Page 14 of The Unknown Colton
Officer Reynolds sighed and pushed a hand through his short brown hair. “There have been a couple other break-ins like this in the area,” he said. “People who are out of work and desperate to make ends meet. Like I said, I don’t think this is a case for major crimes or search and rescue.” His dark eyes narrowed as he shot a glance at both Eli and Kansas.
“There are food banks,” Eli said. He didn’t believe there was any excuse to commit a crime. And if someone was desperate for food, why break into a small cabin that might have only been used for vacationers? It could have been empty or poorly stocked.Unless they’d been watching it for a while, watching Lakin.
“Well, some people are too proud to admit they need help,” Kansas said.
“Some people are too proud for their own damn good,” Lakin muttered just loudly enough for Eli to hear and wonder. She was staring through the window to where Troy stood outside next to Parker.
He’d noticed the tension between them from the minute he walked into the office over an hour ago. Usually when Troy was around, the two of them couldn’t stop grinning and laughing; it was like love bubbled out of them.
“Are you mad because he tried to chase down the intruder?” he asked.
She hesitated a moment, then nodded.
Was that really the reason for the tension between them? Eli could understand her being upset that Troy had put himself in danger like that. Eli would have been upset, too, but he understood why Troy had gone after the guy. Troy loved Lakin as much as her family did. Maybe more.
Troy really looked sick, his face twisted with a grimace. Probably because he hadn’t caught the guy. Eli understood that feeling all too well, too. He had to catch this damn serial killer before he took anyone else’s life, anyone else’s loved one.
Fortunately, Eli didn’t think that was who’d broken into Lakin’s place. “What do you think, Kansas?” he asked his cousin. “Is Officer Reynolds right? Thisintruder is just somebody down on their luck looking for food or cash?”
His cousin nodded.
But Eli caught a look passing over Lakin’s face, like she had something else to say.
“What is it?” he asked her. “Is something else bothering you?”
She shook her head. “No, I think I’m just letting all the press about that killer get to me.”
“Sometimes it’s good to be scared,” Kansas said. “It makes you more aware and cautious. You noticed that door before you got too close to the cabin. That’s good.”
It was good to be aware and cautious, but that didn’t mean it would keep a person safe. Eli had a horrible feeling that this killer might just consider awareness a challenge. But hopefully Officer Reynolds and Kansas were right and that was not who had broken into Lakin’s place. Finding another body had probably just put Eli too on edge to accept a simple explanation for the break-in.
Hopefully nobody was after Lakin at all. And the only thing she needed to be concerned about was whatever was going on between her and Troy.
CHAPTER 5
Lakin knew she should have told Eli about the strange feeling she’d been having that someone was watching her. But after seeing her place and realizing that all the intruder had taken was some food, she’d gone back to feeling paranoid instead of genuinely worried about being stalked. She had no proof that anyone was really watching her, just a sensation she sometimes got. The only proof she had of any crime was of someone being so desperate for food that they’d broken in to steal some.
Eli and Kansas had much more dangerous criminals to find than her hungry intruder. So once the techs finished processing her cabin for prints on the doorknob and the kitchen cabinets, she hugged them both and sent them back to their more important cases. She earned a smile of approval from Officer Reynolds, who seemed so serious that he probably rarely smiled.
“I’ll be fine,” she assured her brother and her cousin. “And I’ll make sure that I use the dead boltnow on all the doors even when I’m not home.” Nobody would have gotten inside if she had.
Eli hugged her again and whispered, “Please, be careful, little sis.”
She hugged him back and promised, “I will.”
She wasn’t sure if his concern was only regarding the serial killer or if he’d noticed the tension between her and Troy as well. Eli never missed a thing, though, so he was probably cautioning her about both.
When he and Kansas followed Officer Reynolds out of Lakin’s cabin, she began to close the door, but a hand caught the edge of it.
Troy stepped inside with her. Then he closed and dead bolted the door behind himself.
The tension was there, but it wasn’t just frustration she felt now. She also felt the usual awareness, the attraction. Despite all the years they’d been together, she’d never gotten used to the rush of desire she felt for him. Maybe if their relationship hadn’t been long distance so many of those years, she would have gotten used to it. But he’d never given her the chance.
“Do Eli and Kansas think they’ll be able to find the intruder?” Troy asked.
She shrugged. “I think he’s the least of their concerns right now.”
“But he broke in here—”
