Page 9 of Shadow Justice

He took a small bag from inside his coat. Dawson slipped the card into it. “This is the kind of thing we need to know about immediately,” she said.

“I found it twenty minutes ago. I was still deciding whether it was a prank.”

“We don’t think it’s a prank,” Cahors said.

Holly wrapped her arms around herself. “Because of the wording.”

Dawson’s gaze met hers. “Because of the wording.”

Some people don’t deserve sanctuary.

Cahors tucked the bag away. “Until we have a better sense of who left this and whether you’re being directly targeted, we need to take precautions.”

“Precautions,” Holly repeated. “Like what?”

“We don’t want to alarm your staff or customers,” Dawson said. “This investigation is not public. If word gets out, the person we’re looking for may disappear or escalate.”

“Escalate how?”

Neither agent answered quickly enough.

Holly laughed once, humorlessly. “Right. Another detail I don’t want.”

Dawson stepped closer, lowering her voice. “Ms. Bristol, I know this is a lot. But if this person is watching your shop, and if he’s using your business to select victims, you may be at risk. We’re coordinating with local law enforcement and bringing in additional support for you.”

“What kind of support?”

“Shadow Point Security,” Cahors said.

Holly knew some of the men by sight. A few came in for coffee when they were in town. They were competent, quiet, and the kind of dangerous men that didn’t invite conversation.

Like Reid.

“Oh, no,” Holly said before either could continue. “I can’t have armed security turning this place into a spectacle and scaring off my customers.”

Dawson lifted an eyebrow. “You haven’t heard the arrangement.”

“I don’t need to.”

“SPS has resources we need and people familiar with the area and some of your customers.”

Holly knew who they meant. “You said local law enforcement was involved.”

“Limited,” Cahors said. “We’re keeping the circle tight.”

Holly’s pulse had begun to pound in a quick rhythm. “You don’t understand.”

Dawson’s voice was careful. “What don’t we understand?”

Her lips moved but nothing came out. She’d survived too much by keeping her pain private. She hadn’t built this shop, this life, this careful version of herself to explain to two federal agents that Reid Fleming was not simply Shadow Point’s convenient legal asset or the guy who knew many of her customers because he’d grown up here.

He was the man who’d shown her exactly how it felt to be wanted by someone she wanted back, then vanished into the Navy.

It had been one night years ago. Adults had one-night stands all the time. They got over them. They moved on. They did not compare every perfectly decent man to the memory of dark eyes and warm hands.

Except apparently, sometimes they did. “I don’t need protection,” she insisted. “I have a dog and security cameras.”

Dawson gave her a sympathetic smile. “Someone left a message for you.”