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Aria stood, walked around the desk, and pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry. This is the last thing you need right now.”
“Like you, I think my two problems are tied together.”
Aria released her. “How’s your wrist?”
“Hurts still, but better.” Like a deep bruise, it would take time to heal, but it didn’t really impair her ability to use her hand.
“Well, we have surveillance of the back now, so we can pull that up and give it to Officer Bowers. Maybe we got whoever did this on camera.”
“Wait. What? Since when do we have cameras out back?”
“Today actually. They were installed early this morning. Viper came to see Jax about making sure you were safe.”
“When?” She remembered him coming to the bar during the day. “Never mind. I remember him showing up when we were closed.”
“I like that he’s looking out for you and including Jax in that.”
“Yeah. Me, too. I better get up to my place and meet Bowers.”
“Want me to call Jax or Mom and Dad to come help?”
“I’ve got this. You and Melody have the bar tonight. I’ll help close, once I’ve got this settled.”
“Where’s Rick now?”
“I didn’t see him in the bar, but he could still be here. Maybe he finally took the hint and left.” Lyric grabbed the jacket on her way out of the office and pulled it on. By the time she exited the back of the kitchen, she spotted Officer Bowers coming out of her apartment.
He stared down at her from the landing as she made her way up the stairs. “Who’d you piss off?”
“They didn’t take anything, did they?”
“Doesn’t look like it. Your laptop has been smashed.TV, too. Jewelry box is turned over, stuff scattered everywhere. If you have a stash of cash somewhere, you can check for it, but this kind of destruction looks personal.”
“I’m not saying he did it for sure, but I’d appreciate you having a word with Rick Rowe. He came to town about a week ago. I met him briefly in Nashville recently. He’s pushy and insistent that we could be so good together. Writing songs and more. I’ve made it clear I’m not interested. Last night, I cut myself in the kitchen. Mostly it was his fault. He came up behind me. I toppled a plate of food. When he moved in to kiss me a bit later and I stepped back, I slipped and ended up on my ass, a piece of the broken plate in my wrist.” She held it up to show him the bandage. “I got fixed up at the ER, then went home with a friend. Rick sent me a bunch of texts that grew increasingly angry, to the point he threatened me.”
“Let me see.”
She pulled out her phone and showed him the texts.
“Why didn’t you report that he threatened you?”
“I thought I could handle it by giving him what he wanted.”
The officer raised a brow.
“A song,” she clarified. “I met with him today. We wrote a song. I even played it with him onstage tonight. I thought that would appease him.”
“But he wants more?”
She nodded. “And he’s not takingnofor an answer.”
“Where is he now?”
“In the bar,” Melody called up to them from the bottom of the stairs, her breath fog on the wind. Melody must have come out of the bar when Lyric had been talking to the cop. “Aria told me what happened. Rick’s at the bar. Left side.”
“He’s also staying in one of the cabins at the ranch.” She wanted the officer to know everything.
“Go inside and look around. Don’t touch anything. I’ll dust for prints. But see if anything was stolen. I’ll go talk to our person of interest.”
