Chapter Fifteen
“All I want to know is what happened to the pizza?” Chase asked when they gathered at ski patrol headquarters the next morning. Nina and Liam had waited an hour after the pizza delivery, then sent everyone home, though Anders had insisted on staying the night in his van. Nicholson had never shown.
Tuesday morning Liam and Nina had driven into town to meet with the team. She didn’t care what Doug said about it.
“While we were contacting all of y’all, the dogs grabbed the box and ate it,” Liam said.
“Pizza is Sky’s favorite,” Nina said. “Though she almost never gets it.”
“And then what happened?” Raz asked.
“After we sent everyone home, we called the sheriff,” Nina said. “A deputy took the note and said someone would talk to the pizza restaurant.”
“They’re still treating this like a harmless prank,” Liam said.
Nina put a hand to her side, feeling the stitches beneath her shirt. Definitely not harmless.
“I don’t understand how this guy knew we were there,” Renee said. “We were really careful.”
“He must have seen one of us,” Brian said. “It’s not like we’re trained in stealth. Maybe he saw our footprints in the snow, or heard us moving around.”
“The cops should check all the houses with views of your house,” Anders said. “He could be renting one of those.”
“We could pretend to be taking a survey and knock on doors,” Raz said.
“You’ve done enough for now,” Nina said. “Really. I appreciate it so much.”
“We’re still keeping an eye out for this guy,” Connor said. “And we’re here if you need help.”
“That means a lot,” she said.
“You know we always look out for each other,” Lily said. “You would do the same for us.”
“I would.” She blinked back tears and pulled herself together. “We’ll go now and let you get to work.”
“You’ll be back with us soon, I hope,” Renee said.
“I hope so, too,” she said.
Liam put his arm around her once they were outside, and she leaned into him. “Talking to your neighbors isn’t a bad idea,” he said. “Maybe one of them has seen something.”
“Maybe,” she said. “But I don’t want to involve my friends again. It was only after they left last night that I realized how easily one of them could have been hurt. I’d never forgive myself if that happened.”
When Liam pulled his SUV into her driveway, Nina started to open the car door, then froze. “We didn’t leave the front door open like that,” she said.
“No, we didn’t.”
She shoved out of the car and headed up the walk at a jog. “Nina!” Liam called, but she ignored him.
She stepped into chaos—stuffing bursting from slashed upholstery, the contents of a bookcase swept onto the floor, pictures knocked from the wall. “Sky!” she called. “Angel!”
“Nina!” Liam followed her into the house.
“I can’t find the dogs,” she said, and moved on into the kitchen.
The mess here was worse—the contents of the cabinets and refrigerator spilled across the floor, dishes and glasses smashed.
She stepped through puddles of syrup, her shoes crunching on broken glass.
She froze again at the back door. It, too, stood open, the panels splintered.
The violence of the destruction made her sick to her stomach.
Liam put a hand on her shoulder. “We need to get out of here and call the sheriff,” he said.
She stared up at him. “Where are the dogs? What if he hurt the dogs?” She turned and moved back through the rooms, calling for Sky and Angel.
She looked in the bathroom, under the bed and in closets.
Behind her, she heard Liam calling for them, too.
But no furry faces emerged, and no wagging tails greeted her.
“They’re not here,” Liam said. “Sky and Angel are gone.”
* * *
Liam had sheltered in dirt-floored cellars, listening to bombs falling nearby.
He had tiptoed past lines of enemy soldiers, facing imprisonment or death if he was discovered.
He had photographed members of drug cartels who might turn on him at any moment, but he had never been as terrified as he was now.
Angel—his best friend and companion, his responsibility—was gone.
He had left her alone for a few hours, and now he couldn’t bear to think what might have happened to her.
“Sky! Angel!” Nina, tears in her voice, walked through the ransacked rooms, calling for the dogs. Liam pulled her close and she burst into tears.
“Let’s go outside,” he said. Being inside, amidst all this destruction, was too upsetting. “I’ll call the sheriff from there.”
Nina pushed away from him and wiped at her eyes. “Maybe the dogs were frightened and ran away,” she said. Not waiting for a response, she hurried outside, shouting for the dogs.
He spotted his laptop in the debris and picked it up. The screen was smashed. Thank God he had had his camera equipment in the car with them this morning.
He moved past the splintered door, into the backyard. Nina’s property backed onto the national forest. The location was peaceful and private, but that also meant no neighbors had a view of the back door. The stalker had been free to wreak havoc in broad daylight.
He phoned 911 and reported the break-in, then joined Nina in calling for the dogs. She was crying again, and he felt like joining in, but fought the feeling. Nicholson might be watching them, reveling in their distress.
Two sheriff’s department vehicles arrived. Liam and Nina met the sheriff and another officer Liam didn’t recognize at the front door. “You say someone broke in?” the sheriff asked.
“The back door is broken open,” Liam said. “It looks like it was attacked with an axe. The house is ransacked.”
“Our dogs are missing,” Nina said.
The lawmen followed them around to the back of the house. When the sheriff saw the door, he sucked his teeth. “Have you been inside?” he asked.
“We walked through the house,” Liam said.
“We were looking for the dogs,” Nina added.
“You should have called us before you went in,” the sheriff said. “Whoever did this might have still been in there.”
“There’s no one in there now,” Liam said.
“Wait here,” the officer said. Both men went into the house. Nina turned to face the woods. Liam knew she was searching for the dogs. A full ten minutes passed before the sheriff and the deputy emerged. “Did whoever did this leave anything behind?” the sheriff asked. “Any more notes?”
“No,” Nina said.
“We didn’t spend a lot of time looking,” Liam said.
“Do you think whoever did this was looking for something?” the sheriff asked. “Any idea what that might be?”
“I don’t think they were looking for anything,” Nina said. “I think it was Nicholson. He just wanted to hurt me.”
The sheriff frowned. She could almost read his mind. He didn’t believe her stories about Nicholson. “We’ll get a team out here to search,” he said. “Where were the two of you when this happened?”
“We went to SkyCrest, to the ski patrol office,” Nina said. “We were only gone a little over an hour.”
“He must have been watching the house and moved in as soon as you left,” the officer said.
“We know he’s been watching the house,” Liam said. “The note he sent with the pizza last night admitted as much.”
“Except you don’t have any proof Aaron Nicholson sent that note or did any of these things,” the sheriff said. “He doesn’t sign his name, and we haven’t found fingerprints or any evidence that he’s even in the area.”
“Have you checked with Utah authorities, to verify if Nicholson is there?” Liam asked.
The lines on the sheriff’s forehead deepened. “I’ll see what I can find out about that.”
“What about Derek from the gyro truck?” Liam said. “Did you look into him like I asked?”
“Derek Frazier was working a shift at the gyro truck when Ms. Rose was stabbed,” the sheriff said. “And he was babysitting his sister’s children last night.”
So they had checked on Derek. It made her feel only a little better to know that he wasn’t her stalker. Which led right back to Nicholson—whom the sheriff seemed so reluctant to consider.
“Whoever is doing these things, his behavior is escalating,” Liam said. “You need to find him and stop him.”
“We’ll talk to the neighbors,” the sheriff said. “Though it doesn’t look like any of them have a view of the back door. Still, they might have seen someone suspicious lurking about.”
“Have you found out anything about the note that was sent last night?” Liam asked.
“We talked to the pizza restaurant,” the sheriff said. “The pizza sent to you was a phone order. Guy paid with a gift card. He gave his name as Mike Smith.”
That the sheriff would volunteer this information surprised Liam. Maybe the man felt guilty about ignoring their concerns for so long. “That has to be a fake name,” Liam said.
The sheriff nodded. “Probably. It doesn’t give us much to go on.” He looked toward the broken door again. “You two will have to stay somewhere else for a day or two while we go over the place. Then you’ll need to get someone in to clean this up.”
“I can’t leave without the dogs,” Nina said.
“You can’t be here while we’re doing our job,” the deputy said.
Liam put his arm around her and led her away. “I can’t leave without the dogs,” she repeated.
“We won’t,” he said. “We just have to stay out of the house.” He studied the expanse of empty woods. “I don’t think Nicholson would have taken them with him. It’s not easy to hide with two dogs—especially two dogs who don’t want to be with him. Angel wouldn’t have gone willingly.”
“If he did anything to harm them…”
He squeezed her arm. “I’m thinking they ran away. They were probably terrified when he came busting in there.”
“Then we have to keep looking.”
They walked down the road, calling until they were hoarse, and searched the woods. Sheriff’s department vehicles arrived and departed, and men and women swarmed in and out of the house. At one point a deputy brought over an axe for Nina to identify. “That’s not mine,” she said.
“The vandal must have brought it with him,” Liam said.
By four o’clock the sun was low in the sky and they were chilled through, exhausted and heartsick. “Come on,” Liam said. “We need to find some place to stay tonight. I promise we’ll come back tomorrow.”
Nina said nothing, tears streaming down her pale cheeks.
They were headed for his SUV when her phone rang. She checked the screen, then answered. “Hello, Connor.”
“Are you okay?” Liam heard the urgency behind the words.
“Not really,” she said. “Someone broke into my house while we were in town this morning. They smashed in the door with an axe and destroyed everything. We can’t find the dogs anywhere.”
“The dogs are with me,” Connor said.
“The dogs are with you?” She stared at Liam, wide-eyed. “How?”
“I was driving home and spotted them walking along the side of the highway. It looked like they were headed toward SkyCrest.”
“Oh, Connor! Are they okay?”
“They look worn-out, and a little agitated, but otherwise fine. Where are you now? I’ll bring them to you.”
“We’re at my house. We’ve been searching for the dogs all day.”
“I’m on my way.”
* * *
Nina could have sunk to the ground in a puddle, she was so relieved. She settled for leaning against Liam and bursting into tears. “I don’t know why I’m crying now,” she said between sobs. “I’m so glad they’re safe.”
He smoothed her hair. “It’s been a rough few days.”
It had. And until Nicholson was caught, she had no hope things would get better. But she had Sky back. And Angel. That was more important than anything.
Ten minutes later, Connor’s truck pulled to the curb behind a line of sheriff’s department vehicles. He opened the door and Sky hopped out, followed by Connor, who was carrying Angel.
Nina ran to meet them. Sky leaped into her arms. She staggered but stayed upright, and buried her face in the dog’s soft fur. Sky whimpered and licked her cheek, plumed tail furiously fanning the air.
Liam gathered Angel into his arms. She licked his hand, then settled with a weary sigh. He stroked her gently and crooned endearments.
Nina returned her attention to Connor. “We were so frantic,” she said. “Thank you so much for finding them.”
“They were probably trying to get to you,” he said. “Or at least, some safe place they knew.” He patted Sky’s head.
Nina set the dog on the ground. Sky lay at her feet. “They must have been terrified when Nicholson broke in,” she said.
“So you’re pretty sure it was Nicholson?” Connor asked.
“Who else would hate me so much?” Nina looked back toward the house. “At least this seems to have convinced the sheriff’s department to take the harassment seriously,” she said. “There should be a lot more pressure on Nicholson now.”
“What are you two going to do?” Connor asked.
“Tonight, we’ll get a room somewhere,” Liam said. “We’ll talk about the rest tomorrow.”
They loaded the dogs and a few personal items Nina retrieved from the house, including dog food and leashes, into Liam’s SUV and left Nina’s car locked in the garage. Nicholson hadn’t touched the vehicle this morning, maybe because he hadn’t had time before they returned.
Nina directed him to an older motel on the edge of town. “I know it allows dogs, and because it’s older and a little farther from skiing, they’re more likely to have a room available,” she said.
They secured a room with two beds, one of which was immediately claimed by the dogs. The exhausted canines wolfed down supper, then went right to sleep, but Nina and Liam were more restless. She paced the room while he sat on the side of the bed, scrolling through his phone.
“What are we going to do?” she asked. “Even after the sheriff and his people are finished, it doesn’t feel safe to go back to the house.”
He looked up from his phone. “I was thinking we should go away for a few days.”
“Run away?”
He looked pained. “We both need a break. The dogs need a break. If we get away somewhere Nicholson isn’t likely to follow, we’ll have time to clear our heads. Maybe we’ll come up with a better plan to stop him. Or the sheriff’s department might even find and arrest him.”
“Where could we go that he wouldn’t follow?”
“I’ve been doing a little research online,” he said. “There are backcountry huts in the mountains. The only way to get there is on snowshoes or skis. Nicholson just got out of prison. He’s not an athlete. I can’t see him following us to someplace so remote.”
She sat next to him on the side of the bed. “I’ve been to one of those cabins,” she said. “Last year, with Renee and Raz. They have beds and a woodstove and a little kitchen. It was a lot of fun.”
“I looked online, and there’s one available to rent right now,” he said. “We could go for a couple of nights. When we come back we’re bound to feel stronger, and have a better perspective.”
“Then let’s do it.” She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. She wouldn’t think of this as running away. It was a time to regroup and return stronger.