“She was upset over the way she treated you,” I add, her head bobbing slightly as she lets that sink in. “She writes something different now under a new name. I think she’d like to reconnect if that is a path you want to explore.”
“I’ll think about it.” Her smile is brief but there’s hope in her eyes that wasn’t there before.
“Are we good to continue?” Royce asks, and without waiting for an answer says, “Because I won’t lie; this is weird. I’m used to you just barking at me. Clipped. No-nonsense. I’m having a hard time being treated like a regular person when we’re working.”
I snort and Kat’s eyes widen—part guilt and part amusement.
“He means that lovingly.”
“Sure, let’s go with that,” he quips as he barrels on. “Kat’s social media has exploded on both sides.” He hums as papers shuffle around. “There was an interesting shift in the hate content from Sloane’s side to the children’s book side.”
“What do you mean?”
“A new throwaway account was created yesterday morning. There are no public posts, but they sent you a message that readssinners get punishedin all caps. The account has been inactive since then.”
“What about the tracking devices in her car?” I ask as the color drains from Kat’s face.
“Pretty standard, impossible to trace but it means that they either took the chance that Kat was going to leave on her own or they had something else planned.”
Letting my eyelids fall shut, I sit back in my chair and work through all the pieces we have so far. We’re missing something, and I can’t help but feel the answer is right in front of us.
From the corner of my eye, I see Kat wipe at her face, my gut clenching that she’s upset, that all of this is happening to her and she’s a spectator of her own life. Swallowing hard, I reach for her other hand, intertwining our fingers together and resting our joined hands in her lap.
It’s a small gesture, but it feels like I’m kissing her in the middle of a busy street. Seconds pass before she squeezes herhand against mine, her other hand resting on top. Relief floods through me and I’m happy that I did the right thing.
“Kat, can you tell me everything you can remember about what happened yesterday?” The question feels like a whip cracking in the near-silent room but she doesn’t cower, instead leaning closer to the speaker as she tightens her grip on my hand.
“I’d only planned to be gone five or ten minutes. The song playing on the radio was the new one from Descending North. I know the lead singer, Garrett. He’s friends with my brother and I remember wanting to reach out to tell Garrett I liked the song.”
“All right.” Royce’s tone is full of encouragement. “What happened next?”
“I felt good, just having that little bit of freedom. I was planning to make a turn to head back to the house when I noticed a car behind me. It startled me because of how close it was following.”
“You’re doing great,” I murmur reassuringly even as I want to flip the desk in front of us.
“I…I don’t remember exactly but I knew they were following me, and I was scared and missed the turn I wanted. The rest happened so fast. They were behind me and then on the side and I was trying so hard to keep my car on the road. And I didn’t know what else to do. I thought if I sped up they’d stop crashing into me, but they didn’t. They didn’t stop.”
Twisting in my seat, I press a kiss to her temple.
“Did it feel reckless?” I ask carefully. “When the car crashed into you? Did it feel like they were in control or did it feel impulsive?”
She opens her mouth immediately to answer and then frowns as she shakes her head. “In the moment, it felt reckless but I don’t think it was. It wasn’t constant. Like they’d make contact and then back off, maybe? We were the only two carson the road, and they easily could have rammed into me hard enough to send me off the pavement.”
“A scare tactic then,” Royce says, his voice hard, undoubtedly remembering all the things that had been done to Kinsley before the suspect had been identified and apprehended.
“Sounds like it,” I reply, scrubbing my free hand over my short hair as I will the answers to come to me. “We need a plan.”
And fast.
39
KAT
Grimm joined the call right before we hung up. The kid had mostly been a dead end once Grimm located his truck in the high school’s parking lot. The teenager had been approached by ahot older ladywith long blonde hair and dark clothes on Sunday at the gas station.
She paid him a hundred bucks to graffiti my garage door. He said it was supposed to be a joke, and he needed the money to take his girlfriend out to the movies. Grimm said the kid almost peed his pants when he realized it was not a prank.
And now, under Jace’s watchful eye, he’s repainting the door. He also said he remembered part of a license plate but I stopped paying attention, excusing myself and wandering back through the downstairs to the kitchen. There’s no tea kettle to speak of, but that feels like the least of my worries as I pull a small pot from one of the bottom cabinets and fill it with water.
