Page 31 of Stalked at Rescue Ridge

“Yes. Tan with black scuff marks.”

“Let’s back up. Tell me everything you recall,” Travis said.

“I was upset and wanted to find Kade. We’d had an…exchange earlier that was upsetting, so I wanted to clear the air.”

That statement tore at his gut. More guilt and shame nearly suffocated him.

She looked up at Travis. “What do you know about the person who did this to me?”

“Very little,” Travis said. “In all honesty, we know more about his victims, but a task force is being resurrected, folks who’ve been on the hunt for him eighteen months already.”

Bree looked like she needed a minute to let that sink in.

Chin up, she took a deep breath and continued. “I had a contraction that was painful enough to force me to pull over and wait it out. Weezie picked that moment to give me a hard time.” Weezie needed no explaining. The whole town knew Bree’s truck.

Bree blinked her eyes and tightened her grip on Kade’s hand.

It sounded to Kade like the man might have followed her for some time before making his move. Had he memorized her routines? Taken note of any time she’d be vulnerable? Of course, that was probably how serial killers worked. He remembered reading about a few over the years, like the BTK killer who’d referred to his victims as “projects.” Kade would’ve liked ten minutes alone in a locked room with that sicko. Show him what it was like to deal with someone bigger and stronger. But right now, all he could think about was the Reaper and how close he had come to losing Bree and the baby at the hands of the twisted individual.And how much it’s my fault she was in that position in the first place.

“Have you noticed anyone hanging around your street lately? Any strange vehicles parked on the road?” Travis jotted down a few notes on his notepad.

“No. Just you guys patrolling. My neighbors. Nothing that stands out.” Travis’s eyes did that thing again. Kade made another mental note to ask about it when the two of them were alone.

“Earlier, when you were talking to Kade, you said he’s done this before,” Bree said. Damn. Kade had hoped she’d been asleep during their conversation.

Travis nodded.

Bree stayed quiet for a long moment. “He was inside my house. He had to be. My back door was ajar one day. I didn’t notice until I was chasing a bee out of my kitchen. At the time, I chalked it up to a bad memory due to pregnancy hormones, but I’m certain a few items are missing—and I didn’t misplace them.”

“Which ones?” Travis asked, taking notes.

Bree listed her face powder, a deodorant stick, and her favorite lotion.

His mind still reeled from the news that Bree was pregnant—that nugget of information had rocked his world. So many unexplained events from the past few months clicked together in Kade’s mind. A wedding date that had come out of the blue. The reason Zeke had seemed so intent on rushing to the altar. Kade couldn’t think of a better reason to tie the knot in a blaze of hurry other than having a child on the way.

She glanced over at him, their gazes locked, and need welled up inside him as an ache hollowed out his chest.

It would be easy to forget that Bree wasn’t his to take care of while his protective instincts flared. It would be easy to pull her against his chest and tell her everything would be okay now. It would be easy to get lost in those dark-roast brown eyes of hers. Kade reminded himself that he was with the person his best friend intended to marry. He might’ve had one sizzling hot weekend with Bree, but she’d obviously loved his best friend. She was off-limits, and that wasn’t something he normally needed to remind himself of.

“Have you been in a fight with anyone?” Kade shot Travis a look. “Although unlikely, we have to take a copycat into consideration to rule it out.”

“No.”

“Could anyone you know wish you harm for any reason?” he continued.

“Her? You can’t be serious.” Kade probably shouldn’t interject his opinion, but who would want to hurt Bree?

“I know.” Travis brought his free hand up in the surrender position. “I have to ask. You’d be surprised how often a routine question can change the course of an investigation.”

Bree took a sip of water. “There’s no one I can think of. That doesn’t mean there isn’t anyone, I guess.”

Travis rounded out the interview with a few more questions. “I want to get back to the office and get this information into the database as soon as possible. If you think of anything else, you call me. Okay?”

Bree nodded and offered a weak smile.

“Are you staying in town indefinitely?” Travis asked Kade.

“Had a flight planned in a few weeks.” Bree’s hand tensed, and her eyes darted around. He squeezed her fingers. “But I already called to let my new boss know I’ll be here for a while.”

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