Page 80 of Mountain Protector

“Enzo.Is it about Lark?”

There’s a pause. A heavy silence. And then, “Yes. Alec found out something about Vinnetti. Is Lark at work?”

Leaping into the driver’s seat, I reply, “Yes. I just heard from her. She’s in her office.”

“Okay. So she’s safe. For now, just let her know to stay there. Okay?”

Fuck.

I thought this was over.

As I put the truck into gear, I end the call with Enzo and toss my phone to Ronan. “Can you text Lark? Tell her to stay in her office until she hears back from me.”

On a good day,it should only take five minutes to make the drive through the woods to Enzo’s house. But of course, when it’s urgent, we find three downed branches blocking our path. So it’s almost ten minutes later by the time we get there, and despite Ronan’s reassurances that Lark read the message, worry keeps swelling bigger and bigger inside me.

The second I burst into Enzo’s house, I bark, “What is it? What did you find out? Is Lark in danger?”

Enzo is already by the door waiting for us, and he waves us toward the dining area, where a laptop sits open on the table. “Alec’s at his office, so rather than wait for him to drive here, he’s on a conference call. Come sit down.”

But I’m not in the mood to sit. My body is too electric. Too full of nervous energy. It’s the exact oppositeof how I used to be in the Army, always calm and infinitely patient while I waited for just the right shot.

This is different, though. This is about the woman I love.

Enzo pulls out a seat and sinks into it, while Ronan and I hover behind him. Alec’s on screen, looking very somber, and he gives a quick chin lift when he sees us.

“Okay.” No preface; Alec just jumps right into it. “I was going through some of the evidence in Lark’s case. You know I’ve been after them to share everything, but I kept getting pushback before. The prosecutor said it could compromise the case. But with Vinnetti dead and no accomplices?—”

“Alec.” My voice is strained. “Please get to it.”

“I’m just explaining why I didn’t see this until now,” he replies. “I wouldn’t have skipped checking any evidence had it been up to me. But once I got the remainder of it yesterday, I’ve been going through it all with a fine-tooth comb. Making sure nothing gets missed.”

“That’s good. But what did you find?”

“The photos they found. The ones with threats against Lark. In a small town like this, they don’t have handwriting experts, and with it seeming so…” Alec grimaces. “Someone missed it. The handwriting doesn’t match Vinnetti’s. I ran a sample from the photos through some analysis software, and it’s close, but not a match. So I reached out to a buddy of mine in the FBI. His specialty is handwriting analysis. He agreed. Whoever wrote those messages, it wasn’t Vinnetti.”

My heart stutters.Is he saying what I think he’s saying?

Enzo glances at me, worry in his gaze. “So we’re thinking?—”

“There was someone else involved.” My molars almost crack in two, I’m grinding them so hard. “Someone else out there that the police don’t know about. Someone who may—fuck, probably—wants to hurt Lark.”

Ronan’s hand covers my shoulder. “We don’t know that for sure.”

Spinning to face him, I snap, “What else can it mean? Some innocent person just willingly scrawled horrible messages all over photos of my girlfriend? Why? It doesn’t make sense.”

“It seems likely it’s an accomplice,” Enzo agrees. “Which is why we want Lark to stay at work. There’s security there, right? And if she’s in her office…”

“Yeah. There’s security.” I take a steadying breath, reminding myself it’s not Alec’s fault the police missed a critical clue. “And Ronan texted her.” I turn to Ronan. “Did she reply?”

He hands my phone to me. “Not yet. But it says the message was read. She’s probably in a meeting or something.”

“I’m going there now,” I announce. “I don’t feel comfortable with her being there alone.”

Alec nods. “I’m working on trying to identify the accomplice. Unless I have other handwriting samples, that’s not going to help. But I have Vinnetti’s cell phone records. And his laptop.”

“How did you get his laptop?” Ronan asks, his brows jumping up in surprise.

“As soon as Alec spotted the handwriting error, Icalled Quill.” Enzo pauses, then clarifies, “Officer Quillian. He wasn’t involved in that part of the investigation, and was more than a little pissed that they missed it. And knowing how important Lark is to all of us… he managed tounofficiallylend it to Alec for a few hours.”

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