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She’d been on the floor, and I’d thought she’d hurt herself, but whatever had triggered her had made her look like she’d seen death incarnate. And the thing that she didn’t seem to remember—though I would never fucking forget—were the words she’d said over and over.
“It’s him, it’s him, it’s him.”
Clearly she’d seen someone who had triggered that response, and that was enough to make me furious. No one should have to live with that. Especially not her, with those scars on her arms. If this person was the one who’d hurt her and made her run—who had put the fear in her eyes—I wasn’t sure what I’d do.
Ev reaching for me had hollowed me out inside. She’d held on to me because she’d had nothing else, and because she’d known I was safe. Something about that had broken me at the same time that I’d wanted more.
I forced my jaw to unclench and my hands to relax on the steering wheel of my truck. The fence was intact. No visual signs that anything was broken. But that wasn’t good enough.
Back at the main lodge, I threw my truck into park and took the stairs into the house two at a time. The security room was empty, so I sat down in front of the wall of monitors and started flipping through our cameras. Digital security wasn’t my strong suit, but we’d all trained in how to use this when we’d started the ranch, so I could find my way around.
Nothing had been broken or even touched. No signs of any digital attack to take down the fence’s electricity, and the whole perimeter fence was responding perfectly. We were secure here. But the anxious itch to solve the problem didn’t disappear.
I pulled out my phone and dialed.
“Daigle Security.”
“Hey, Jerry,” I said. “It’s Lucas over at Resting Warrior.”
His tone changed from professional to jovial. “Well, hello. Been a while since I’ve talked to anyone from the ranch.” He chuckled. “Which doesn’t surprise me; you guys run a tight ship over there. What do you need with small-town security?”
Jerry was a retired cop turned private security, and he ran all of the cameras in town. It was a good living in a town this size, and everybody loved him. He was a kind man who went out of his way to help people while also calling out bullshit. A rare combination.
“I was wondering if you could give me coverage from this afternoon, all over town, but specifically around Deja Brew. Literally everything you have.”
There was silence for a second. “Got a time frame?”
“Give me one o’clock to four o’clock.”
Jerry made a sound. “I can get that to you, but it’ll take some time to get it all. Earliest I can get you that amount of footage is tomorrow morning. That work for you?”
I sighed silently. It wasn’t exactly a surprise, but I’d been hoping it would be sooner. “Yeah, that’ll work. I’ll owe you one.”
“Nah, you won’t. But is there something that I should be looking for?”
Jerry had been a good cop, and he knew how to pry information out of someone even when they weren’t looking to give it. He liked to be informed about what was happening in the town, and this would only pique his interest, but it was a risk worth taking. “Nothing specific,” I said. “But if I find something that you need to worry about, I’ll let you know.”
“I appreciate that. Normal email good for the footage?”
“Perfect. Thanks, Jerry.” I hung up.
“You’re calling Jerry?” Harlan’s voice came from behind me. Shit. I was so distracted that I didn’t even hear people coming up behind me now. “Yeah.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know yet. I’ll tell you if it turns out to be something.”
Evelyn’s story wasn’t mine to share, and I didn’t want to get the guys as riled up as I was if it turned out that it wasn’t anything. My gut told me that it wasn’t nothing, but I needed to be cautious. I was tiptoeing on the edges of a boundary already by getting the footage, and I wasn’t going to step over that line before I had to.
Or before I talked to Evelyn about it.
Harlan shook his head. “You don’t have to tell me, but you’ve got to do something, because you’re so tense you’re about to snap.”
He wasn’t wrong.
“Come on, Lucas. Let’s go.”
“Where?” My tone was dark. I didn’t want to go anywhere right now.
