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ut they’re long gone. It’s pointless giving chase now.” Jenna covered her nose. “If we had a flashlight we could at least find out where the stink is coming from.” She tugged at his arm. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to go to the front door.”
Kane stared into the darkness; nothing moved. “I have my keys in my pocket. I’ll get the flashlight out of my car.”
“Don’t.” Her small hand closed tight, nails digging into his flesh. “You’ll have to go inside the garage and we have no idea if anyone is lying in wait.” Her voice lowered. “It could be an ambush or a bomb.” She looked up at him, her face a pale shape in the darkness. “I’m not risking my house either; we have no choice but to go back the way we came and call for backup.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. She did have a valid point and he followed her to the back door of the cottage. “If this is a well-organized trap, they could also be in my cottage by now as well. I’m not sure what Duke would do if strangers tried to get inside. I figure he would welcome them. We should check.”
“Okay.” Jenna slid back into the shadows.
He followed her, sticking close to the wall. When they reached the back door, he touched her back then signaled for her to be quiet. He listened intently then whispered close to her ear, “My floorboards creak and I can’t hear anyone walking around.” He edged toward the open door. “Cover me.”
He slid into the kitchen and did a reconnaissance of the entire house with Duke on his heels before calling Jenna inside. “All clear.” He shut the door behind her. “This is getting stranger by the second.”
He moved around the rooms, closing the drapes then switching on lights, and stopped dead at the sight of a red pool of stinking blood oozing under the front door. “Oh shit!”
24
Covering her nose with her arm, Jenna gaped at the spreading crimson pool. “Call for backup.” She glanced at Kane. “I hope there’s not a dead body hanging on your door.”
“I’m more worried about a bomb.” He scratched the dark stubble on his chin. “The blood could be a ploy to make us rush outside and take a look, in case someone is injured. They would expect us to follow duty of care protocol.” He glanced around. “It’s not safe here.”
“Unless the bomb has a timer, it isn’t going to explode unless we trigger it, but I’m not taking any chances. We’ll wait in the barn just in case. You’d better bring Duke.” Jenna moved away from the door and followed Kane into the kitchen. “Get Wolfe and Rowley out here. Explain what happened. Tell them to proceed with caution and call me before they enter the property.” She headed to the back door.
As they hurried toward the barn, Kane explained the situation to the deputies. She used the keypad on a side entrance to gain entrance to a door set into the side of the barn then turned on the lights. When Kane disconnected the call she led him through the steel door and down a flight of stairs to a fully furnished safe room. “I had hoped never to use this place but it has everything we need to hole up until the cavalry arrives.”
“Nice. I thought it was a storage area.” He whistled and strolled around, looking in the bedrooms. “This place is almost as big as my cottage. How come you’ve never told me about it before?”
She shrugged. “It’s a safe room, Kane. To keep me safe.”
“Okay, I understand.” He dropped into a chair at the small kitchen table.
Jenna busied herself by pulling out the coffee maker and fixings. It was promising to be a long night. She glanced at him over one shoulder. “I’m trying to figure out why my alarm didn’t activate the moment someone came through the gate. If you remember it was working fine when we arrived.”
“Yeah, but you deactivated it when you went inside to get changed, didn’t you?” He shrugged. “Maybe you forgot to reset it?”
Running her movements through her mind, she shook her head. She had forgotten once after a near-fatal accident and always double-checked since. “No, I clearly remember juggling a bottle of wine and punching in the code.”
“Then why didn’t the intruder trigger the lights when they came onto the property?”
A cold shiver ran down her spine. “They could have arrived before us. The lights have a delay and could have gone off again before we arrived. They didn’t get into the house because I disabled the alarm when I went inside.” She lifted her gaze to him. “We know whoever was here parked behind the old shed across the road.”
“They could have slipped inside your house while you were changing and deactivated the alarm after you left.” Kane frowned.
“How? The door locked behind me.”
“There’s a hundred ways. You walk in and let the door swing shut behind you and someone could sneak up behind you and catch the door before it closes.”
Dread made her heart race. “You’re saying they were inside the house watching me to get the code?” She met his gaze with a shudder. “I wonder what’s waiting for me when I get home.”
“You’ll be fine because I’m the target. You haven’t received any threats.” Kane moved to her side and leaned his large frame against the kitchen counter. “They needed time to carry out their plan, and with your alarm and floodlights deactivated they would have had plenty of time to set things up.” His gaze slid over her. “Just as well they didn’t know about my silent alarm.”
A wave of panic rushed over her and she pushed both hands through her hair. “How the hell did they know about my alarm?” She chewed on her bottom lip. “I installed it myself, and although it’s possible people might think I have sensor lights in the driveway, whoever came here tonight knew they are wired into the alarm.”
“I have no idea.” Kane raised one eyebrow then turned away. “It’s going to be a long night.”
She handed him a cup of coffee. “Really? We could be seconds away from being blown to pieces.”
25
