Page 44 of The Pretender

Harris shook his head. “What are you talking about?”

“Last night I set up the room. The new inside sensor alarms haven’t been installed, so I was extra careful just in case.”

She glanced down at the books. “Maybe you remembered the order wrong?”

He scoffed. “No.”

“You’re saying someone broke in here.” Harris’s voice vibrated with what sounded like anger. “How did you not hear someone running around?”

“Because no one ran anywhere. The person was quiet and also really careful.”

She had a million questions, but the shiver running through her made it hard to ask any of them. She went with the most logical problem first. “So, what do we do now?”

Damon shrugged, as if a break-in wasn’t big news. “At least this narrows things down.”

“What kind of answer is that?” she asked.

“The only people on the island last night were the three of us.”

Harris shook his head. “Someone else could have gotten on by boat.”

The boat. That piece of information helped restart her brain. “Right. It wasn’t just us. Ted and Craig went to Baltimore. I’m not sure what time they came in, but I saw Craig’s boat leave when we got up this morning, so they were back at some point last night.”

Harris and Damon looked at each other before Harris spoke up. “You think someone came back with them?”

“Maybe it’s time I had a talk with Ted and Craig,” Damon said.

“They wouldn’t do this.” When both men stared at her with blank expressions, she tried to explain. “There’s no reason. They’ve both had access to the island and the house. They were friends with Tabitha. Heck, they’re two of the people she saw on a regular basis.” The way Damon and Harris kept staring made her nervous. She had to clamp down on the need to explode at them. “What is it?”

“Do you think the fact they were friends with Tabitha makes it less likely one of them would hurt her?” Damon asked.

“Of course.”

Harris winced. “People generally are killed by people they know. Not strangers.”

These two had an upsetting answer for everything. “That’s not possible. Not in this case.”

Damon nodded. “Okay.”

As reactions went, she thought that one might be worse than the unblinking stares. “You don’t believe me.”

Damon sighed. “I believeyoubelieve what you’re saying.”

“Don’t do this.” A new wave of anxiety hit her. “Please don’t falsely accuse them. I don’t want anyone else to have to deal with that.”

“Whoa.” Damon held up both hands as if he were trying to placate her. “I’m going to ask questions. That’s all.”

Harris just stood there, not saying anything. That made her twitchier than the idea of her friends being questioned—again. She turned on him. “Now would be a good time to tell me if you and Damon are actually working together.”

“Gabby,” Harris said in the voice someone might use to calm an upset child. “The man is trying to do his job.”

Panic boiled over inside her. Being there, a new break-in... Harris’s half answers. She couldn’t deal with all of it right now. Not with them watching her and assessing every move.

“For the record, that’s not an answer.” The words rushed out of her then she started walking. Down the hall, into the entry. Out into the sunshine.

Harris wanted to chase after her, but what could he say? He’d been lying to her from the start. Sure, they had a mutual-deception thing going, which made absolutely no sense since they had shared never-tell-anyone type secrets. But he hadn’t been honest about knowing Damon or telling her about his own role in what happened fourteen months ago. At least one of those truths seemed like an impossible climb.

“I’ve realized one thing,” Damon said from right over Harris’s shoulder.

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