Page 203 of Twins for Three Bad Boys

I don’t give them anything to work with, just a line in the sand.

I hit send, close the laptop, and let my hands rest on the edge of the bench.

“That won’t stop them,” Rex says.

“I know,” I answer.

Fletcher jerks his head toward the office. “Call Pike.”

I nod.

Pike answers after a couple of rings. “Calder.”

“Got another one,” I tell him.

“Same source?”

“Yeah. It’s escalating.”

There’s a pause on the other end, the faint sound of typing picking up as he moves. “Forward it.”

“Already did.”

I wait on tenterhooks while he taps at his keyboard for several minutes, Fletcher and Rex too.

At last Pike says, “There’s a pattern here.”

I tighten my grip on the phone slightly. “What kind of pattern?”

“I haven’t quite figured it out yet, but I will.”

“Don’t take too long.”

“I hear you.”

I end the call and stand there, letting everything settle into place.

Then I look back at Fletcher and Rex. “We need to talk to June.”

Fletcher nods without hesitation. “Yeah.”

Rex pushes off the bench. “She at the house?”

“She should be.”

“I’ll grab her.”

“I’ll go,” I cut in, already moving.

They both look at me, but neither of them argues.

June’s in the kitchen when I get back, standing at the counter making something while Evan sits at the table playing with one of the toys she made for him, completely absorbed in it. The normalcy of the scene hits me harder than usual, considering everything else running underneath the surface right now.

She looks up as soon as I walk in, and whatever she sees in my face is enough to make her go still. “What’s wrong?”

I don’t answer immediately. I just step further into the room, lowering my voice so Evan doesn’t catch it. “We need to talk.”

She straightens slightly, alert now, already bracing without meaning to. “Okay.”