“You sleep at all?” I asked.
“Two hours,” he muttered, not looking up. “My contact was sending me updates through the night. Harmony’s old channels forked through five relays she didn’t recognize. That means someone’s either rewriting her signature or piggybacking off an old session she forgot to purge.”
I paused mid-reach for another tray. “Is that bad?”
“A little.”
Translation: extremely.
He continued, “She’s running scans on every outgoing node, but whoever this is knows how to hide.”
My jaw flexed. “So what do we do?”
“Track it,” Becket said calmly. “And wait.”
Becket only said “wait” when he was certain waiting was the least reckless option, but even then it never felt good.
“Should we discuss who this crime analyst is who’s messaging you in the middle of the night?” I cocked my brow and gave him a mischievous grin. Maybe it was because my heart was beating differently with Harmony in my life, and I wanted to see my brother feeling the warmth of a woman in his life.
“You’re getting mushy on me. First Phoenix, now you,” he complained.
“Come on, that isn’t a bad thing,” I feigned.
“Look, I appreciate that you love Harmony,” he said, even if I hadn’t made that admission yet. “But a serious relationship isn’t in the cards for me. Accept it and move on.”
Yup, I wasn’t getting through to him right now. “I just want what’s best for you, bro,” I said to him.
“Dad reopening Mom’s missing person’s case is what’s best,” he replied. We were back to this again.
I exhaled and he closed his computer. “I’m going to make rounds around town.”
“Okay,” I said. “Here, take a maple twist to go.”
I passed him one in a paper bag.
“Thanks.” He looked at the bag. “You don’t need to be doing this forever. My guess is, Harmony would love to run the bakeries.”
He remembered how she was into baking. How she used to talk about her mother’s recipes and left them behind when she ran away from town.
“Not there yet, but thanks for the idea.” I winked like what he had suggested was no big deal. He left and I got back to work.
By evening, Main Street looked peaceful in that small-town way that fooled outsiders.
Families pushed strollers along the sidewalks, elderly couples lingered with coffees outside the café, and a group of teens cut across toward the park behind the community center. But Dad hadn’t let any of that fool him. He’d added two additional patrols on the north end of the street. And he upgraded the cameras facing Main Street earlier in the week. He also told every officer on duty to keep an eye out for a navy sedan or anything resembling Harmony’s previous sightings. He didn’ttalk about it around her, but I saw the way his eyes sharpened every time a car slowed near the shop.
He was tightening the perimeter. Quietly. Efficiently. The same way he had during major investigations before the public ever realized something was wrong. Harmony didn’t know it, but the whole town was bending around her safety.
At night she slept in my arms and by day we worked across the street from each other. It was convenient how close we were because it gave me peace during the day, knowing I was close if she needed me.
My phone buzzed with a text.
Harmony:We’re running low on white peonies. Can you bring a box from the back storage? Sandy needs it for the bridal order.
I smiled despite everything.
Me:On my way.
Becket walked in just as I was heading across the street. Knowing him, it was an unofficial check-in. Val-Du- Lys wasn’t known as a high crime area, except for the dealings of the Bellerose family, so it made sense that Harmony was the major case in town. “Tell her I said no hacking until I get a full trace. And I mean it.”
