Chapter 28
Iswung open the door to see Sterling, broom in hand, tears streaking her cheeks. She stopped sweeping and looked up. “I don’t know who made more of a mess, the guy who broke in or West’s people and their fingerprint dust.”
I let out the breath I”d been holding. When Hawk said there”d been a break-in, I”d envisioned the cash register emptied. Not a big deal since most people used their cards or their phones. I’d figured maybe I”d need a new laptop. West had said the shed looked untouched, and that was where the real valuables were stored, so I’d thought— I don’t know what I’d pictured, but it wasn’t this.
I felt like throwing up. Everything was destroyed. Everything.
The best I could say was that the building itself hadn’t been burned to the ground. The structure seemed sound. That was something. But every window was smashed. The display case up front was shattered as if someone had gone after it with a baseball bat. The contents—small hunting knives, compasses, and a few GPS devices—were gone. The racks of packs hung on the wall were torn down, the packs themselves shredded. Every piece of clothing I could see was cut up to ribbons, the racks they’d been on knocked to the ground.
The antique canoe I’d found in a thrift shop in Asheville and hung high on the wall was on the floor, splintered, as if someone had stomped on it until it broke into pieces. The matching paddle was broken in half. I’d loved the way it gave my place a homey, vintage feel. I could find another. I would find another. But it wouldn’t be the same. Nothing would be the same.
“Is the gear in the shed?” Hawk asked in a low voice.
Before I could answer, Sterling said, “The door was locked. I don’t think he tried to get in. I didn’t do an inventory, but everything looked the way it should, so that’s good.” She tried to smile but her voice cracked, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks. She brushed them away with the heel of her hand. “I don”t know why whoever did this tore up everything in here and didn’t go after the stuff in the shed. He could have loaded up a truck in five minutes and sold it all. It doesn’t make sense.”
“I don”t think robbery was the motive.”
I turned to see West in the doorway, his dark hair disheveled and his eyes tired.
“You Sawyers are really packing out my schedule, you know that? I have a whole town to take care of.” His words were sarcastic, but his smile was kind. He”d been Griffen and Ford”s best friend as kids, though as they got older, I’d seen him more with Griffen than anyone else. “I”m sorry, Quinn,” he said, moving forward to give me a hug.
I leaned into him, squeezing back.
“We got a good print off the hammer we found by the display cases,” he said after I stepped back. Turning to focus on Hawk, he added, “No prints off the box your team brought in. Or on the collar. Kane is still going over the security footage, but my guess?”
Hawk raised an eyebrow in question.
“I know logic says we’re dealing with one guy,” West said, “and from the timing of the alarm here going offline, it’s possible.”
“But you don’t think so,” Hawk said.
West shook his head. “I can’t say definitively. Based on the security footage I’ve seen, and your description of the guy who jumped Quinn, it could be the same person. Same height. Same build. But based on what Kane said happened at Heartstone last night—” West shook his head. “He used the words ‘surgical precision.’”
“That”s how I’d describe it,” Hawk agreed.
The four of us looked around the main room of the bungalow. This was rampant destruction. Everything in sight was shredded, slashed, broken, and shattered. Why? Why would someone do this? It wasn’t a jewelry store, but some of this stuff was valuable enough to sell. Why destroy it?
West looked to me, then back to Hawk.
“You have a theory?” Hawk asked, his eyes narrowed on West’s face.
West’s head jerked in a nod. “Look, I don”t have your experience. I”m a small-town police chief. I did some time in bigger cities around the state, but I’m not on the same level as you and Griffen.”
Hawk shook his head. “Forget about that. What do you see?” he pressed.
“I think this wasn’t about robbery. I think he was looking for something, and the rest of this is either rage that he didn”t find it or a cover for the search. Whoever hit this had some skills,” West went on, his eyes coming to me. “He disabled your alarm and did a decent job avoiding the cameras. But this mess—this isn”t surgical precision, even if it”s a cover for something else. There”s temper here. It”s sloppy.”
“Whoever went after Heartstone last night wasn’t sloppy,” I said.
West nodded. “Kane said Lucas Jackson is the best. Said he’s going to lose his mind when he finds out his system was hacked. Whoever is capable of hacking a system like that— Maybe they lost their temper, but whatever was going on, the motives for Heartstone and this were not the same.”
West’s earlier words echoed in my brain. I think he was looking for something. I glanced to Hawk, then to West.
“What is it?” West asked, and Hawk gave me the tiniest of nods.
“I didn”t say anything to you,” I began, “because it didn”t seem important. Not police business important. But the day I left for the cabin, the day this happened—” I glanced down at the boot on my ankle. “I stopped into Harvey”s office. I’d found a necklace in the cabin, and I was curious if Harvey could figure out who it had belonged to.”
West”s eyes narrowed, and I imagined I could see his mind working the problem. “You think the necklace belongs to the mystery woman you’ve all been looking for?”
“I think it”s possible,” I said. “Prentice wasn’t using that cabin for hunting. He was meeting someone there. A woman.”
“Harvey didn”t recognize the necklace?” West asked.
I shook my head. “He and Griffen went through the family jewelry, so I thought if it was a family piece, he’d recognize it. But he didn’t.”
“Who has it now?” West asked.
“As far as I know,” I said, “Harvey still has it.”
West nodded. “I’ll have a word. If someone thinks you found something or thinks you know something you shouldn’t know—” He turned to Hawk. “I”m assuming you”re in charge of keeping her in one piece?”
“Absolutely,” Hawk agreed.
West turned back to me. “I don”t have to tell you to be smart, Quinn. I already know you”re smart. Which means I know you”re going to listen to whatever this guy tells you to do, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I agreed. I looked around at what was left of the business I’d built from scratch. I thought I could feel the rage behind the destruction. I had no interest in finding myself on the other side of that rage. “I’ll be careful,” I promised.
“This is my fault,” Hawk said, surprising me.
“How is this your fault?” I asked, turning on him, glaring at the remorse heavy in his dark eyes. “I had an alarm system, and you guys added the cameras. And if not for the cameras, we wouldn’t know anything.”
Hawk glanced at West. “Up until now our parameter for security has been Heartstone Manor. I added the cameras here because Quinn’s system didn”t come with them, but Heartstone was the focus. Now—” He shook his head. “Kane, Griffen, and I will reassess. This can’t happen again.”
I couldn’t fathom why someone would do this and then come back for round two, but I wasn’t about to argue with the experts. If they wanted to add more security, I’d take it.
“I’ll let you know if we get a hit on that print,” West said.
We watched him go. At the thud of his cruiser door closing, Hawk let out a long breath. “My focus was on keeping you safe. I didn”t think they”d go after the business.”
I just shook my head, suddenly exhausted by the scale of the mess surrounding us. “No, Hawk. This sucks. I”m not going to lie. It sucks. And it”s a huge mess when we’re running on a few hours of sleep, but—” I looked around again, exhaustion dragging me down. “This stuff isn”t my business. This is just window dressing.”
Sterling stopped and looked up from where she”d been sweeping glass into a massive pile of shards and splinters of wood and scraps of fabric. “She”s right, Hawk. I”m the one who checks everybody in for their trips and checks them out after they come back laughing and sunburnt. All this stuff? It”s the gravy on top. It”s the stuff they buy when they come back and want a memento to remember their trip. But this isn”t Sawyer Outdoor Adventures. That’s Quinn. She’s the one who shows them the right place to fish, or the perfect waterfall hike.”
“It’s you, too,” I said, fresh tears welling in my eyes. “The summer camps were your idea. And we ended up with a lot of happy kids.”
Sterling grinned back at me, her face lighting up. “Yeah, we did. I didn”t even think I liked kids. So I guess for now, we”re the business. It”s the experiences, not the hats and T-shirts and hiking poles. Doing inventory is going to be a bitch,” she said, looking around. “But everything’s insured. A month from now, when your ankle is healed and you’re out with clients, this will all be a blip.” She reached up and brushed her palms over her wet cheeks. “It”s just stuff.” Her eyes went to my right ankle and the clunky black boot. “It’s just stuff,” she said again.
I thumped across the room and hugged her, resting my cheek against her temple and rocking her from side to side. “I love you, Sterling.”
“I love you too, Quinn.” She squeezed me hard. “It”s going to be okay.”
“Yeah, it”s going to be okay,” I agreed. “We just have to get through this and?—”
I caught a glimpse of Forrest through the broken front windows, a to-go tray with four coffees in one hand and a bakery box in the other. He wouldn’t come in. I knew that instinctively. He was still looking out for Sterling, but he knew she wouldn’t talk to him. And he wouldn’t push it. I”d seen that for myself.
I’d hated him on principle because he”d broken my sister”s heart, used her for his own gain, and lied about who he was. If I felt anything other than hate for Forrest Powell, I kept my opinions to myself. It was Sterling”s heart at stake, not mine. But in truth? I liked how he cared for her. When he’d begged her to forgive him the day the truth came out, I thought he was full of shit. I figured the second he got that statue back from West, he”d be gone. And all these months later, he was still here. Waiting. Hoping she”d give him another chance. He didn”t push. He didn’t get in her face. But he was here. I liked that for Sterling, even if she wasn’t ready to accept it. Even if she might never be.
I gave her another hard squeeze. “Coffee delivery’s here,” I said. “Hawk is going to get these windows boarded up. I’ll help in here, and we”ll see how much we can get done.”
The cappuccino and blueberry muffin gave me a jolt of energy, but it didn”t last long. Inside the bungalow, I swept and sorted and organized. The back room, where I kept extra inventory and used to sleep when I lived here, wasn’t as damaged as everything in the front. And there, I could see what West meant. While not as much had been destroyed in the back, every corner, every drawer, every cushion had been overturned or emptied.
Someone had been looking for something. Maybe I was off base, but I didn”t have anything of value here. I didn”t have anything of value at all. No stash of money or jewelry. The only thing new in my possession was the necklace. Not that it was valuable, but if someone was looking this hard for it, it had to be a clue. I let that idea roll around in my head as we worked.
The grinding whirr of the drill screwing the plywood into the window frames cut through any attempt at conversation as Sterling and I cleaned, the inside of the bungalow getting progressively darker as the windows were boarded up. Whoever had broken in had also smashed the overhead light in the main room, and by the time Hawk and Forrest were three-quarters finished with the windows, Sterling and I had the front door propped open for light.
A few minutes after the last window was covered, I heard a car engine start. Forrest leaving, I guessed. We”d made decent progress inside. There was still inventory to sort through, but we’d gotten up all of the glass and broken pieces of wood and metal. Between the two of us, Sterling and I had filled three contractor bags with debris.
Hawk filled the doorway, cutting off most of our light. In the sudden dark, fatigue hit me full force. My ankle throbbed like an aching tooth, and I realized the rest of me was numb with exhaustion.
“We”re done here,” Hawk said, his arms crossed over his chest and his badass at-work glower firmly on his face.
“We still have to go through the?—”
“No,” he interrupted Sterling. “You”re both exhausted. Everyone was up half the night. You don”t have adequate light in here. We”re done.”
Sterling opened her mouth to argue, and I shook my head. “He”s right, Sterling. I”m so tired I could fall asleep standing up. My foot hurts like a bitch. I need a break. This is just—” I surveyed the room. “This is just depressing. And there”s no rush. Technically I”m still on vacation. You can deal with rescheduling everything from home. All the apps are online anyway.” I glanced around. “I didn’t see the laptop.”
“I have it,” Sterling said quickly. “It’s in my room in the Manor. I was working on some things—” She shrugged a shoulder. “So that’s one thing we didn’t lose.” She nudged a half-full trash bag to the side. “I just don’t want to leave this unfinished.”
“I know,” I said. “But we need a break.”
“Come on,” Hawk said, crossing the room to slide an arm around my shoulders. “You first,” he said to Sterling and tilted his head to the door. “We”ll lock up. I don”t want either of you back here until my team has better security in place. Until we figure out what the hell is going on, neither of you comes here alone. Understood?”
Sterling nodded, as did I. She didn”t like taking orders any better than I did but sweeping up the destruction had been sobering. I kept thinking about the force of that hammer, smashing everything in sight, and what might have happened if one of us had been here alone. If we’d come in early or worked too late.
The man in the woods had tackled me, he’d had those zip ties, and because of his attack, I”d sprained the fuck out of my ankle. But this—he hadn’t hit me or gone out of his way to hurt me. Even the night before—assuming it was the same man—he hadn’t damaged anything or hurt anyone. But this mayhem, this destruction, was somehow more terrifying.
What had driven it? Rage or fear? Maybe both.
“I don”t like not knowing what the hell is going on,” I said as I passed through the door.
Hawk had installed a shiny new deadbolt above the splintered section of the doorframe where the old lock had been torn out. He turned the key and said, “I know. We”re going to figure it out.”
“I know,” I agreed.
Together, we watched Sterling get behind the wheel of her car and back out of the parking lot, heading out of town in the direction of Heartstone Manor. I leaned into Hawk, sagging from exhaustion. It was barely past noon, and I was done. I didn”t know what was more tiring—the work of cleaning or trying to keep my shit together surrounded by the destruction of the business I’d built, client by client.
I tucked my face into Hawk”s chest and let out a shaky sigh. “I wish I”d never found that necklace,” I said. “Even if it is a clue.”
And then I felt miserably guilty. What if it was a clue? What if it helped us get Ford out of jail somehow? Here I was, feeling sorry for myself that my business got trashed when my brother was locked up for a crime he didn”t commit.
I let out another shaky breath. “I don”t mean that,” I said. “I want to find out who killed Prentice, and if it’s related to this necklace somehow, to the woman Prentice was seeing— I want to get Ford out of prison. It”s just— I didn”t think?—”
Hawk’s arm tightened, pulling me close. “You can be both, baby. You can want to get your brother out, and still—this sucks. I’ve only been in here once when we put the cameras up. But your place was cool. You worked hard on it. It”s okay to be pissed and wish it hadn’t happened. Doesn”t mean you don”t want to help your brother.”
We stood there for a minute, Hawk’s cheek pressed to the top of my head, his strong arms holding me against him. “Let”s get you home,” he said. “We’ll get some ice on that ankle. I know it”s got to be hurting.”
“I need a shower first,” I said. “And maybe a nap.”
“Whatever you want, Quinn,” he said.
I wished in the deepest part of me that he meant it. Because the only thing I really wanted was him.