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When she glanced up at him, suspicious, he smiled. “Clearly you didn’t listen to your voice mail this afternoon.”
Lainey dug in her purse for her keys, just to give herself something to do. Finally she looked up at him. “I didn’t. No. I had to get this trip to the compound over with.” She’d had to verify Ron was living here so he could be served with the divorce papers. Once that was done, she could move forward with her life. Put her marriage to Ron Martin in her rear-view mirror.
The divorce wouldn’t have been final right away. But her attorney had promised Lainey she’d try to get it expedited. And she’d said she thought the judge might agree because of the history of abuse in the marriage.
“I’ll follow you to your house,” Brody said. “Unless you’d be more comfortable at your office.”
“No,” she said immediately. “Home is good.” A real estate office shared her building, and they also shared a receptionist. There were people in and out all day, one of the reasons she’d chosen that space. Lots of people was good. Safe. The last thing she’d wanted was an isolated, single person office.
But it also meant people would see her with Brody, right after Ron had been killed.
Instead of asking for her address, Brody nodded as she slid into her car. “I’ll see you there,” Brody said, raising his hand as she closed the door.
She frowned as she started her car. Stared out her windshield as Brody pulled his truck onto the road in front of her and accelerated toward Helena. How did he know where she lived?
She’d spent a lot of time thinking about Brody. Daydreaming about him. But she was very sure she’d never given him her home address. Why would she? They were only professional acquaintances, not friends.
Even though, deep in her heart, she’d wished they could be more.
As Brody’s truck disappeared around a curve in the road, she put her Toyota in gear and followed him.
* * *
Brody pulled up at the familiar small ranch house sitting in a row of similar houses. Massed, multi-colored impatiens lined the front of Lainey’s house, with geraniums planted around the mailbox at the curb. A small maple tree stood in the middle of the lawn.
Had to be Lainey’s doing. Ron Martin wouldn’t have done any yard work. Brody had disliked him even before he’d met Lainey.
As a sheriff’s deputy, Martin had come out to Brody’s ranch a few times. Once when Brody had caught a rustler with a truck full of his cattle. A couple of times when Brody’s employees had gotten into fights in a bar in town. Martin had been an entitled bully who liked to throw his weight around. After his third visit, Brody had called the sheriff and asked him to send another deputy the next time Brody needed law enforcement help.
The sheriff had sighed, as if Brody wasn’t the first one to make that request. Then promised Martin wouldn’t be sent out to the Flying J again.
Brody swung out of his truck. After studying the front yard for a long moment, he edged behind the flowers lining the front of the house. Lainey had said something about noises disturbing her at night, and he wanted to see if she’d had any prowlers. They hadn’t had rain in a couple of weeks, so any footprints in the dirt should still be there.
He crouched behind a window, his fist clenched as he studied scuffed footprints, when he heard a car turn into the driveway. He turned, saw Lainey’s car and stood up.
Instead of pulling into the garage, she turned off the ignition, slid out of the car and locked it behind her. “What are you doing, Brody?”
“You said you’d heard noises, so I was looking for evidence of a prowler.” He nodded at the ground beneath what he assumed was her living room window. “Come see what I’ve found.”
Edging past the colorful flowers, Lainey stared down at the footprints. “I haven’t been back here,” she said after a long moment.
“Didn’t think you had. Those shoes are way too big to be yours.”
She looked up at him. Swallowed. “Did you look at the rest of the house?”
“Not yet. Want to walk it with me?”
“I do.” She brushed her hands down her thighs, as if she were brushing away the last vestiges of Ron Martin. Then she slid along the wall until she was back on the driveway.
They found footprints along the side of the house. The ground beneath one window was tamped down, as if someone had stood there for a long time, moving his feet to stay warm.
“Which window is this?” Brody asked quietly, although he was pretty sure he knew.
“My bedroom,” Lainey said through clenched teeth.
Brody set a hand lightly on her shoulder. “He’ll never peep in your windows again,” he said, squeezing her shoulder. “You’re safe now.”
She drew in a trembling breath. “I know. But it still feels like a… like a violation. Knowing he was looking through the crack in my curtain. Maybe watching while I…” She swallowed. “While I undressed.”
