Page 19 of Nick
“Don’t touch anything. On my way.”
Nick chuckled softly. He wanted to text Rafe back and tell him not to bother, because chances were good they wouldn’t be able to find anything. The graveled parking area wouldn’t show any footprints. The three other cars in the parking lot looked untouched, which meant that his car had been the intended target.
He’d planned on heading out and running for a bit, needing to burn off some of the excess energy and clear his head from the lack of sleep. Maybe go over everything again, figure out what he’d missed, who’d targeted him and why. Instead, he’d fixated on Gracie and her problem.
Sitting on the front steps of the B&B, he waited for Rafe, who showed up about fifteen minutes later. Watched the other man circle Nick’s parked sedan, hunkering down to do a cursory inspection. He waited, not wanting to intrude, allowing Rafe to make his own assessment of the damage, draw his own conclusions.
Finally, Rafe walked over and stretched out a hand, helping him to his feet. “Looks like somebody’s not happy about you being back in town.”
“Seems that way.”
“Still no leads on whose chain you’ve yanked hard enough to have ’em chasing you?”
Nick shook his head. “It does seem personal though, doesn’t it? Nobody else’s car was touched.”
Both men turned at the sound of the front door opening. “Don’t just stand there jawing on the front steps, you’re gonna wake the other guests.” Ms. Edna stood silhouetted in the doorway, her diminutive frame encased in a terrycloth bathrobe, head encircled with foam curlers. Nick did a double take when he spotted the pair of combat boots encasing her feet.
“Sorry, Ms. Edna. Hope we didn’t wake you.” Rafe pulled his cowboy hat off when he addressed the older lady, and Nick heard the respect in his voice.
“Don’t worry about it, I’ve been awake for an hour. There’s coffee in the kitchen. Come on.” Turning her back to them, she walked back inside, leaving the front door ajar. Nick shook his head while Rafe chuckled.
“I have known that woman my whole life, and every time she opens her mouth, it still surprises me that a little lady like her sounds like a sailor on leave.”
Nick nodded. “The first time I heard her talk, when I checked in, I swear I started looking for the man behind the front desk. Could’ve knocked me over with a feather when I realized that deep masculine voice was coming from a four-foot something woman with an attitude as big as the state.”
“And a heart just as big,” Rafe added, as he climbed the steps.
Heading through the lobby and into the kitchen, Ms. Edna already had coffee poured and waiting. Nick sucked down half of it immediately, needing the extra boost of caffeine. He needed to catch a break, one bit of information to help give him a clue to who wanted him dead—and why.
“I know why Nick’s here, but what brings you around at the crack of dawn, Sheriff?”
“I contacted him,” Nick answered before Rafe got the chance. “I didn’t want to disturb you so early. Just a little trouble with my car.”
“Not mechanical or you’d have contacted a mechanic, not a lawman. What happened?” Her deep matter-of-face tone belied the intense interest he read in her face. He winced, not wanting to get involved with a busybody gatekeeper.
“Little problem with Nick’s tires, Ms. Edna. Appears somebody took a knife to them.”
Her gaze shot to Rafe. “On my property? Oh, heck no.” Mumbling under her breath, she rose to her full height. “Well, what are you waiting for, Sheriff? You know I installed those fancy surveillance cameras your brothers recommended after all that hullabaloo with Lauren and those fake FBI agents. Let’s take a gander and see who’s behind you’re gonna be tossing in a jail cell.”
With that, she clomped out of the kitchen, the sound of her combat boots echoing as she crossed the kitchen threshold and headed toward the office space behind the lobby’s front desk. With a shrug, Rafe picked up his coffee mug and followed behind, with Nick bringing up the tail. He hadn’t spotted any cameras inside the B&B, and he’d looked. Hadn’t bothered checking the outside, which was sloppy of him. Usually he was more observant.
Ms. Edna was seated behind an enormous computer monitor sitting on a credenza behind her desk, with multiple open boxes filling the screen. He couldn’t help being impressed with the ease she manipulated the camera feeds, or the quality of the images. Full color too.
“Shiloh and Ridge set her up with state-of-the-art closed circuit cameras. There have been a couple of incidents here, and we all agreed that it would be smart to be sure Ms. Edna and her guests were protected.”
Which Nick took to mean the Boudreaus had footed the bill to protect their friend. Hadn’t spared any expense either, as he watched the feeds.
“It’ll take a while to go through everything unless we know what time it happened. Bet it’s some of those high school kids out joyriding and destroying property. Nuisances, the lot of them.” She shot a steely-eyed stare at Rafe, and he raised his hands, still holding his coffee mug in one.
“None of the high school boys have been out causing mischief in the last six months, Ms. Edna. I’ve got patrols running from midnight to six a.m. every night, which put a stop to that.”
“Humph.” Typing briskly on the keyboard, she cackled and pointed to the screen. “There you go, Rafe. That sedan is yours, ain’t it, Nick?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he answered, his eyes glued to the monitor. A solitary figure dressed in all black, with a baseball cap on his head that obscured his face. A black oversized hoodie, dark pants and sneakers had him blending into the night for the most part. He glanced nervously around the parking lot before heading for Nick’s car. Since he’d parked on the left, that meant the driver’s side of his car was the side facing the cameras, so it was easy to see the exact moment when the tires were slashed.
Furtively glancing around, he quickly sprinted out of sight. He wondered if the guy had a partner waiting with a car, or if he’d come solo and had parked out of range. Nick was betting on the latter.
“Guess we know this was aimed solely at you, Nick.” Rafe patted Ms. Edna on the shoulder. “Can you play it again, please?”
