Page 5 of Love Finds Home

“That name sounds familiar. Should it?”

“That’s just it. I thought it did, too. And all I could find was a Stefanie Devore. She’s local, and a couple of years ago, she was arrested for doing this nude art thing outside the art department at the college.”

“That’s right! She stood outside in the winter naked with a sign that said ‘Paint me’ and when she was covered, she rolled around on a canvas and called it art.” Chelsea snorts at the memory.

“Right. And then was promptly arrested for public indecency. Anyway, I looked her picture up and then watched the cameras from the studio. The woman is definitely her, but the man never made face contact with any of the cameras. Like he knew where they were and avoided them.”

“That’s kinda odd, Elle.”

“What’s even odder is that I have an application for every show I’ve put on the last few years from her, under Devore. And Iturned her down every time because, if I’m being honest, Chels, her work isn’t really show worthy.”

“She’s not a good artist?”

I blow out a breath. I hate calling someone a bad artist. “She just wasn’t what we were looking for at the time.”

“You’re too nice,” Chelsea laughs.

“But they never showed up when I was there.”

“So, she’s going by a new name to make her seem, what? French?”

“I don’t know. But I had to get out of there. I felt like I had eyes on me the whole time, like someone was watching me, you know?”

“Do you think he was watching you?”

“I don’t know, but something is off there, and I don’t like it. At least in BC, I know they are staring at me because of my hair. Not because they want to throw me in their trunk and hack me into pieces.”

“Elle!” Chelsea exclaims. “That is not funny!”

“It was a little bit.” I smirk to myself.

“No. It wasn’t.”

“Fine. Sorry.”

“Are you almost there?”

“Yeah, almost. Trying to decide if it’s even worth going to the apartment first or straight to Lottie’s house.”

“Lottie’s house,” we both say together, laughing.

We finish our conversation as I pull into the cute little town. The blemish of the animal clinic boarded up makes me sad, but I know my brother will have that cleaned up and Lottie will be back to work soon. I take my first full breath in over a week as I pull off the main street and into the neighborhood. This is where I belong.

What I did not expect when I pulled onto Lottie’s street was to be met with what looks like twenty cars and the entire police station outside her house. I hurriedly pull off and park behind a truck, throw open my door, and jump from my Jeep.

“Ma’am,” an officer calls my name. “You can’t go in there.”

“The hell I can’t!” I yell at him. “My brother and future sister and niece are in there and I’m going in!”

He looks at another officer who nods, and they let me through. I race to the door and throw it open to rush inside.

“What the fuck is going on and why didn’t someone call me? Is everyone alright? Where’s Nat? Someone tell me what’s going on or I swear I’ll fuck everyone in this room up! Anyone? Right now! Someone tell me something!”

“Pixie!” Tiny yells my name. “Can’t tell you anything if you don’t shut the fuck up.”

“Shutting!” I reply, zipping my lips closed.

“Everyone is alright,” he begins. “Nat saw a stranger outside and got scared.”

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