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“Hell no.” He brushed his lips over mine. “I wasn’t able to be there when you needed me in the past, but I damn well will be now. Some asshole with an obsession isn’t going to stop that.”
ChapterForty-One
LIAM
I heardyou’ve been nominated for a Golden Globe. I’m not sure how I feel about that. - Unsent text message from Liam to Kennedy
“You mean that?”Kennedy whispered, her eyes shining with emotion.
“With all my heart.” I was mad as hell that some guy thought he had the right to endanger our lives, but I wasn’t about to leave her to deal with him alone.
Asher cleared his throat. “We’re going to head out. The engine is returning to the station too. Call later?”
“Yeah.” I gave him a hug. “Thanks for patching me up.”
“No worries.” He lowered his voice. “Take care of your girl.”
“I will.”
He left, and I circled an arm around Kennedy, careful not to be rough in case she was feeling as battered as I was. I suspected I’d have some nasty bruising in addition to the laceration on my thigh, but it could have been much, much worse. We were lucky I hadn’t been driving fast and that we were in town. If the brakes had malfunctioned elsewhere, I could easily have slid off the side of the road and down a gully.
Kennedy jerked all of a sudden. “I need to call Blair. If he hears about this from someone else, he’s going to be worried sick.”
“Do you have your phone?” I asked.
“It’s in the car.”
Nate handed her his. “Use this.”
She took it and dialed the number by heart, wandering further away while she spoke with her brother.
“We’re going to need to record a formal statement at the police station and keep the car in lockup so a forensic analysis can be undertaken,” Nate said, his voice low. “If this was the stalker, it’s a serious escalation. The sooner we uncover the scumbag, the better.”
“Agreed.”
Kennedy returned, her expression strained. “Blair and Tyler are on their way.”
“Would you mind directing them to the police station instead?” Nate asked. “If you’re feeling up to it, we’ll head over there and run through everything that happened.”
Her jaw firmed. “Absolutely.”
Nate retrieved her phone from the Ute, cautioning us to stay back, and handed it over, then we packed into the back of the patrol car and he drove us to the police station. Similar to the fire station, the police were located on a side road adjoining Centennial Street. Nate led us inside, past a receptionist, and into a small room out the back. The walls were white, and a round table occupied most of the room. The floor was concrete, the table bolted down. I sank onto one chair, and Kennedy pulled up another beside me, reaching for my hand, seeking comfort via touch. Nate set his phone on the table, and Constable Mehrtens withdrew a notepad and pen from her pocket.
“You mind if we record this?” Nate asked.
“Go for it,” I told him, and Kennedy nodded too.
He set the phone recording and stated his name and the names of everyone else present, then asked us each to say our name in turn so any listeners would be able to recognize us by voice.
“Can you walk me through the events leading up to the accident?” he asked.
Kennedy and I exchanged a look. I wasn’t sure if she’d prefer to take the lead. But then she gave a slight nod and started speaking. She ran through a highlight reel of the day’s activities, a faint blush coloring her cheeks as she mentioned our time at her cottage. Mehrtens took notes. Nate simply listened and asked for clarification. When Kennedy finished talking, we sat quietly for a few seconds before Nate spoke.
“As I see it,” he said, “the car was fine when you drove back from the tarn, but it had been damaged when you left the cottage, so it was most likely tampered with while you were inside the cottage. Was it out of sight at that time?”
“Yes,” I confirmed, but even if it hadn’t been, I doubted we would have noticed anything out of the ordinary. We were too wrapped up in each other.
“Was it on the road or in the drive?” he asked.
