Angry and violated. Someone had been inside her home. Her haven. A place she went to feel safe and peaceful. It didn’t feel either of those things now. There wasn’t enough disinfectant to scrub away the image of a person breaking into her home and pawing through her belongings looking for something valuable to steal.

  They’d probably been disappointed as hell. Other than a television and some costume jewelry, she didn’t have anything worth stealing. She kept her laptop at the bookstore most of the time, and her phone had been with her.

  She didn’t have diamonds, stacks of cash, or artwork. There was no wall safe in her bedroom like in the movies. She’d purchased her furniture at a reasonable price, and her clothes and shoes weren’t designer. She dressed mostly for comfort the majority of the time. She didn’t have any hobbies where she collected items that might go up in value like coins or stamps or movie actions figures. She did have an expensive bicycle for when the weather was good, but from what she could see they hadn’t touched her garage.

  “I’m not sure I can be much help looking for anything they might have taken,” Zack said. “I wouldn’t know what’s missing. But I can pack a bag for you while you’re taking inventory if you like.”

  “A bag?” she echoed, unsure what he was talking about.

  “You aren’t planning to spend the night here, are you? I was thinking you could go to Cooper’s with me. He won’t mind.”

  This was how shaken up she was. She hadn’t even thought more than five minutes into the future. There was no way she’d want to spend the night here tonight. Or tomorrow night, probably. Right now, she was contemplating calling a realtor and putting the place up for sale.

  A huge overreaction to be sure, but she was still feeling raw. In a few days, she was sure she’d be far more rational.

  One excruciating hour later, she’d determined that nothing was missing although her expensive skin care products in the bathroom were total write-offs along with many of her pantry items in the kitchen.

  It looked to her that the burglar had been angry there hadn’t been anything to steal so he’d broken a bunch of stuff in retaliation, including a couple of wine bottles on the kitchen floor. She’d be finding glass for weeks. Luckily, Zack had helped her clean up the most egregious messes and the rest she’d leave for tomorrow when she was in a better frame of mind.

  Finn seemed surprised that nothing was taken but he gave her a copy of the police report in case she wanted to turn in any damage.

  “I would suggest getting a doorbell camera and a better lock. That one on your back door is flimsy. It looks like they were able to kick it in easily.”

  There had been a footprint on the back door. Finn had taken a photo in case they found a suspect, along with some footage from her neighbors’ doorbell cameras. With any luck, they might find the person.

  “We’ll go to the hardware store in the morning,” Zack said. “Or we can call Peter to change all the locks if you like.”

  “My dad has already offered to do it,” Lucy said, holding up her phone. “I sent them a text so they wouldn’t hear through gossip, and they wanted to come over right away, but I told them I wasn’t staying here either.”

  “We can stop there on the way to Cooper’s. They’ll want to see you and reassure themselves that you’re okay.” Zack turned his attention to Finn. “Does this happen often? Does this neighborhood have a lot of break-ins?”

  “Every neighborhood gets one from time to time. Mostly kids looking for weed or something they can pawn to buy drugs or alcohol. We don’t have a burglary ring here in town if that’s what you’re asking. By the way, I wanted to let you know that I’m putting Blake on your mother’s disappearance and whether Sarah’s death might be linked. He agreed to some overtime to look into things. I wanted to let you know in case the investigator you hire wants to contact him.”

  “I appreciate your cooperation, Finn,” Zack replied. “Not everyone would be this accommodating.”

  “Technically, I can’t stop you, but I know that your family has questions. I’m not sure hiring anyone will do any good, though. Cold cases are notoriously hard to solve. I don’t want you to get your hopes up too high. It won’t be easy.”

  Lucy looked out of her front window and was appalled by the scene outside. There was yellow crime scene tape around the front door which, of course, had attracted the attention of her neighbors. A crowd of onlookers had gathered outside, curious as to what the police were doing there.

  Zack came up behind her and peered out of the window.

  “I see we have an audience.”

  “We do,” she sighed. “I think we’re going to have a tough time getting out of here without everyone seeing and asking questions.”

  “Fuck ‘em,” Zack replied. “They already know that we’re together so that’s not news. As for the break-in? We’ll hurry into the car and not say a word. It will be interesting to hear in the morning what story they’ve made up.”

  “You’re a devious and dangerous man. I like the way you think.”

  “Stick with me. I won’t let them get you.”

  She’d put the curtain back into place and had turned to look directly at Zack. He had that look in his eyes again that she was coming to recognize. He had thoughts, and they weren’t good ones.

  “You think this break-in isn’t as innocent as Finn does.”

  “It’s kind of a coincidence. Sarah’s body is found. Ethan is shot in the backyard. Now your condo is broken into, but nothing is stolen. Maybe I’ve watched too many crime shows but it feels like someone is trying to send us a warning. I can’t be the only one that thinks it because you knew what I was thinking before I said anything.”

  “It crossed my mind very briefly,” she admitted. “But I rejected it immediately because it seemed far-fetched.”

  “A shooting and a burglary in the same day in this town is far-fetched,” Zack replied. “I think there’s a distinct possibility that someone doesn’t like us asking questions about Sarah. Look at how Ed Farrow reacted when we wanted to talk to him. He completely freaked out and called my dad. That doesn’t seem like a rational response to me.”

  “If someone is trying to scare me, they’ve succeeded. I don’t feel safe in my own home anymore.”

  “You don’t have to stay here. We’ll go to Cooper’s place.”

  That would be fine for a night or two, but eventually Zack was going to leave. Cooper was a great guy, but he probably didn’t want Lucy staying at his apartment because she was too chickenshit to go back to her home. She didn’t say that out loud, however. When the time came, she’d deal with it on her own.

  Like I’m an adult or something close to it.

  “We need to start from the beginning,” Zack went on. “I’m going to call my brothers and sisters and see if they can come to Cooper’s. We’ll order pizza and review what we know and where we go from here.”

  “I can call Jane, too.”

  “Do that. We can use all the brain power we’ve got.”

  Had someone broken into her home to scare her? But most importantly if they didn’t back off asking questions…

  Was this person prepared to do more? Or had they already done it by shooting Ethan?

  Was she or Zack next on the list?

  21

  When Zack had returned to Cooper’s apartment, he’d been surprised to see that his brother had returned. Frankie was once again sitting at the kitchen table, a wine glass in her hand while Cooper was texting on his phone.

  “I’m glad you’re back,” Zack said. “We have some important business to talk about.”

  “I have some news first,” Cooper replied. “Frankie and I met with the head of the private investigations firm, and we’ve hired them. They’re going to start digging into Dad’s business deals first.”

  Zack and Lucy quickly caught Cooper and Frankie up on what had happened that day, their amazement growing with each additional detail.

  “I knew it,” Frankie said, slapping the table for emphasis. “Our father is in this up to his eyeballs. He just has to be. I remember that slimy Ed Farrow, too. He used to come to my tennis matches and be all creepy. He was always trying to touch me, and I hated it.”

  “Touch you?” Lucy asked with a shudder. “That’s disgusting.”

  “He made me sick. He’d put his hand on my shoulder and then it would slowly slide down to my ass. He’d try and play with my hair or something like that. After a few times of that, I learned to keep other people between me and him. I could tell he liked them young if you know what I mean. He had eyes for all the young girls on the tour.”

  It sounded like Farrow needed to be kept away from females. All of them.

  “If Sarah went to that bar, and he had a habit of letting underage teenagers get in, I wonder if he ever tried to do that to her,” Zack said. “Maybe that’s why he did that. A steady supply of jailbait. You might want to tell that private investigator to check out Ed, as well. Frankie, how did Dad react to his golfing buddy being that friendly with his daughter?”

  “He said that I was being dramatic and seeking attention,” Frankie replied with a roll of her eyes, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “That I must have misunderstood, and that I shouldn’t say such things, because other people might get the wrong idea and think that Ed Farrow was a bad person. In other words, Dad didn’t care. Surprised?”

  Joel Winslow was never going to win any Father of the Year awards, but shit… He’d blown off his own daughter? Their dad should never have had kids. But the better question was did Joel know about his friend’s penchant for young girls? Had he turned a blind eye to the questionable behavior? And if so, what else was he ignoring for a friend?

  “You think that Lucy’s break-in is somehow related to Sarah’s disappearance and death? And Ethan’s shooting?” Cooper asked.

  “I don’t know for sure,” Zack replied. “But it’s a distinct possibility.”

  “You’re welcome to stay here as long as you need to,” Cooper said to Lucy. “Seriously, I mean that. As long as you want.”

  “Thank you, Cooper,” Lucy said. “I appreciate that. My parents are pushing for me to stay with them. I told them that I’d think about it.”

  Zack didn’t say it out loud, but he wanted Lucy with him. He didn’t feel like he could protect her if she wasn’t close by.

  “It’s up to you, but the offer is open.” Cooper swung his attention to Zack. “Should we confront Dad? He has to know more than he’s saying.”

  “I’m sure that he does,” Zack agreed. “But I doubt he’d ever admit it or tell us anything useful. He’d just deny everything and act like the victim. You know how he is. You confronted him about Sarah, and he didn’t say a word. He won’t now either. He’s a waste of time, honestly. If he won’t take Frankie’s side about being harassed by a dirty old man that’s his friend, he isn’t going to break down when we talk to him about his daughter that he kept a secret.”

  There was a knock at the door and Cooper answered it, letting in Jane, Tate, Piper, and Sam. Tate and Sam were carrying stacks of delicious-smelling pizzas, and Zack realized that they’d never eaten dinner earlier.

  Everyone filled their plate before gathering back in the living room, some on the couch or chairs and a few on the floor. Cooper had pulled out a whiteboard and several pads of sticky notes from his bedroom which puzzled the hell out of Zack. Why did his brother have a white board and sticky notes? Was this something left behind from the last tenant? Either way, it was coming in handy now as Cooper propped it up on the seat of a kitchen chair.

  “Okay,” his brother said. “Let’s put Sarah in the middle. Mom and Dad can each be on the outside. We don’t know for sure if Mom’s disappearance and Sarah’s are linked. We only suspect it. Then we add Ethan and Ed Farrow. Who else?”

  “Sarah’s parents,” Jane replied. “They seem a bit shady. From what everyone says, they didn’t treat her all that well, and her mother isn’t exactly broken-hearted about her child.”

  “What about Zack’s friends from high school?” Sam suggested. “They all said that he should drop his questioning which to me seems like suspicious behavior.”

  “I’m definitely going to talk to them again,” Zack said. “You’re right. They didn’t want to talk about Sarah, and they were pressuring me to let it all go.”

  “Then there’s Lucy,” Frankie said. “Her condo was broken into by someone. That’s a possible connection.”

  “We need to talk to Lloyd Daniels, too,” Lucy suggested. “If he knew about Sarah’s real parentage, he might know even more secrets.”

  “Agreed,” Zack said. “We can try and talk to him tomorrow.”

  “I’m a little confused here,” Jane said as Cooper drew lines to connect some of the sticky notes. “I thought you were going to hire a professional investigator. Is that not the case?”

  “We did hire a firm,” Cooper confirmed. “However, our mother’s disappearance is going to be their primary focus, and Sarah’s their secondary although we think that the two might be intertwined. We’d like to be able to give them as much information as possible to help them out. Some people are more likely to speak with us than they are strangers from out of town.”

  “That’s true,” Jane said. “I’m still considered a newcomer here in Winslow Heights.”

  For the next hour or so they discussed possible connections and theories, but none of them had any actual, hard evidence. It was all simply conjecture and nothing they could take to Finn. Not yet, anyway.

  Eventually the pizza was demolished, and they were going in circles. Piper’s wide yawn reminded them that it was getting late, and they all cleaned up the cardboard boxes, plates, and cups before slowly going home one by one.

  “I’ll walk you home,” Lucy offered to Jane. “You shouldn’t be out there after dark. Not right now.”

  A few days ago, Zack would have said there wasn’t a safer place than this town. He’d been wrong.

  “I think you’ve had enough excitement for one day,” Cooper said. “I’ll walk Jane home. It will only take a few minutes.”

  “I can walk home by myself,” Jane sighed. “I do it all the time after closing the bookstore.”

  “Humor us,” Cooper replied with a playful grin. “Lucy and Zack would be sad if anything happened to you.”

  “But not you?”

  “I can’t imagine anything happening to you, to be honest. I’m terrified of you, and I assume everyone else is, too.”

  “You should be. Okay, but don’t try and hold my hand or anything. This isn’t a date.”

  “Perish the thought. I’ll stay on my side of the sidewalk. Let’s go.”

  “They argue like brother and sister,” Zack observed when they’d gone, leaving him alone with Lucy. “Or an old married couple.”

  “They have a vibe going on,” Lucy chuckled. “Jane is dismissive of Cooper because of his womanizing. Her past relationship wasn’t a healthy one. She’s got a whole lot of shields up, and she barely even dates. She says that most men aren’t worth the time.”

  They got ready for bed, brushing their teeth and slipping between the sheets. After turning off the lights, Zack pulled Lucy close, her head resting on his chest as his body was beginning to relax after the long eventful day he’d had. He was starting to fall asleep when she spoke.

  “I must apologize, Zack. I saw the contract on the table in Tate’s. I can read upside down. I know that the guy was here about a job for you. When do you have to go?”

  So much had happened since talking to Gary, Zack had almost forgotten all about it. The contract was currently sitting in the back seat of his car in a file folder.

  “You don’t owe me any apologies. It’s not something that’s a secret or that I’m trying to hide. As for when I’m leaving, I haven’t accepted the job. Gary came here to try and talk me into it, but I haven’t made up my mind.”

  “Is it a good offer?” she asked after a long silence.

  “It is,” he admitted. “I doubt I could get a better one.”

  “Then you’d be crazy not to take it.”

  He couldn’t argue that sentiment although he kind of wanted to.

  “I haven’t decided. I need to think about it. It’s a huge decision.”

  Did she want him to stay? Would she say that out loud? Maybe they were too early in their relationship for that discussion. When he’d gotten involved with her, he hadn’t really been thinking about the future.

  But here they were, and he needed to. He had strong feelings for Lucy. Very strong. He wasn’t the type to throw around the L-word, but he could easily fall in love with her given the opportunity. Lucy was his lover and his friend, a combination that he’d thought was near impossible to find.

  Now he was lying in bed, wide awake, trying to think about what he wanted to do. In his entire life he’d never been this indecisive. He was losing patience quickly with himself.

  He couldn’t sleep, so he gently extricated himself from a sleeping Lucy, and he went out to the living room. He could check his email or read a book. Cooper had a million of them lying around. Anything to pass the time and detour his brain.

  Cooper was sitting on the couch, his laptop on the coffee table, tapping away at the keys.

  “Couldn’t sleep? There’s beer in the fridge. It might help.”

  “I don’t want to get in the habit of using alcohol to help me sleep,” Zack replied, sitting down on the chair next to the sofa. “But thanks for the offer. What are you doing?”

  “Email,” Cooper said. “I have lots of friends around the globe, and I want to keep in touch. What’s keeping you up? Are you going for a walk again tonight?”

  “No, I just want to…sit and think.”

  “Think about what?”

  “Do you really want to hear about it?”

  “Your life fascinates me,” Cooper said with a chuckle. “Go ahead. What are you thinking about?”

  “A guy came into town to try and convince me to take a job offer.”

  “Tate mentioned that. What did you decide to do?”