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I pulled myself together. But there was only so much I could do to drag myself up out of the muck.
Grandma was gone. Even Aly was gone. The only man who made me feel like I was home again was destined for someone else.
“That was before someone burned down my house,” I said, instead. Flynn didn’t need to know about all the problems in my life. He already knew enough.
“You mean before you left a candle burning?”
I smacked his hand away. “I’m not having this conversation with you. Are you going to help me or not?”
He sighed. “Fine. Why don’t we put in some security cameras to start with, monitor the area and see if anyone comes or goes?”
“Security cameras? I can’t even fix my roof yet. You want me to shell out the cash for security cameras?”
“Why can’t you afford cameras?”
My heart stopped.Crap!Perhaps, I was going to have to tell him more details. He still thought of me as the heiress with millions to spend on repairs and protection. “My parents.”
“Oh no. What did Mommy and Daddy do now?”
I hated it when he called them that. Like their names should be Winnie and Howard III, or some other such pretentious names. “Long story short, I don’t have access to any money I haven’t earned. Which, considering I’ve only been working for a few days, is relatively nothing.”
Flynn stared at me in silence.
His lips quivered, as if resisting the urge to break out into laughter. “Ok. I’m going to need to hear the long version of that story at some point. But for right now, we need to come up with a cost effective solution.”
“I could buy a doberman from the pound.”
“Hmm, cute,” he said. “But, it’s still not going to fix the problem.”
“Then, what else do you suggest?”
He shrugged and continued his examination of the house. His shrewd gaze fell on every corner and entry point like a soldier planning for every avenue of attack. “The whole point of setting up a security system is to give us more time to catch these criminals while still protecting you. When you don’t leave town, this person is going to strike again. We don’t want to leave you sitting here completely exposed. So, our best bet is to draw them out instead.”
Draw them out? We were heading into some super shady spy stuff that I was not entirely prepared to handle. I could spy on my cousins, wait for them to make their move. But this felt all too invasive.
“How is that going to help?” I asked.
“If we draw them out, set a kind of trap for them, we have more control over the situation,” he explained. “It gives them an opportunity to attack without them knowing that’s what we’re doing. It also means, when they do choose to make their move, we will be ready to stop them.”
So, this wasn’t just about my cousins. It was about catching anyone who may be involved. It made sense, I supposed. I’d narrowed my scope long ago, refusing to let go of my hatred. I just knew they were involved somehow. No one could convince me otherwise. “So, how do we draw them out?”
“You could set up something at the house,” Flynn said. “A party—a gathering. Something along those lines.”
“Right.” I laughed. “Set up a party in my partially-charred house.”
“The house is clearly a sore subject for this person,” he explained. “It’s the perfect catalyst to set them off. Not only would it be a reminder of something you have that they don’t, but throwing a huge party means you’re settling into it, making it your own. It’s definitely not the behavior of someone who’s planning to leave town anytime soon.”
“So, I’m just supposed to invite a bunch of random people over?”
I didn’t even know where to start. I could invite all the family, I suppose. But as for friends and close relationships, none of those remained any longer. I hadn’t seen half of the people I grew up with in years and had no desire to contact them again.
Except for Flynn. Flynn had always been a keeper.
“We invite the most likely suspects, your cousins, and keep an eye on them,” he explained. “A party is the perfect place for them to feel safe. They’ll feel like they can easily blend in and manuever throughout the house without being missed.”
“So, I just have to come up with a reason for everyone to be there and figure out a way to fix up the house.”
Right. Completely simple.
