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“Mehrtens!” I barked. “Get your gear. We need to get to Grace’s place ASAP.”
“Yes, sir.” The young officer leaped into action, grabbing her kit—which was always prepared, just in case—and a couple of other necessities. I met her at the door, and we loaded into my police cruiser. Tempted as I was to break the speed limit, Grace wasn’t in imminent danger, so I settled for white knuckling the steering wheel and muttering under my breath.
“What happened?” Mehrtens asked. “Another theft?”
“Someone delivered a threatening letter,” I told her.
I braked outside Grace’s house and lurched to a halt near the drive. I jumped out, slammed the door behind me, and strode down the path. Ezra’s cottage caught my eye, and I glared, mentally willing him not to interfere. His face appeared in the window, but he vanished from view a few seconds later.
“Stay gone,” I said. If he put himself in front of me, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to remain professional. For all we knew, he could be the person responsible for the note.
“Excuse me, Sarge?” Mehrtens queried, puffing as she hurried after me.
“Nothing.” I reached the door and let myself in, expecting Duke to greet me, but the hall was empty. I made my way to the private living room, where Grace had said she’d be waiting. She and Kennedy were side by side on the sofa. Kennedy had an arm around Grace, and Duke was sprawled across them. The puppy’s head was resting on Grace’s thigh, and he didn’t look like he intended to move any time soon.
“Gracie.” I wanted to hug her. To kiss her soft lips and tell her everything would be fine. Instead, I stooped down in front of her and asked, “Where’s the letter?”
She gestured to the coffee table. I glanced over and noticed an envelope in a sealed Ziplock bag on the clean glass surface.
“Kennedy and I have both touched the envelope,” Grace said. “She brought it inside. I opened it, and when she saw what the letter said, Kennedy stopped Alice from touching it, and then I called you. Hopefully we didn’t contaminate the evidence too much.”
“You did good,” I assured her, subtly giving Mehrtens the nod to start. “Talk me through what happened.”
Grace’s eyes filled with tears, and she clutched Duke closer. The little guy cuddled against her chest, giving her the comfort I couldn’t. I was glad she had him and her friends and hadn’t been alone when she’d opened the letter. I hated to think how much more scared she might have been.
“I have a book release today, but there have been some problems with it,” Grace said. “Alice and I were in the office, trying to deal with as much of it as we could when Kennedy arrived.”
“I saw what was happening online,” Kennedy chimed in. “I wanted to be here for moral support. I checked the mail on the way inside and saw the envelope there, so I brought it in.”
“I opened the envelope,” Grace said, picking up the story. “I expected it to be a bill or something from the government, since the name and address are typed and it looked official, but there was only one piece of paper inside.” She shuddered. “It says, ‘Your life is mine.’”
Something wrenched in my gut. The note was a threat, no doubt about it. Whoever this mystery person was, they were trying to scare my Grace, and that wasn’t acceptable. I was going to hunt them down and make them regret it. Well, within the confines of the law because I was a police officer and couldn’t always indulge my dark revenge fantasies.
“There’s no postmark showing the city of origin,” Mehrtens said. “It could have been missed, but that might also be a sign it was delivered by hand.”
Grace’s lips parted and a puff of breath escaped them. She was spooked.
“Kennedy, can you get one of Grace’s jackets?” I asked. “The last thing she needs is to get cold when she’s had a shock.”
“Sure.” Kennedy left the room, throwing a supportive smile over her shoulder at Grace.
With gloved hands, Mehrtens opened the Ziplock bag and extracted the envelope. She eased it open and withdrew the note, showing it to me. As Grace had said, the words “Your life is mine” were printed in a standard font on the center of the page.
“I’m going to need to process this properly at the station,” Mehrtens said. “It might be a good idea to get a second opinion from an expert too.”
I nodded. “We’ll head down there now. Grace, are you okay to come down and make a formal statement?”
“Yes.” Her voice was nearly a whisper. Despite the minor thefts, she clearly hadn’t expected anything like this to happen.
Kennedy returned to the room and handed Grace a jacket and a bright pink knitted beanie—presumably one of Desdemona’s creations.
Grace took them silently, then eased Duke off her lap and got shakily to her feet. “I’ll ask Alice if she can stay here to keep working on the book issue while I’m gone and make sure Duke behaves.”
“I’ll come with you,” Kennedy said.
“Thanks, but you should go home.” Grace’s expression was strained. “I don’t know how long it will take.”
“It doesn’t matter how long it takes.” Kennedy’s expression was fierce. “You need me, and I’m going to be there.” She hesitated, then added, “Nobody knows what you’re feeling as well as I do.”
