“Okay,” I say slowly.
“I’ve noticed a squad car driving through the alley. A couple of nights ago, it pulled in and sat there for a while. I checked the dispatch, and there were no calls in the area. The car just parked there.”
“For what?” Talon asks.
“That’s what I couldn’t figure out. So I looked into it a little further.”
“Let me guess, the car is registered to the same officer. Coach’s brother, Allen.”
“Yeah,” Reed confirms.
I start the truck, but don’t pull out yet.
“He was parked next to her car,” Reed says. “He got out and circled it once, like he was checking for something.”
“That’s not normal, man,” Talon mutters.
“No,” I agree.
“Did she ever tell you that she was pulled over by him before?” Reed asks.
“She what?” I ask.
Reed nods. “It was almost two months ago now. Looks like he wrote her a warning.”
“That’s not automatically suspicious,” Owen says.
I’m thinking through the timing, about how long it’s been since we first met.
“I think that’s around the time she moved to Rixton,” I add.
“If you know Coach has eyes on her, and she was pulled over around the time she got into town, maybe that’s what alerted him that she was here,” Kade suggests.
“Maybe,” I say.
He’s not wrong. It definitely makes sense.
“If they’ve been watching her since she showed up in town, then this didn’t start because she was talking to me.”
The truck idles.
“What reason would they have to follow her, though?” Owen asks.
“If his brother’s involved,” Talon says, “then Coach has to be too.”
Kade leans back slightly. “And if that’s the case, then her showing up? That’s not nothing. That’s a problem.”
I shake my head. “Because if people start asking questions about her…”
“They start asking questions about him,” Owen finishes.
“And if that’s true,” Kade adds, “then the last thing he wants is anyone sniffing around the fact he’s got a daughter no one knows about.”
I drag a hand over my mouth, trying to piece it together. “She shows up in town. His brother pulls her over. Not long after, she’s working at the bar. She gets approached in the alley. Someone gets into the house and takes photos of my notebook.And now we’ve got proof he’s been around the bar and her place.”
I exhale slowly. “That’s not a coincidence.”
“Everything with the notebook—they wanted you to doubt her,” Talon says finally.
