Naomi turned quickly. “Grace—no. Where did you get that?”
Baby Grace had reached under the breakfast bar where they sat, and her tiny hand had found something beneath it. The child immediately tried to bring it toward her mouth.
Naomi pulled the object from her grasp.
The moment snapped Hadley back into focus as she leaned closer. “What did she grab?”
Naomi turned the object over in her hand.
Hadley leaned closer. A small black disc had been tucked beneath the lip of the counter where no one would think to look. A thin strip of adhesive held it in place, nearly invisible unless you knew it was there.
It didn’t look like a common piece of hardware.
She couldn’t be sure, but it almost looked like . . .
A chill slid through her.
“Is that . . . ?” She hesitated, her pulse quickening. “Is that a listening device?”
Max sat in the back of the SUV with Lyndee as Sheriff Sutherland drove toward the hospital. The siren wasn’t on, but urgency stretched taut through the air.
Tears streaked Lyndee’s face, and every few breaths hitched as if she were trying to keep herself together and failing. “I’m so sorry, Max. I should’ve listened to you and Stephen. I should have stayed away from Kenny.”
“You’re safe now.” Max kept his tone steady. “That’s what matters.”
“But I went back.” She swung her head back and forth. “After everything you did for me, I still wanted to go back to Kenny.”
“What happened the night you left, Lyndee?” Sheriff Sutherland glanced at her in the rearview mirror before returning his focus to the road.
Lyndee swallowed hard and drew in a shaky breath. “He sent me a message. Said I had tocome outside right then or he’d burn the whole place down.I thought maybe he’d already hurt someone.”
Max’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t interrupt.
“I couldn’t risk it,” Lyndee continued. “I mean, I know I was upset earlier. But I came to my senses. Then I got that note. I thought if I met him, maybe I could talk some sense into him. Or at least keep him from hurting anyone else.”
Sheriff Sutherland’s grip shifted on the wheel. “How did he even find you in the first place?”
“That’s the strange part.” She frowned as she tried to piece it together. “I didn’t contact him. I hadn’t spoken to him since I got to Refuge Cove.”
Max turned to see her face. “How did he contact you?”
“I found a message from him. Slipped under my door.”
Max sucked in a sharp breath at her words. “At Refuge Cove?”
She nodded, her expression uneasy now. “I thought it was strange too. But I didn’t know what else to think.”
Max exchanged a quick look with Sheriff Sutherland.
“That’s not all,” Lyndee said. “When he met me on the side of the road and shoved me into his truck . . . he said something else.”
Max’s focus sharpened. “What was that?”
“He said someone had contacted him,” Lyndee said. “And told him where I was staying. That I would never be safe, and he had people everywhere.”
“Did he say who?” Max asked.
“No, he didn’t. But that’s weird, right? Who at Refuge Cove would do that? One of the other women maybe?”
