“True, but when you’ve had to be strong for so long, it’s a tad difficult to let others in.” She rubbed her arms as a chill passed over her.
“Well, you have help now. Miss Emily, Brandon…me.”
“Thanks. I needed to hear that.” She tossed a glance at the still sleeping Zoey. David was right. She had to let go of her fears and accept help for Zoey’s sake. “What did you find?”
“Photos of you and Zoey taped to your door and all around your porch.”
Jennie attempted to swallow past the Sahara Desert in her throat. “I thought the creep was dead.”
“He is.” David’s jaw twitched. “This can’t be him.”
Her stomach churned. “Then who? Who would do this to us?”
“You tell me?” He clutched her shoulders and peered into her eyes. “Is there anyone who’d want to hurt you?”
Kenny. But it couldn’t be him. He had no idea where she lived.
She shook her head.
David raised a brow.
“No one with the exception of Tina knows I live in Pinewood Shores. And I don’t have any enemies here.” She’d changed her phone number and hadn’t left a forwarding address. No one from her past should know where to find her.
“All right, if you’re sure.” He pivoted and clasped the doorknob. “I’ll take the pictures into evidence, then sweep the outside to make sure whoever it was is gone. Please promise you’ll call if the dogs start barking again.”
“Promise. And thank you.” She closed the door behind him and rested her forehead against the wooden barrier. “Coward. You should’ve told him about Kenny,” she muttered.
She returned to the living room, scooped Zoey into her arms, and headed down the hall. Bypassing her daughter’s room, she laid the sweet little girl on her king size bed. Brushing a strand of hair from Zoey’s forehead, Jennie placed a kiss on her daughter’s cheek. “You’re sleeping here tonight, princess.”
Kenny’s release from prison had rattled her. But how could it be him? Jennie rushed to check the window locks and closed the blinds as tight as possible. Running her fingers over the raised scar tissue on the back of her neck, she closed her eyes. She’d survived Kenny’s beating only by the grace of God.
What if he was out there? And if so, would she survive again?
Chapter 13
Monday 10:30 a.m.
David had stayed awake half of the night worrying about Jennie. If he hadn’t placed a call to dispatch at two in the morning and requested random drive-byes he wouldn’t have slept at all.
“I don’t understand who’s doing this. Eddie Winters is dead. The threat should be over.” David slid his chair away from his desk and ran his hand over the top of his head.
“I agree. This isn’t about Winters anymore.” Brandon tapped his pen on his notepad. “Jennie’s not telling us something.”
David sighed. “I know. I can’t get her to open up. I hate to go behind her back to Miss Emily, but I might have to if this continues.”
“Good luck with that. I’ve known Mrs. Hanover for years. She’s not about to tell someone else’s secrets, especially her niece’s.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Well, since you asked.” His partner’s grim look had David regretting he’d asked. “I heard back from the detective in Indiana.”
“What did you find?”
Brandon scratched his jaw and opened a file folder. “You’re not going to like it.”
“Spill it, man. You’re worrying me.”
“And rightfully so. You know about her late husband, Brad’s death, but what you don’t know is that Jennie Nielson and her infant daughter lived in Indiana with Brad’s friend Kenny. Five years ago, Kenny nearly beat Jennie to death. She was in the hospital for weeks recovering while her friend Tina took care of Zoey.”
