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Instead, she sent him a confused glance. “You’re not coming?”
“I’ll be there,” he promised. “But first I want to stop by the store and pick up a few things you’ll need. And grab the cookies before they disappear.”
Sharp-edged fear sliced through her at the thought of Kaden returning to the store. “I don’t want you going there alone.”
“I’ll be careful.” He cupped her cheek in his hand, his expression somber. “I promise.”
Lia glared at him. Kaden Vaughn didn’t have a clue how to be careful. His whole life had been one reckless adventure after another.
“Have you considered that the poison was probably meant for you?” she said, needing him to take the threat seriously.
He seemed puzzled by her words. “Why do you say that?”
“The cookies were in the office where you were staying. You would be the most obvious person to eat them.”
Kaden shrugged. “The intruder might not have known that.”
“They took your files.”
“Yes, but that was probably just for distraction.” With a grimace, Kaden abruptly rose to his feet and paced across the cramped floor.
Lia could easily see the tense angle of his shoulders and his clenched expression. “What are you thinking?”
He spun back to send her a frustrated frown. “That none of this makes sense.”
“The poisoning?”
“The poisoning. The brick throwing. The hit-and-run.” He spread his arms. “If you wanted someone dead, what would you do?”
“Get a gun and shoot them,” Lia said without hesitation.
“Exactly. And even if you didn’t have a weapon, everyone else in town has one you could steal.”
Lia agreed. There were few people in Pike who hadn’t grown up hunting. Her own grandfather had a shotgun that was currently locked in her attic.
“Maybe they don’t know how to load a gun. Or how to shoot,” she suggested, knowing the explanation was lame as the words left her lips.
“Then they could use a knife.”
Lia wrinkled her nose, forcing herself to consider the various ways to kill someone. “You do have a point.”
“Thanks,” he said dryly.
“A gun or a knife makes the most sense if you want to get rid of someone. And while poison is probably effective, putting it on the cookies was weirdly random,” she said with a shake of her head. “There was no guarantee either of us was going to eat them.” She furrowed her brow, remembering the first attack. “And it would have taken sheer luck to kill me by lobbing a brick at my head.”
Kaden nodded, his expression still troubled. “I suppose those could be written off as trying to scare us rather than kill us, but even the judge and Burke’s deaths were strange.”
Lia shuddered. Right now, everything seemed strange. And awful. “That doesn’t make them any less dangerous,” she reminded him.
“That’s why we’re leaving Pike.” He abruptly tensed and swiveled toward the door as it was pressed open. It wasn’t until two men in uniform stepped in that he relaxed. “Right on cue,” he murmured, moving to stand next to Lia’s bed. He leaned down to place a lingering kiss on her lips. “Behave yourself.”
Lia reached up to tangle her fingers in his hair. She had a sudden fear that something bad would happen if they were separated.
“Be careful,” she commanded.
“Without a doubt.” He gazed at her with eyes that shimmered with silver fire. “For the first time in my life, I have too much to lose to take any risks.”
Chapter 21
