Page 102 of Deadly Revenge

Jenna unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door. Max burst in, his gun drawn.

“I heard a gunshot.”

“Someone broke in—he ran out the back door!” She tossed him her keys. “You’ll need the key to get out.”

Max took off running to the kitchen, and Jenna hobbled behind him. Nothing made sense. She followed him out the door to her patio and peered into the darkness beyond the house. “Max?”

He didn’t answer. She used the light on her phone to sweep across the yard and caught a shadowy image coming from the woods. “Max?” she called again.

“It’s me. I didn’t find anyone,” he called back. When Max reached her, he took her in his arms and held her tight. “Are you all right?”

Max asking if she was all right was starting to sound old. “I am. How did you—”

“I never went to the hotel. Not last night or tonight.”

“What?”

“I had a bad feeling about leaving you both nights, so I slept in my truck. There was no place for me to park that you wouldn’t see me, and I had to park on the road.” He stopped to catch his breath. “That’s why I didn’t see him approach your house.”

She gaped at him. He didn’t go to the hotel? No wonder he’d looked tired this morning.

“Can we go in?”

“Oh, of course!” What was wrong with her? Like she had to even ask—someone just broke into her house. And she was still processing that Max had slept in his truck to watch over her. That made her want to cry.

“Are you shot? Do I need to call an ambulance?”

Jenna shook her head, unable to say anything without breaking down. She took a deep breath to calm herself. “I’m fine. Whoever broke in may not be, though.”

“You’re the one who fired?”

“Yeah, but I’m not sure I hit him.” Her legs turned to water. “Let’s sit down.”

“I want to check the rest of the house first.”

She flipped on the kitchen light and possessed enough presence of mind to photograph the ottoman before she returned it to the living room.

How had the intruder gotten in? She puzzled on that while shewaited for Max. She turned around when he entered the kitchen. “Find any blood?”

He gave her an odd look. “No. You must have missed him.”

“I guess the way he yelled made me think I did.” Jenna sank into a kitchen chair while Max examined the lock on the back door.

“This doesn’t make sense.” He turned to her. “The door is deadbolted, and your keys are on this side of the lock. How did he get out?”

She turned and stared at the door. “I don’t know, but I heard this door shut—you should have too.”

He shook his head. “I didn’t hear anything but the gunshot.”

“Maybe he went out a window?” Even as she said it, she knew that wasn’t the case. She had heard the door slam shut.

“I checked, and all of your windows are locked and none are broken.”

A note of doubt rang in his voice. Did he not believe her? “I didn’t make up the intruder.”

“I didn’t say you did, I’m just trying to figure this out.”

“He could’ve picked the lock.”

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