Page 66 of Tactical Revival

“We’re about to dive headfirst into one of the most difficult cases of my career. You said there’s nothing we can use?”

He shakes his head. “A couple stills of the guy as he was slipping out of the B&B. He did climb out of the window.”

“How did he get in?”

“Looks like your apartment,” he tells me.

My blood chills. “What?”

“Because he came in when the alarm was disabled, we didn’t get a proximity alert. It looks like whoever it was entered through your bedroom window.”

“My bedroom? He was in my bedroom?” The room around me begins to spin as panic sets in. “I feel sick.” Bile burns in my throat.

Jaxson crosses over and stands beside me, then presses a hand to my upper back where he starts rubbing slow circles. “You and Matty are safe,” he reminds me. “That’s what matters.”

My mind is reeling, going over the events of the evening while trying to figure out just how someone managed to get in through my bedroom window. I always check to make sure it’s locked. Literally every single night before I go to bed. Which means they had to have come in at a time earlier in the day and unlocked it. All without me knowing. Matty. Matty had been home. They could have hurt him.

The room spins faster and faster.

I look up at Jaxson. “The pipes. What if someone loosened them to distract me so they could get upstairs?”

Jaxson’s gaze darkens.

“What pipes?” Lance asks.

“The pipes in Matty’s bathroom were leaking. I was distracted while I tried to get the water to stop pouring out. What if they used that to sneak upstairs?”

“But I came from upstairs, and I didn’t see anyone.”

“It’s entirely possible that they managed to get up before you saw them, though. It was at least five minutes before you got downstairs. It had to be.” I try to recall feeling like anything was off, but I’d been so occupied with my nerves over the night as well as the pipes that I probably would’ve missed an entire drumline if they’d played through the B&B. “And whoever it is must have gotten into my apartment through the front. They had to have. I don’t see how they got in through my bedroom window when I lock it every single night.”

“We didn’t see anyone on the cameras,” Elijah insists. “Just your registered guests, and nothing popped as out of the ordinary with any of them. We ran backgrounds,” he adds.

I can’t even get into how violated that would likely make my guests feel if they knew about it, because right now my top priority is trying to make sure Matty is secure.

“Is it possible Matty unlocked the window?” Lance asks.

“No, I—” I groan and cover my face. “It was me. I did open the window before church. It was so nice out, and I wanted to get some fresh air into the apartment. I must have forgotten to lock it.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“It is my fault,” I snap at Jaxson. “Whoever set my B&B on fire got in because I forgot to lock my window. They had direct access to my son because of my carelessness.” My eyes fill, and I suck in a breath. How stupid could I be?

The door opens, and Michael steps in, Reyna at his side. My brother’s dark gaze, so like my own, finds me, and I rush forward, feeling like a terrified little girl again who’d had a nightmare and went to her big brother for help.

He wraps his arms around me, and I hold on to him, breathing in his familiar scent.

Jaxson makes me feel safe.

But my big brother will always feel like home.

“It’s okay, sis. Matty is with Mom and Dad, and we’ll catch this guy, okay? Both of them,” he adds, and I know that he’s speaking about whoever took Lanetti.

Sniffling, I pull away, then take a deep breath and steady my emotions. “Okay.”

“Catch me up on what we’ve got,” Michael says, then leans back against the desk as Reyna moves to my side and wraps an arm around my waist.

“Hey, sweetie, can I come in?” My mom cracks the door to my childhood bedroom, then peeks inside.

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