CHAPTER 10
Wyatt gotthe text from Kori at 10:27.
I went back to Mackenzie’s apartment, and someone was inside. I’m okay, and I already called 911. Just wanted to let you know.
Kori had gone back to Mackenzie’s apartment? Even after knowing someone had been watching her when she was inside last time?
Kori was clearly a smart woman. So what had she been thinking?
He and Thunder were in his truck in two minutes and at the apartment in eight.
County Sheriff Micah Sutherland’s SUV was already out front, along with an ambulance.
Wyatt took the stairs two at a time, his thoughts racing through worst-case scenarios.
The apartment door was open, and glass lay shattered on the floor near the entry. Books had fallen from the shelf and lay haphazard on top of the broken glass.
Micah stood near the kitchen table, his notebook out. He looked up when Wyatt appeared in the doorway. “That was fast.”
He glanced around, looking for Kori. “Where’s Kori? Is she okay?”
“Shaken but okay. The intruder shoved her into the wall, but she wasn’t hurt. Paramedics already checked her out.” Micah glanced toward the hallway. “She went to the restroom to splash some water on her face.”
A moment later, Kori stepped out. Her arms were crossed, and Wyatt noted she was barely holding it together. What had happened had shaken her—and rightfully so.
She paused in front of him. “Wyatt . . . you didn’t have to come. I just wanted to keep you in the loop. That’s why I texted.”
A blizzard couldn’t have kept him away.
He shifted. “Can you walk me through what happened?”
He wasn’t an investigator. He was a park ranger who specialized in search and rescue. But he couldn’t help but feel this break-in was relevant, that he needed to know the details if he wanted to find Mackenzie.
Plus . . . he was concerned about Kori. No, he didn’t know her. Yes, she was only a civilian needing help. But something about her story drew him in.
He wanted answers—for her sake.
Kori walked him through how she’d come in the front door, sensed something wrong, and grabbed the vase from the shelf near the door. The figure darted from the bedroom. From what she could tell, he’d been empty-handed. He’d caught her shoulder on the way past, and he disappeared as quickly as he’d appeared.
“Did you get a good look at the person?” Wyatt asked.
She rubbed her neck, suddenly appearing exhausted. “Not his face. He was wearing a dark jacket with the hood up. There was something on the jacket. On the back, between the shoulders. I only saw it for a second.”
“What did it look like?”
She pressed her lips together as if working through it. “A circle. Something was inside it—branches, maybe, or a tree. And maybe some flames.”
“Could you sketch it out for us?” Micah asked.
“Sure. I can try.”
He pulled a piece of paper from the pad he held and placed it in front of her. She did her best to recreate the image.
Wyatt committed the image to memory.
Micah had been writing something down, and he flipped the notebook closed and looked at Wyatt. “Can I have a minute?”
The two of them stepped into the hallway, and Micah instructed Thunder to guard Kori. Then he pulled the door mostly closed behind them.
