The sheriff’s gaze sharpened. “I know. It’s a small town, and it’s sad it’s gotten to this. I have to treat it as probably being associated with whatever’s going on with you—with the calls and the flowers.”
“You think this was geared toward me?” she asked. “I don’t know. It seems like a simple smash and grab.”
“It looks like it,” Rory agreed.
Serenity leaned into his side, grateful for his warmth. The quiet area felt violated, its once peaceful atmosphere tainted by whoever had dared breach it. She shivered again.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Not really.” It was surprising, actually, that there was such crime in the small town. “I mean, I guess it makes sense somebody would steal the knives, but I had some cash in the office.”
“I know. It was in the drawer.” Rory pulled her cash bag from his back pocket and handed it to her. “You need to deposit it every day and not wait like you have been.”
The sheriff looked at the envelope. “How much is in there?”
“About two hundred,” she said. “I was just in a hurry today and didn’t swing by the bank.” Truth be told, she’d been worried about Rory.
“Come on,” Rory urged. “Let’s get you home.”
The sheriff finished a notation. “After my deputy gets here to dust for prints, we’ll secure the door with wood. You don’t need to worry about that.”
She looked around. If she came in early the next day, she could clean up before opening. “I appreciate the fast response, Sheriff.” The man was great at his job, and she needed to take him some homemade cookies later this week. Peanut butter were his favorite.
The sheriff examined the broken glass. “No problem. We’ll also canvas the area, but…”
“I know. No one’s around this late at night,” she said. “But thank you again, Sheriff.”
“You bet.”
“I’m sorry about this, Serenity,” Rory whispered, gently pulling her back out into the night.
She felt sick to her stomach. “It’s not your fault.”
He halted suddenly.
“What?” she asked.
The sudden roar of an engine pierced the frigid air as a dented blue Ford Bronco raced past, its headlights illuminating the frost-kissed trees.
“Down!” Rory bellowed, enveloping her and taking her to the harsh ice.
She yelped as gunshots erupted from the speeding vehicle, breaking the stillness and cracking wildly against the building.
Sheriff Franco leaped out of the store, his gun out, firing immediately at the rapidly dwindling taillights.
Then silence. Even the bitter cold seemed to hold its breath as if in stark terror.
Rory jumped up and had Serenity back inside the store within a heartbeat. “What the hell?”
The sheriff gestured at the blown-out tires on both rigs. “There’s no chasing him.” He tugged a cell phone out of his pocket and bellowed orders to his deputies to pursue the vehicle, giving a description far more detailed than Serenity could ever do.
Fury flowed from Rory as he stalked to the bricks and started prying metal from them.
The sheriff’s eyebrows rose. “Your stalking case just got a lot more serious. You’ll both need to come down to the station and give a statement. Start thinking about who’d want to shoot you. Both of you.”
Her stomach lurched as she looked back outside at the once-again-peaceful parking lot. The snowflakes continued their descent, clueless to the violence that had momentarily disrupted the tranquility.
Who had just tried to kill them?
