She turned on her heels and raced inside. Her breath uneven. Her pulse wild. She’d been in dangerous situations before. Not often. It wasn’t a regular thing in her job. She dealt more with citations when people fished or hunted in the wrong places—or tried to skirt the laws. The most hazardous parts of her job came from dealing with reptiles in need of rescuing.
But she had never had anyone vandalize anything on her property and leave her a mysterious note . Or been under fire.
All those things happened in the same day.
She found the knife and the gloves and headed back outside. “Here.” She handed them to Buddy.
He snapped the gloves in place and reached for the envelope, careful, using two fingers, even though his prints wouldn’t be left behind. However, she knew enough about evidence that this was about not disturbing anything the perpetrator left behind.
Fallon stood next to him, leaning over his shoulder as he slowly pulled out a single piece of paper. She stared at the words on the page.
He couldn’t save them all.
He won’t be able to save them all.
Blue 42.
A gasp caught in her throat. Tears burned her eyes. “Does he mean you?”
“I’m pretty sure it does,” he said quietly. “But whoever left it obviously wanted you to see it.” He set both the envelope and the note on the table. Easing off the gloves, he stuffed them in his back pocket.
The events of the last few days rolled through her mind like a movie on fast-forward. She couldn’t slow it down. She couldn’t stop it. And she sure as hell couldn’t make sense of it.
Abruptly, Buddy stood and marched across the porch. He gripped the railing and stared across the street. “Someone’s been watching me. They're fucking with me, and now they're fucking with you.” He turned. His eyes were dark and full of rage. He pointed to his truck. “They knew I was here.”
“Okay.” She swallowed her pulse. She wanted to take a step back. This was not the man she’d been with just a few short hours ago. This was a man who held pain and anger too close to his heart. She knew how that felt. Knew that if he didn’t find a way to let it go, it would not only continue to rule him, but it would destroy who he was at his core.
She wasn’t going to let that happen. Not on her watch. Not while whatever this was between them still existed. She inched closer. “But I got that first text before any of this happened. Before, we spent any real time together.”
“You’re forgetting we’ve known each other for four years. Whenever I could get back to town, we managed to see each other.”
“Nothing ever happened.”
“No. But we did have some interesting text conversations that indicated we were interested.”
“Mia said my phone was clean.”
“It is, but you said it’s a new phone. That you got it six months ago. We don’t know what’s on the old one.”
Her stomach churned. “And I traded it in.”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “Not to mention, I had a job to do in the location you found that girl. A job that was a bit of a waste as the client won’t be coming through the Glades after all.” He crossed his arms. “Whoever did this wanted me to find her. You just got there first.”
“Are you saying this has to do with that case?”
“It’s all language from it, except Blue 42. I don’t know what 42 means. But Simon Court, one of the men I put behind bars, was—is—a ruthless man with no soul. Two victims died the day I slapped cuffs on him. He smiled at me, knowing they were dead, and told me that I couldn’t save them all. That I’d never be able to save them. That’s when it hit me, I stopped one massive pipeline, but trafficking is endless. He’s not the only monster out there.”
“So, you think this is someone else, and whoever it is, is targeting you the same way Simon did?” It made sense. Sort of. “Doesn’t the FBI and other law enforcement agencies keep things from the public for that reason and others?” It wasn’t really a question, because she knew the answer.
“Simon’s a powerful man. We arrested seventeen people, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t others loyal to him out there. Or he could’ve found a way to pay someone. Pulling strings from prison isn’t impossible.”
The air shifted. A car engine filled the silence. She shivered, but she wasn’t cold.
Images of Tessa, wearing Fallon’s jacket, walking out of the Crab Shack, waving goodbye to old man Tomey and Silas, never to be seen again.
A Calusa Cove patrol cruiser rolled up, headlights throwing a harsh light across the drive.
Jasper Newton stepped out, flashlight in hand. “I got a report of vandalism and a possible break-in. Everyone alright?”
