“Such a shame.”
Hayes shook his head and moved in close. He paused for a moment and then wrapped his arms around me in a hug that managed to be both gentle and all-consuming. “I’m glad you’re okay. Scared the life out of me when I got the call.”
My eyes burned as I pressed my cheek against his chest. “Thanks for coming back for me.”
“I’ll come back for you anytime you ask, Ev. Or even if you don’t.”
25
Hayes
I eased down into the chair in my study, hitting the timer on my phone for three hours. I scrubbed a hand over my face as I watched the seconds tick by. Sleep wouldn’t be happening tonight.
Everything in me felt like it was going haywire. Short-circuiting and sending jolts of electricity through me. Like when Everly had pressed her cheek harder against my chest as if I were her only source of comfort. Or looking at her asleep in my guest bed just now. She’d curled herself into a position that didn’t seem at all comfortable, as if she were shielding herself from potential attack, yet her face was completely relaxed.
“Get a grip, Easton.” I tapped a recent call on my phone.
“Sheriff’s department.”
“Hey, Williams, it’s Easton.”
“Hey, Sheriff. How’s Ms. Kemper doing?”
The kid had a good heart on him, and I hoped he kept it as he worked the job longer. It was tough not to let this line of work harden you a bit, make you more skeptical. But if you logged the moments where you saw the best in humanity, you could hold onto that optimism. “She’s going to be fine. Got a concussion and some stitches, but it could’ve been a lot worse.”
“Who’s doing this, boss?”
“I wish I had a clue. Has anything turned up tonight?”
“You know I would’ve called you if it had.”
I leaned back in my chair, my muscles protesting the movement. “I had to check.”
“I know it. Ruiz and I logged the evidence, and the techs should get to it first thing.”
“Thanks. Call me if anything else pops up.”
“Will do. Get some sleep if you can.”
I hung up without agreeing. I didn’t lie to the people who worked for me, and I wasn’t going to start now over something as stupid as sleep. Instead, I lifted the screen to my laptop and tapped a key, waking it up. Keying in a couple of passwords, I logged into our department’s system.
I needed to read over Cammie’s statement again. Maybe that would knock something loose. Any clue that might send me in a new direction. I read everything we had four times before my eyes started to cross.
I pushed to my feet and paced the wide-planked boards of my floor. Maybe I needed to cast a wider net. These were the only incidents in our county, but that didn’t mean there weren’t more elsewhere.
I turned back to my computer and sat, typing in a few search terms. The number of cases that lined my screen had a wave of nausea sweeping through me—too much darkness in this world. But I’d have to start somewhere, and that meant combing through each individual case.
I slid a cup of coffee across the counter to Hadley. “Thanks for coming over, even though you worked last night.”
“No problem. I actually got five hours of sleep after we took Everly in. Looks like it was a hell of a lot more than you.”
I knew I looked like death warmed over. My eyes felt like someone had poured acid in them, and my head was giving a steady thrum. “Nothing a few gallons of coffee won’t fix.”
“You could take a day off and catch up on some sleep.”
“Not with everything going on right now. I’ve got a slew of cases I need to sift through and see if any of them match what’s going on here.”
Hadley straightened on her stool. “You’re thinking serial?”
“It has to be the same person who tried to grab Cammie. That’s two attempts. He has most likely done this before. But not around here. We don’t have any unsolveds with the same MO.” I bent forward to meet my little sister’s gaze. “That means you need to be careful. No going off on your own for a hike or mountain biking. Take a buddy. No walking to your car alone at night, either.”
“Hayes. I carry bear spray and a keychain with spikes. I’ll be fine.”
“Hadley… This isn’t me being overprotective. Someone’s trying to take women in your age range. It would kill me if something happened to you. Please. Until we catch this guy, just cut me a break.”
She was silent for a moment as she scanned my face. “Okay. But you know the whole world doesn’t rest on your shoulders, right? It’s impossible to keep every single person in this county safe at all times. Bad things happen.”
“I’m well aware that bad things happen. And I’ll just start with keeping my family safe. Dad’s having the same talk with Shiloh this morning. Everyone is on the buddy system for now.”
“Even you?”
I sighed and leaned a hip against the counter. “Even me. I’m taking Young with me to interview some suspects now.”
Everly appeared at the edge of the kitchen. I hadn’t even heard her silent feet on the steps. “Ian?”
She looked so damn adorable, her hair a rat’s nest from sleep, her feet bare. “I need to have a word with him and Allen. I know I won’t get far, but at least I can read their reaction.”
“I really don’t think it was him. Like I said, it’s not his style.”
“What is his style?”
Everly visibly swallowed. “Brute force attack. He would’ve done whatever he intended to right there.”
Heat rose through my body, filling muscle and sinew, pouring into my blood. What the hell had Ian done to Everly?
Hadley cleared her throat. “You’re sure he doesn’t want you back home with the rest of your family? Maybe he decided to force that. You and Cammie look a little bit alike. Maybe he thought she was you.”
Everly let out a chuckle, but it had a bitter air to it. “Trust me, the last thing Ian wants is for me to be home with him.”
I hadn’t thought about it until now, but Cammie and Everly did look alike. Same hair color, similar builds. Whoever this was, obviously had a type. “For now, everyone just needs to be careful.”
Hadley set her coffee down on the counter. “Yeah, yeah, buddy system at all times.”
I sent a pointed stare in my sister’s direction. “If I find out you’re not holding to that, I’ll tell Mom about the time you snuck liquor out of the cabinet for that bonfire and were sick for days.”
Her mouth fell open. “You wouldn’t.”
“Test me.”
“I know a few things about you, too, Bubby. Careful before you start a war.”
I slid my phone into my pocket and palmed my keys. “You know I have far more ammunition on you.”
She looked to Everly for help. “He’s right, dammit.”
Ev pressed her lips into a firm line to keep from laughing. “Better wave the white flag now.”
“Listen to her, little sister.” I moved through the space and acted on instinct, dropping a kiss to the top of Everly’s head. “Call if you start feeling worse. Your pain meds are on the counter.”