Page 91 of Love Me Fearless

“It was easy to ask you,” she says in a soft voice.

My throat tightens. I kiss the back of her hand again.

I turn down her street. In the late afternoon sunshine, it looks as peaceful and quiet as it usually does, but thanks to what I now know, I don’t see it that way.

“Would you be willing to stay with me tonight? Thea and Dylan are leaving in the morning and Beth got the night off so we can all have dinner together.”

She nods, but I’m not sure she’s really with me. What I want is tohold her and shut out the rest of the world until she feels better. But life doesn’t work like that.

The email message containing my orders flashes through my mind. How can I leave? Some creep is targeting Ava. It’s either a person with a grudge wanting to rattle her, or it’s worse than that. Scarier. Because this is looking an awful lot like Ava has a stalker, maybe someone who has been fixated on her. Who wants to manipulate and control her. Destabilize her confidence.

What if this sicko is the same person who murdered Marin?

I told Ava that there’s no way the perp who broke into her San Francisco apartment is here. But what if I’m wrong and he’s followed her to Finn River?

Zach’swe’re running out of timestarts to loop through my brain.

If that’s true, then the killer could have Ava in his crosshairs.

How can this be happening?

When I pull into the driveway, everything looks as we left it this morning.

“I’ll go pack some things,” Ava says, slipping her hand free.

I jump out and hurry to open her side so I can help her down.

I don’t let go of her hand as we walk to her front door, the contact grounding me. My senses ramp up as we enter the house. Pausing, I scan the dimly lit rooms and listen, but there’s no indication anyone has been inside.

While Ava slips down the hallway, I check the kitchen and sliding glass door, the back yard, but nothing catches my eye. I peek in the bathroom, then Ava’s room. She glances up from the small duffel bag open on the edge of her bed, and our eyes lock.

“This doesn’t feel real.”

I hurry over and pull her into my arms. “I know. But it’ll be over soon.”

She wraps her arms around me and sighs into my chest. “I so want to believe that.”

A knock on the door sends a jolt through her body. “It’s probably Everett.” I kiss the top of her head and slip down the hallway.After making sure my hunch is correct with a glance through the window, I swing the door open.

“Hey, Hutch,” Everett says, his gray eyes serious. “I was going to start with checking the perimeter, then if she’s okay with it, have a look inside.”

“I’ll walk with you,” I say, and shut the door behind me.

“Zach filled me in,” Everett says. “I’m waiting on a call back from the San Francisco detective who worked her break in.”

“Good idea,” I say. “It would be good to know who else might know about the rose.”

“We also can’t rule out it was accidental. I mean, it’s a cemetery. People bring flowers. Someone could have left it there with good intentions.”

“How likely do you think that is?”

Everett squats down to get a closer look at the landscaping below Ava’s front window, using the butt of his flashlight to shift the branches of the hydrangea.

“I don’t believe in coincidences, that’s for sure,” he says, standing. We move to the side of the house.

“What if it’s the same creep that broke into her apartment?”

Everett squats down and runs his palm lightly over the ground, like he’s feeling for depressions. “That I have a harder time believing. If someone was stalking her then, where have they been since? That’s a big gap for a perp like that.”

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