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He still looked pissed off. “Have any of your locks been damaged? Any windows broken?”
“I don’t think so.”
He rubbed his temple. “There have been no other reported thefts in town, so either nobody has bothered to file a report or you’re being specifically targeted. Could it have been your renter?”
“I don’t see how he would have gotten in.” I kept the door key well hidden, especially after the incident earlier in the year.
“I’ll question him anyway,” Nate said. “I need you to think about anyone else who might target you.”
A face filled my mind. Ruddy cheeks, watery eyes, and thin lips. Darrel Weich. He’d targeted me. He’d been obsessed with me. But that had been years ago. He’d gone to therapy and turned things around. There was no reason for him to suddenly appear in my life after all this time.
“Grace?” Nate touched my arm. “You okay?”
“Not really,” I admitted. But who could expect me to be all right if, as Nate suggested, I was being targeted by someone for god knew what reason?
“We’ll get to the bottom of this.” He glanced at Mehrtens, who was applying fingerprint powder to my dresser, then dropped a quick kiss on my cheek. “Whoever the hell thought they could get away with scaring you like this has another think coming. I’m going to make sure they regret it.”
With his voice so full of conviction, I could almost convince myself he was my partner, not just my friend.
“Thank you,” I whispered. Footsteps clomped up the hall, far too heavy to be Alice’s. I stiffened.
“Are you expecting anyone?”
“No.”
Nate was on his feet in a blink, positioning himself in the center of the doorway. A moment later, Ezra appeared, concern clouding his expression.
“Is everything okay here?” Ezra asked. “Has something happened to Grace?”
“Why would anything have happened to Grace?” Nate demanded belligerently. “Were you expecting it to?”
“Of course not,” Ezra said. “But the police don’t usually show up at eight in the morning just for kicks, so I thought—”
“Thought what?” Nate snapped, followed by, “Do you often let yourself into other people’s houses without asking for an invitation?”
“No.” He sounded confused.
“Have you been inside Grace’s bedroom before?” Nate demanded.
“Why would I have?”
“That’s not an answer.” His voice was little more than a growl. “If we check your fingerprints against the ones my colleague is collecting, will we find a match?”
“N-no.” The word stuttered out.
“Good to know,” Nate said. “Because we’ll need to take your prints for comparison and interview you later today. Can you make yourself available?”
“What’s this about?”
I rose wearily to my feet and joined them. “I had something valuable go missing. The police are here to investigate.”
His eyes widened. “It wasn’t me, I swear. I can’t believe you had a break-in. Destiny Falls seems so safe.”
“Everywhere has crime to some extent,” I reminded him. A five-minute web search would show him that Destiny Falls was no exception. Crime may be rarer here than in cities, but we had our share of trouble.
“I’m so sorry.” To his credit, he looked genuinely upset. “I’ll keep an eye out in case I see anyone around. Please let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help.” He turned to Nate. “Grace has my details. Just call when you’d like to talk to me.”
“You can count on it,” Nate’s tone had a bite to it.
