his deputies who hadn’t been on duty. Ten minutes that had passed in a million lifetimes while he drove to the house and checked each room for their perpetrator, unable to get to Callie. “You’re all right?” he asked quietly, wrapping her up tighter.

She nodded, burrowed against his chest, gripping the sides of his shirt as she shivered violently.

“Do you want to see Matthew—get checked out?”

She shook her head.

Shawn stopped in the bedroom doorway. “Nate, I’m going to grab Mac and have him do a perimeter search with me—see if we can find some footprints to work with.”

Nate nodded. “Have Denny get the camera from the Tahoe. I want him to start processing the mess downstairs.” As he spoke, rage boiled his blood, remembering the glass crunching beneath his boots in the living room and the cold cuts on the kitchen counter—dinner preparations interrupted by some sadistic fucker out for a little fun.

“Sure thing.”

“Radio into Kay and have her call Roy. Let’s see if they can come out here and get Callie.”

“No.” Callie shook her head, barely able to speak as her teeth chattered uncontrollably.

“They’re going to take you to Gwen’s.”

She shook her head more frantically, her big blue eyes still glazed with terror as they stared into his. “I want to stay with you. I need to know you’re safe.”

He tossed a glance at Shawn and caught his deputy’s quick nod, letting Nate know he would take care of everything before he started back down the hall.

“Everyone’s downstairs.” Her voice broke as each breath came too fast. “I know you have guns—that these are your friends, but I don’t want to leave you here.”

He cupped her cheeks, sliding his thumbs in soothing strokes. “I’m going to be fine. I trust these guys with my life and vice versa. We’re going to take good care of each other.”

Tears rained down her pale skin as she nodded.

“Come here.” He lifted her in his arms and walked to the bed, settling her on his lap. “Sit with me for a couple of minutes.” He wiped her cheeks, hating that she was worrying about him when he couldn’t get the image of her holding his grandpa’s pistol out of his head. “This is over. We’re going to get this whole thing figured out.”

She nodded again.

He watched her struggling, fighting to shore herself up. “Callie.” He hugged her, running his palm up and down her back, willing her to settle even when he was far from steady himself. He should have been here. If Buzz’s tires hadn’t gotten slashed this never would have… He stopped midstroke, wrapping his arms tighter around her as everything clicked. Buzz’s tires, Steve’s totaled Honda Civic, the Fitzgeralds’ stolen tools, Bess’s window, and the graffiti on the Johnstons’ shed door. This wasn’t Jack Lancaster and his pals stirring up trouble. This wasn’t Conner or Trevor Miller either. Whoever did this knew he would be working—dealing with Sanderson’s latest problem.

Thomas had asked him why all of this was happening. Because someone was nervous—getting desperate and dangerous. Every moment of the last four days had been one big fucking distraction, keeping him from moving forward with his investigation into the Little Girl Lost case and Samantha Fletcher’s disappearance. Something had happened this week. Somewhere along the way, he’d stumbled upon something and didn’t realize it. For the first time since this whole thing started, Nate was certain he was on the right path to catching a killer.