Devoted Fox (Willow Creek Security #6)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Nolen

I walked into Sophisticated Sheen for the twenty-first day in a row. Three long weeks of checking in with my friend’s woman about her former employee.

Vanessa Scarflo was an enigma. She disappeared for three days and suddenly came back a changed person.

At first, Valerie––her boss and Aaron's significant other––insisted everything was fine, but then something happened.

Something that caused Vanessa to leave Sophisticated Sheen in tears and had Valerie asking me to look more closely at her only employee.

Well, ex-employee now. From what Valerie said, Vanessa hadn't been back since their exchange and wanted me to watch over her.

And like the sucker that I was, I said yes even if there were dozens of other projects I could've been working on.

"Anything new?" Valerie asked as soon as she saw me.

I shook my head. I felt bad that it was the same response every day, but there, unfortunately, wasn't anything to report.

"I'm worried about her. She hasn't left her place in three weeks."

Valerie wasn't telling me anything I didn't already know, considering I was the one watching her.

"Is she still ignoring your calls?"

Valerie nodded while her lips turned down in a frown. "Yeah, she refuses to answer my calls."

"Have you thought about going over there?"

She let out a humorless laugh. "I've thought about it a million times, but if she won't answer my calls, what makes you think she will open the door for me?"

That was true. Based off what I've seen, Vanessa wasn't going to let anyone near. She hadn't even left her house in those three weeks, and someone had been watching her around the clock. When I wasn't able to be there, one of my co-workers was. Though I preferred it to be me.

"Yeah, probably not."

"I just don't know what to do anymore." Valerie sighed again. "I feel like I'm wasting everyone's time."

How did I nicely put it that she was probably right? "Maybe give it a couple more days, and then if nothing happens, you try going over there. If she doesn't answer, then we back off for a bit."

I was worried, at this rate, we were going to get a stalking charge slapped against the company. I mean we were good friends with the sheriff, but that didn't mean he was going to let what we were doing slide. Even if we had a good reason for it. We just wanted to make sure Vanessa was safe.

"You're right." Valerie sighed. "It's probably best we give her space for the time being. Going over there might only make things worse."

I was glad she was able to come to that conclusion on her own. I didn't want to be the one to say it. Valerie was a sweet woman, but she was fiercely protective of those she considered friends and family.

Vanessa definitely fit into that category.

"I agree." I looked around the shop. "Have you thought about hiring someone to help you since Vanessa isn't around."

Valerie was quick to shake her head no. "I don't think I'm ready to give up on her yet. I know I could use the help, but the girls have been great with rotating in when I need it."

She was referring to the significant others of my friends. Each of them had found a great woman in their lives.

Well, except Maverick and I. The two of us were still holding out and likely would for the rest of our lives.

"All right, well, let me know if you need anything else."

"Thanks, Nolen. I appreciate all you've done for me so far."

I gave her a crooked smile before leaving the shop.

It wasn't until I was out in my vehicle that I gave my boss a call.

"How's she doing?" Maverick asked as soon as he answered the phone. We were all worried about Valerie and how she was handling everything.

"It's hard to say. Either way, she wants Vanessa to come out of this as the good guy, and I'm not sure if that's going to be the case or not."

I hated to say that, but it didn't look good based on the evidence we had. It didn't matter what I or Valerie wanted. It all came down to facts.

"We don't know if the dead rats were meant for her or sent by her. Or for all we know, it might not have anything to do with her at all."

Nearly a month ago, two dead rats had been delivered to our place of business by mistake but were actually meant for Sophisticated Sheen. Valerie swears she has no enemies, and I'm likely to believe her based on the fact that everyone in town speaks highly of her.

It was around the time that Vanessa disappeared and started to act weird we all started to think maybe it had something to do with her. Even Valerie had asked me to look deeper into Vanessa, but now it would appear she was changing her tune.

"Something is definitely going on with her. No one goes into hiding for three weeks without some kind of reason, and from what Valerie had said, Vanessa had begged her to just let things go."

Maverick sighed. "I know. I just hate blaming someone before we know all the facts, and it's not like you found anything when you did a deep search."

Nope. Vanessa's record was squeaky clean, but her sister's wasn't, so maybe she was doing things to protect her.

"I'm headed over there now. I'm guessing it's bound to be another long night of sitting there doing nothing."

"Let me know if you need me to take over at some point? You've been running on fumes, and that can't be good for you. I need you in tip-top shape."

I was running on fumes. I hadn't had a decent night’s sleep in weeks, and some days I was ready to fall on my face, but there was something about Vanessa that kept me going. I wanted to be the one to figure her out. No one else.

It's because you find her attractive.

I pushed the nagging thought out of my head. It was absolutely not because I found Vanessa attractive.

"I'll keep that in mind," I told Maverick, who merely laughed.

"No, you won't, but thanks for trying to humor me." Maverick ended the call with that.

I drove over to Vanessa's and prepared for what was likely to be another boring night of surveillance.

Little did I know that sometime after midnight I would watch as Vanessa snuck out of her house.