I shook my head. So obnoxious.
But dammit, he was right. A pane of glass in my bedroom window was smashed. My security system was on, and it hadn’t alerted me. But I didn’t have a broken-glass detector on every single window. There was no indication anyone had actually opened a door or window and gone inside.
So, who had done this? Why?
A couple guesses came to mind.
Dread coated my insides as I unlocked the side door and went in, using my code to disable the alarm. Before I could get far, Dean gently put a hand on my hip. “Wait. I’ll check things out first.”
“No way. Don’t act like I’m some scared kid. You’re the civilian now.Youwait.”
He held up his hands. “Alright, sorry. We’ll go together.”
“Fine. Together.”
Everything was exactly as I’d left it yesterday, when Dean and I had been sitting at my kitchen table strategizing about our visit to Donny Phelan. Felt like years ago.
In my bedroom, a rock lay on the carpet surrounded byshards of broken glass. Dean pushed at it with his shoe. There was a piece of paper wrapped around it with a rubber band.
Before he could stop me, I scooped it up and yanked the paper free.
It was a glossy page torn from a high school yearbook. A photo in the layout showed me in my deputy uniform, smiling with an arm around my sister. I’d been on her campus that day for community outreach.
Stephie’s face had been circled in red marker.
Oh my God.
“Stephie,” I choked out, fumbling to take out my phone. “I have to call her.”
My hand was shaking so bad I needed Dean’s help to dial. Stupid sling. His fingers brushed my neck as he held the phone up for me, and I took it. He stood beside me as the line rang.
When I heard Stephie’s voice on the phone, saying she and my mom were home and everything was fine, my knees nearly went weak.
“What’s the matter?” Stephie asked. “You said you were staying with Dean last night. Did something happen with him?”
He was standing at my shoulder, probably able to hear every word.
“Just a second.” I held the phone away from me. “I’ll go outside,” I said to Dean.
He nodded. “I’ll double check the rest of the house.”
Out on the driveway, I sagged against the hood of Dean’s truck. “I…had a nightmare last night. I was worried about you. But everything’s okay,” I reassured her, though it was nowhere close to the truth. I glanced at the house. “Dean and I are fine.”
“Did you guys hook up?”
“Did wewhat? Absolutely not. We’re not—no.”
“Why not? Dude, why else would you stay the night with him except to get under him?”
Good lord. An image quickly flashed through my mind of Dean naked and wet. I pushed that away.Notwhere I wanted my thoughts going when I was talking to my baby sister.
“First of all, do we need to have the sex talk again? Sex is a big deal.”
Stephie groaned. “Don’t be boring. I’m eighteen, Kiki.”
“Second, Dean is not the reason I called. Sheriff Douglas hasn’t caught the people who attacked me. They’re still out there. Be careful, okay? Be vigilant. You and Mom need to keep an eye out for anything weird. Anyone suspicious hanging around.”
“Why? Did something else happen?”
