I opened my mouth to brush it off, but Roberts sent me a stern look. “I’d certainly like to know why he received that call. We don’t have a whole lot of manpower, but I’ll have officers driving by your house, Milo, Eden’s apartment, and the stores. If you see anything even remotely suspicious, I want you to call us immediately.”
“Of course,” I murmured.
“Look, this might be overkill, but an old buddy of mine jumps in as a security guard at the mall around the holidays. With so many stores closed down there, they don’t need him as much and the stretch after New Year’s dies down. If you two are interested, I think he’d be willing to cut you a deal, keep an eye on both shops.”
If it had just been me, I probably would have refused the offer. With Eden shivering against me in the cold, dark night,I couldn’t deny that I’d feel a whole hell of a lot better with someone else looking out for her.
“I’ll take his info, if you don’t mind,” I replied.
Rose came back over to our little huddle and passed my phone over. “Number is local, monthly no-contract type situation. I got what I need to keep digging, but let me know if you get any more calls.”
“This will all be cleaned up by morning,” Roberts said, pressing a card into my hand. “That’s Leonard’s number. Tell him I sent you. Sorry to bring you out here like this.”
“Thanks, Chief. Rose.”
I tipped my head to them each in turn, then hustled Eden back to the warmth of my car. Even once the engine was running and the heat kicked in, I could hear Eden’s teeth chattering beside me.
“Eden, baby, come here,” I murmured.
She didn’t hesitate, just scooted as close as she could get and let me hold her until the trembling stopped.
“You with me?” I asked.
“Yes.”
The word was barely more than a puff of breath against my throat, so I squeezed her tight. “We’re going to get through this, Eden. Together. Yes?”
This time, she tipped her head to look at me and managed a tiny smile. “Yes, Milo. Together.”
I couldn’t hold back the rush of relief at her confirmation. “That’s my girl.”
Chapter Thirty
Eden
Despitethelackofpersonal profiles for my brother or his wife, the Church of Eternal Light itself was all over social media these days.
I stared at the website, with links to multiple platforms for each of their half dozen churches throughout the state of New York. Though I hoped to recognize even a single person in any of the dozens of photos plastered across the different pages, aside from my parents and my brother, no one looked familiar.
“Why are you in Spruce Hill?” I whispered at my laptop screen.
Simon Baumgartner was probably close to my father’s age, but he appeared to be the youngest of the pastors from the various branches, aside from Isaiah.
And not a single one of them looked particularly capable of throwing a brick through a plate glass window, nevermind setting a car on fire in the street. Old, older, frail, frailer. It was like a lineup of grandfathers with age spots and wrinkles. They could have managed the envelope left in the mailbox, sure, if one of them happened to be in town, but the rest? It seemed unlikely, at best.
But if that was the case, who the hell was behind these things?
“Eden? Babe, you here?”
Addie poked her head through the doorway just as I closed the laptop. Her eyes narrowed on my face.
“Watching porn?”
“No, I am not,” I muttered.
“Researching romantic getaways?”
I glared and asked, “Do you need something, Adelaide?”
