Panic raced through her.
Had he had someone follow her?
No, she would have noticed that. Right?
Nothing made sense anymore.
The helicopter circled the house a couple of times.
Then it continued its path, the sound beginning to fade as it flew farther away. The tension eased from the air in small increments.
“It’s probably nothing,” Naomi said, though she sounded unconvinced. “We get the occasional flyover.”
“Not that low.” Caleb frowned as he stared at the sky. “And that doesn’t explain why it circled our property.”
Micah watched the copter until it disappeared beyond the trees. “I’ll check into it. See if anyone logged a flight in the area.”
“That’d be good,” Caleb said.
Rowan barely heard the rest of the exchange. Her focus shifted to Wes.
He stood a few feet away, his posture still. But his attention wasn’t on the sky anymore.
It was on her.
He’d always been able to see through her. To pick up on the smallest shifts, the things no one else questioned.
Nothing had changed. So much for an improvement in her acting skills. Wes could still read what she was thinking, no matter how hard she tried to disguise her inner turmoil.
“Let’s get back inside,” Naomi said. “Dinner’s getting cold.”
As everyone began moving toward the front door, Rowan lingered half a second longer on the porch, staring at the space where the helicopter had been.
Her pulse hadn’t settled. Not completely.
Because even as the sound faded, her unease didn’t.
Wes paused before going inside.
Just like Rowan, he kept his gaze on the sky another moment. Then he scanned past the edge of the property where the land dipped and rose again in uneven stretches.
Something caught his eye.
A thin line of gray against the dark sky.
Smoke.
His lungs tightened. “Hey, everyone. Hold on.”
Caleb turned toward him. “What is it?”
Wes lifted his chin toward the distance. “You see that?”
Caleb followed his line of sight. A second passed, then his posture shifted. “I see it.”
“Could be fire and rescue,” Naomi said. “Maybe the helicopter was theirs.”
“It didn’t have any markings to indicate that,” Sheriff Sutherland said. “But maybe.”
