Page 4 of In Dangerous Water

I sighed loudly.

Skye narrowed her gray eyes at my reaction. “Look, you’re my little sister and I love you. If someone is messing with you, then they are going to have to deal withme.”

“And me!” Kenna, my auburn-haired sibling, popped her head out from the doorway that led into the family kitchen.

I rolled my eyes at Kenna.

“And me too!” A second woman’s head poked out an instant later. This woman had bright orange hair, green eyes, and wore cute, round wire glasses.

“Hi, Angela,” I said to Kenna’s bestie.

Kenna and Angela marched down the hall together and headed straight for me.Perfect,I thought.Now I have two upset redheads to deal with.I truly hated confrontations—they made my anxiety kick up—but it looked as though I was about to have a big one anyway.

“Are you okay?” Angela Beaumont-Desroches demanded, looking me over for an injury.

“I’m fine,” I told her and pressed a hand to my churning stomach.

Kenna began firing off rapid-fire questions. I would have answered her, but she was on a tear. I couldn’t get a word in edgewise. Meanwhile, Angela tried to ask me if this was a paranormal problem or a mundane one.

“Pretty sure it’s a mundane issue,” I answered Angela.

“Meaningwhat?” Kenna demanded.

I took a steadying breath. “I got another creepy note.”

“Did you contact the police?” Kenna asked me.

“No.” I shook my head. “Not yet.”

“I’ll call them now.” Skye pulled her phone from her pocket, studied my face, and hesitated. “Unless you’d be more comfortable talking directly to Austin?”

“Yeah. Probably,” I said, and the admission made my stomach go tight with fear.

My words set Kenna off, and she and Angela started peppering me with more questions.

I held up a hand and they fell silent. “Why don’t we all go in the kitchen, and I’ll tell you together.”That way,I thought to myself,I can sit down before the inquisition begins.

Skye re-pocketed her phone. “After you.” She made a sweeping gesture with her hand.

Picking up my bag from the floor where I’d set it, I started down the hall toward the kitchen, leaving the three of them to trail behind.

“Maybe we should call Tim too,” Kenna murmured.

“Tim is a deputy for Ames Crossing,” Skye pointed out. “He doesn’t have jurisdiction in Alton.”

“I think you should call Deputy Emory anyway,” Angela said in a low voice to my sisters.

“You know that I can hear all of you, right?” I asked them.

Angela scooted forward and took ahold of my arm. “Kenna confided in me a couple of weeks ago that you’ve been having some problems with fan mail.”

I glanced over at Angela, and then turned to raise an accusatory eyebrow at my sister. “I see.”

“Don’t be pissy,” Kenna said to me. “Angela promised that she’d keep it between the two of us.”

“And I have,” Angela swore. “I haven’t even spoken to Ryder about this.”

We all settled around the kitchen island, and I drew the latest blue envelope out of my bag. “This was tucked under the wiper on my car’s windshield tonight.” Pulling the page from the envelope, I opened it and placed it on the counter.

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