Page 222 of Show Me

A cold weight settles into my chest. Someone was inside this house while I was here.

The back door slams. Adrenaline detonates through me. I shove through the kitchen and yank the door open.

A figure cuts across the far edge of the yard. “Hey!”

I sprint down the porch steps barefoot, ice biting into my feet. The figure darts toward the tree line. Smaller build. Definitely not Greg. Maybe Brent, but thinner than I remember.

Everything happens too fast to be sure. Pain slices through my heel when I land on a rock.

“Fuck.” I stumble before catching myself. “Stop!”

The figure disappears between the trees. I make it to the edge of the woods before stopping, breathing hard. Branches rustle somewhere ahead. Then nothing.

No footsteps. No snapping branches. No indication of which direction they went.

The note crumples tighter in my fist.

Leave her alone.

Someone climbed into Ruby’s house while I was fifteen fucking feet away. If she’d been here alone…. No.

I turn toward the house. The porch light spills across the yard. How in the fuck did they get inside?

*****

Jake gets there in less than ten minutes. I meet him outside, this time wearing boots and a jacket.

“What happened?”

I hold up the note. “Found it on the coffee table.”

His expression hardens. “You see anyone?”

“Ran out the back.” Anger surges through me at the thought. I was so close to catching them. If I’d come out of the bathroom ten seconds sooner….

“What’d they look like?”

I rake my hand through my hair. “Smaller than Greg. Maybe Brent’s build, but thinner. I didn’t get a good look.”

Jake takes the note carefully. “How long were you away from the room?”

“Fifteen minutes. Maybe.”

We go inside.

He barely makes it through the kitchen before stopping. “Cold in here.”

His eyes land on the sink. Darting upward. The window above the sink is cracked open several inches.

“That wasn’t open?”

“Definitely not.”

Jake moves closer without touching it. “Screen’s bent.” Faint smears of mud mark the floor beneath the window. “Looks like our entry point.”

Cold anger twists through my chest. Someone climbed through Ruby’s window while I was in the fucking house.

“Cameras?” Jake asks.