Page 53 of Lost in the Moonlight

My voice cracked, and Lincoln reached for my arm, pulling me into him once more.

“That’s why you wouldn’t tell the police about Poco. You were afraid the Marshals would catch wind and want to relocate you.”

“If it was just Poco being overly aggressive, I could handle it, but if it’s…”

Lincoln rubbed my back, a soothing gesture.

I took in a deep breath and said, “Poco came into the coffee shop this morning. He thought…” It was embarrassment that had my words fading away this time. Saying out loud what Poco thought made it seem like I thought it too.

“He thought what?”

“He thought I’d lied about not wanting to date anyone. He was angry because he thought you and I were together, and he said…he said he’d make me beg…and that he’d get something else out of me.”

Goosebumps broke out simply remembering his words and the look that had accompanied them. Lincoln’s eyes darkened, fury radiating from him. He shoved up from the couch to pace in front of me. His warmth slowly bled away, leaving me trembling from head to toe. Not quite as bad as I had been that awful night in Chicago. My entire body had hurt from shaking that night. This time, when those dark memories threatened to overtake me, it was almost impossible to keep them at bay.

“Let’s check both our security systems. We might catch Poco at work. If it’s him, I have a few friends who can stop him from coming at you again without telling the Marshals.”

“Isn’t that, like…misuse of federal resources or something?” I said, giving him a watery smile.

“First, you’re a citizen needing protection, so I don’t believe so, but I wasn’t talking about the government. I have friends who can hook us up with private security.” He stopped his furious pacing in front of me. “You have the alarm app on your phone?”

I nodded, digging through my bag until I found it buried at the bottom. Lincoln squatted in front of me, watching as I found and opened the app and ran backward through the morning. Only minutes after Mom and I had pulled out of the driveway,a person in a ski mask showed up. Flat chested, muscled arms, a square body. Every inch of him was covered in black from the mask on his head to the boots on his feet. Even his gloves were black. As if aware of the cameras, he kept his face turned down and away.

It could have been anyone at that door.

It could have been Poco, as he’d been wearing black this morning, and the person at the door was shorter than Lincoln, but nothing on the video really revealed who the person was. Neither the police nor the Marshals would be able to do much with this.

I had to call Mom. I had to make sure she hadn’t been followed. I had to make sure she was safe. And she needed to hear this from me before she saw it on the app. She’d leave the decathlon, and that made me sad for her and the kids who’d worked so hard for an entire school year, earning their spot at the state competition. She’d have to wait for another adult to get there, but she would leave. If push came to shove, she might even leave them alone in order to get to me.

But what if this was really just Poco? He’d just given me those weird, vague threats. It seemed much more likely to be him than the Viceroys. As the first wild edge of panic left and reason started to take over, I knew it couldn’t be the Viceroys. It couldn’t. The Marshals would know if Aaron Vitale had left Chicago. They’d know if he’d sent any of his men after me. Wouldn’t they?

I’d just call Deputy Marshal James to check. I’d call Mom to make sure she was okay and that she hadn’t been followed. Once they confirmed what I already knew, I could decide what to do about Poco trying to frighten me.

I hesitated for two seconds, saved the video to my phone, and then deleted it from the security app. I wasn’t stupid enough toerase it without backing it up. I knew we might need it, but this way I could tell Mom in my own way and on my own time table.

“I don’t think you should stay here. Let’s go across the street and have a look at my cameras. Then, we can decide who to call,” Lincoln suggested.

I met his concerned gaze with a much calmer one. “What’s the point of looking at your cameras? No one is going to be able to tell who this is. And since they wore gloves, there isn’t going to be any prints either.”

“First, whoever this is may not realize I had cameras directed at your house, and they could have taken the ski mask off as soon as they left your yard so as not to draw attention to themselves on the street. Second, they may have worn gloves while sticking the note to your door, but they may not have worn them while writing it. So there may be prints. And if there isn’t, just the paper and ink might be able to tell us something.”

He waited for me at the door, and my old fear about leaving the house hit me in the stomach. It had taken me weeks before I’d been able to leave the hotel we’d been moved to while the Marshals disbanded our lives in Chicago. Once I’d gotten to Cherry Bay, staying at the cottage while I’d finished high school online hadn’t been a problem. Leaving had been. Mom had encouraged me step by step, first with work on the garden and then with shopping for ingredients to make some of the recipes from the food shows and videos I’d been watching. Short trips blended into longer trips until I’d been able to enroll in classes at Bonnin and leave for hours at a time.

Lincoln held out his hand. “I’ve got you.”

The statement was sure and strong, just like him. But still, doubts plagued me. Could he really keep me safe? Could anyone? Didn’t I know personally just how easy it was to break into a house? A single gunshot could dismantle a lock. A secondgunshot could disable you before you had time to move. Would that happen again? To me? To Lincoln?

My throat seemed to close.

“Willow. I promise. No one is going to hurt you while we cross the street, and I’m not leaving you here alone.”

It was the absolute resolve in his tone as much as the words themselves that allowed me to breathe again. That had me reaching out a trembling hand to take his. His grip was firm. Sure. Warm. His eyes were full of compassion. As we went by, I grabbed my keys from where they’d landed next to the balled-up paper on the side table. I shuddered just looking at it, but Lincoln picked it up with two fingers.

I armed the system and locked the door all while Lincoln held my hand. His thumb rubbed along my skin. Reassuring and also terrifying in its own way. That soul-stealing attraction humming even now with evil tapping on my shoulder once again.

Across the street and through his door, he repeated the process in reverse, disarming his system in a grand entryway full of shimmering, incandescent surfaces. I barely had time to take it in before he led me into a bright office done in beautiful shades of blue and white and silver. He flicked a light switch, and an antique chandelier sparkled to life, leaving patches of rainbow confetti along the surface.

As Lincoln left me and walked over to his desk, the cold pushed at me. It let in the darkness and memories that tried to pull me into the shadows.

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