Page 59 of Deceiving Grier

“Of course not. Whoever is doing this is at fault, but I think it’s you they’re messing with.”

Jett dragged his fingers through his messy curls. “But who? Why?”

“That still doesn’t explain how Grier is in the hospital.”

I shrugged. “Maybe he surprised the intruder. Grier said that whoever it was charged at him, but they didn’t actually put their hands on him. He stepped back and forgot the stairs were behind him.”

“Are you arguing it was an accident?” Finn asked with a pointed look.

“Not an accident, per se, but we’re fairly certain the intruder has been leaving through the front and rear doors. Maybe Grier startled them, and they made a run for it, but Grier was blocking their path.”

“The break-in at the old place was months ago,” Alistair said. “Even before the fire. Do we really believe the two are connected?

Everyone went quiet, as if we were all lost in our own thoughts, and I wondered if we were all asking ourselves the same thing.

“Could the person who has been breaking into this house, who might have broken into the other place, also be the same person who started the fire?” Alistair asked, giving voice to the question churning inside my own head.

“I think it would be unlikely that you would be targeted by someone breaking into your house repeatedlyandan arsonist,” Finn said, then he looked over at Jett. “Can you think of anyone who—”

“Might have tried tokillmy roommates?” Jett snapped.

“Anyone you’ve had a problem with,” Finn said instead.

Jett shook his head, teeth tugging at his bottom lip, his stare distant, as if trying to think ofsomeonehe’d had a run in with.

“What about someone you dated?” I asked. “A bad breakup, maybe.”

Jett shrugged. “I haven’t really been seeing anybody seriously for a while, and there hasn’t been anyone recently who had bad feelings when we parted ways.”

“What about before? What about in the summer? That’s when all this started.” Alistair said, leaning forward.

Jet shook his head again. “I was kind of seeing a guy over the summer, but he was only in town for a couple of weeks. We called things off when he left, but there were no hard feelings.”

“Maybe it wasn’t someone romantic. What about someone at school? Perhaps it’s someone you don’t get along with,” I suggested.

“No one’s ringing a bell,” he said, but his expression was unusually serious, gaze still distant, as if he were running through a mental Rolodex of names. “I’m not trying to claim that I’m friends with everyone, but I’m pretty easygoing. I’ve never had an issue with anyone.”

“Okay,” Finn said, reaching out and giving Jett’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “Keep thinking about it. Maybe you’ll remember someone you had an unusual interaction with. It might not have felt significant to you at the time, but was odd.”

He nodded. “I’ll try.”

“We need to change the locks,” I said to Finn. “Just in case, and make sure all basement windows can’t be opened. The police suggested a security system with cameras.”

“I’ll pick up new locks and install them this morning,” Finn said, “and I’ll speak to Grey about the security system.”

“You think Mackenzie will pay to have a security system installed?” I couldn’t keep the doubt out of my voice. I’d only mentioned the locks and alarm because we were renting, and I felt as if we needed to get an okay from someone official before I went ahead and did it.

“While I’m sure Grey doesn’t want anything to happen to his tenants, this house is still an investment for him. He’ll be selling it next year once you’re all finished with school. He’s not going to risk losing that if he doesn’t have to.”

A reasonable explanation. “That reminds me,” I said. “I have something for him.”

Finn’s brow rose. “For Grey?”

I nodded and stood before making my way to the study. Finn followed. Once at my desk, I grabbed the envelope I’d found the night before. I’d almost forgotten about it after everything that happened.

“I found this yesterday,” I told him.

Finn took the envelope and focused on it, no doubt taking in who it had been addressed to as well as the return address before looking back up at me. “You found this?”

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