Hannah snorted. “I can’t see that going over well with her.”
“After our last go round with the sabotage, she and Declan came to an agreement. She’ll put up with having a shadow.” I stopped outside her cabin door, frowning when she pushed it open without using her key. “First change is going to be locking that door.”
“Aye aye, sir.” She saluted me, and I tapped her bottom. A peal of laughter rang out but faded as she stepped through the doorway.
I pushed past her, gaze hardening as I took in the sight of the main room. Someone had tossed the place. “Stay here.”
I strode over to the first bedroom. The door stood open, but that didn’t mean someone wasn’t still inside. I felt Hannah at my back and looked over my shoulder. “I told you to stay where you were.”
“Not a chance. I’m safer next to you.”
My bear preened at that statement. “Fine. But if I tell you to run, you run.”
She nodded, and we stepped into Jonah’s bedroom, which had also been tossed. No one was there, but I checked the closet and under the bed to make sure. Next up was the bathroom. I pulled back the shower curtain, but it too was clear.
We approached Hannah’s bedroom. The door was wide open, and I quickly checked the room. Whoever had been here was gone. I left Hannah in her bedroom as I checked the cabin again, this time letting my shifter sense of smell sniff out anything that didn’t belong. Every scent I smelled was familiar, but one of them I couldn’t place. It nagged at me—which meantI’d met the person it belonged to—though I drew a blank on who. But was it related to the sabotage or just someone robbing an unlocked cabin?
I returned to Hannah’s room, where she stood staring at a picture frame. “Did you notice anything missing? The TV and Jonah’s console are here, so I don’t think it was a robbery.”
Hannah’s head snapped toward me. “Oh. Um, let me see.” Her gaze surveyed the room, stopping on a box along the wall. With a sharp intake of breath, she rushed over and flipped open the box. “Cassie’s laptop and her files are gone.”
Confusion washed over me. “Why would someone take your sister’s files?”
“I don’t know.” Hannah’s head shook. “I think the files were about her latest project. I know she was working on something big before she died, but notes about an article for a small town newspaper are hardly worth stealing. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Pieces of a puzzle I didn’t realize I’d been putting together snapped into place. Dread pooled in my gut. “Do you have a picture of your sister?”
“Of course.” She held up the frame in her hand, and I suddenly knew why Jonah’s eyes were familiar to me. They matched his mother’s perfectly. And his mother, my mate’s sister, was the reporter who was investigating the ranch’s sabotage with me. A reporter who had somehow ended up dead after claiming she was onto something.
Meeting my mate had driven all thoughts of my missing contact from my mind. Something I felt guilty about now. If I had tried harder to find her when she stopped emailing me, would she be alive today? And would Hannah ever forgive me if it turned out her sister’s death was related to her involvement with me?
Hannah
I sensed the change in Ethan immediately. It wasn’t just that his face paled, and his eyes held shock. Even his energy was different, as if he had withdrawn from me. “Ethan? What is it?”
He opened his mouth to speak but shut it again with a shake of his head. He paced the narrow space at the end of the bed. His fingers jamming furiously into his hair. When he finally spoke, his voice was low enough I could barely hear him. “Why? It has to be a coincidence. It can’t be because of me.”
Stepping in his way, I forced him to come to a stop. I placed my hands on his cheeks and met his eyes with a firm gaze. “Ethan. Whatever it is, just tell me.”
He swallowed and shuddered out a rough breath. “Your sister. I knew her.”
“Okay? How? And what does that have to do with anything?” My hands dropped, and my stomach tightened, as if preparing myself for a blow.
“She emailed the ranch a few months ago, saying she was writing a story about the sabotage. I answered her, and we started investigating it together. We met up a few times but mostly communicated through email.” His fists clenched and released, over and over. “The last time I heard from her, she said she was onto something. That it was big and could blow everything wide open. Said she’d get back in touch after she confirmed her theory. She never did. That was just over three weeks ago.”
My mind raced as it struggled to sort through everything Ethan said, and everything that had happened. The pieces fell into place, creating a picture I couldn’t bear to look at. ButI forced myself to, needing to bring everything into focus. “The accident. Except it might not have been an accident,” I whispered.
“I don’t know. But if someone is stealing your sister’s notes on the story, it makes me wonder.” Ethan blew out a breath. “What did Sheriff Danvers have to say about the investigation?”
“He blamed unexpected acceleration, caused by distracted driving. But that’s not Cassie. She never touched her phone when she drove.” I wrapped my arms around my middle, trying to soothe the ache building inside. “The sheriff wouldn’t listen to me. My plan was to have the car inspected at a garage. I thought they might find something mechanical at fault.”
Ethan frowned. “Mason can check it out for you.”
“That’s not necessary?—”
“It is.” His eyes closed. When they reopened, the pain in them staggered me. “I feel responsible. If I hadn’t answered her email, this might not have happened. I wanted to show my brothers I wasn’t just the family clown. I didn’t think about the danger it might put Cassie in.”
He was giving me someone to blame, and a big part of me wanted to take it. To pour my anger and grief out onto him. It would be easy and might even give me temporary relief. But I knew my sister. She never would have walked away from a story she believed in. And it was a story she’d got from me.
