Page 27 of Rancher to the Rescue

“I can imagine so,” Lawler said as Adam joined them.

She looked around. “Nothing seems to be missing. Except, of course, my cell, purse, and car. I’m guessing I had those with me. So, I doubt they had anything to do with the burglary.”

Lawler shook his head and gave an ominous look that caught Prudence’s full attention. She compressed her lips together and didn’t hide a frown.

“I don’t think this is a coincidence,” he started.

“Why not?” She had her own obvious reasons for questioning the timing too. She wanted to hear him out first.

“Burglars usually go the easy route. They’re in and out, stealing you blind before you know it,” he said and then paused. “I suspect this perp and his cohorts were waiting for you to come home.”

“Could he be someone I know?” Didn’t that make the hairs on the back of her neck prickle? Thinking someone familiar to her would break inside her home and wait for her return sent an icy chill down her back.

“I’m not ruling out the possibility. This person might know you from a distance, on social media, or through a work acquaintance,” he said.

“He came for her, right?” She motioned toward Angel.

“That’s my hunch,” he said. The thought made her skin crawl.

“So, they figured out where I live,” she whispered, stating mere fact. “Does that mean they’ll come back?”

“It’s possible.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “Probable.”

“My aunt and uncle sold their place a couple of years ago to be close to her sister in Houston, so that’s not an option. I can stay in a motel or something until this is cleared up.” This was nothing like the crime against her parents, and yet that same dark-cloud feeling engulfed her.

“You can stay with me at the ranch. Hell, the main house is empty. You could have it to yourself,” Adam interjected.

“That might be a good idea,” Lawler said.

Letting someone cause her to run away from her own home burned her from the inside out. She wouldn’t be stupid, though. She’d grit her teeth and take the safest action. “Okay.”

Lawler nodded, like he understood the sacrifice she would be making before turning his attention toward Adam. “There’s more.”

Adam picked up a pencil sitting on the table and rolled it around his fingers. “She needs a security system and—”

“It’s about your ex.” Lawler shot an apologetic look toward Prudence like he’d picked up on the attraction running between them. She had no designs on Adam. He was helping her through a rough patch. That was all. They’d kissed a couple of times. Their emotions were most likely heightened since she’d been in danger. An annoying voice in the back of her mind called her out on the oversimplification. Her heart disagreed with the assessment despite logic trying to intervene and convince her their chemistry was circumstantial.

“What about her?” Adam let go of the pencil. It tumbled onto the table and rolled before coming to a stop against the saltshaker.

“I checked on her to see where she was and how she was doing,” Lawler said.

The implication sitting in the room was that he didn’t trust Adam’s story. He reached for the pencil, this time keeping a firm grip on it. Adam’s gaze narrowed and his lips thinned. Was he over her?

“I apologize for being the one to have to tell you this,” Lawler hedged. Hemming and hawing only served to increase Adam’s tension. She could see it in the taut muscles of his face.

“Spit it out. I’m a grown man and we broke up almost a year ago,” Adam said. It occurred to her that he was expecting to hear engagement or marriage news. He tensed like a prizefighter preparing to take a punch.

“Her parents identified her body.” Lawler stopped there as though taking a lighter approach might somehow soften the blow.

The pencil cracked under Adam’s grip.

“How did it happen? When?” A mix of anger and shock laced his tone. There was another emotion present too. Disbelief?

“According to the coroner’s report, she was strangled sometime between four and six days ago,” Lawler said. He lowered his head before adding, “I’m sorry for the loss.”

Murder?

A gasp escaped before Prudence had a chance to bring her hand up to cover. Half a dozen questions sprang to mind. Was Libby in an abusive relationship? For how long? Had she been forced to refuse Adam’s proposal in some way?