My Kind of Trouble

Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

HARMONY

Sometimes Harmony imagined her life was a movie. A technicolor spectacle with chorus dancers backing her up as she walked down the street, just for an extra boost, or when she pulled off a tricky bit of grifting, swelling music celebrating her win.

If her life was a movie, then right now it would be a montage of her passing time in Brookville—meeting up with Alice for coffee or the Bridgerton marathon she’d nagged her into, giving Jordan impromptu lessons on persuasion as they signed on more participating groups and suppliers, keeping all the balls in the air for the festival, and whisking Preston away for lunch or a quick but highly enjoyable stop by her hotel. Sometimes afterward she’d pick Lacey up with Preston, but just like that day after the band auditions when she’d dropped him off ahead of Sarah arriving with his sister, she always left before she could be asked to leave. And that was cool. She was getting what she wanted, and she wasn’t here to complicate his life further.

She’d come as clean as she could, she’d told herself. Let Preston know—once she’d admitted it to herself and without revealing her con against Travis—that this may have started with her angling for the festival site, but he’d been so damn stubborn about it, by the time he’d signed the lease her interest in spending more time with him had become genuine. Not that it really mattered, when the con would put an end to things soon enough, and Preston wasn’t looking for anything too serious anyway. He’d as good as said so that awkward morning at his place.

But carpe diem and shit. Grab what you could when you could and run.

The sky was overcast when she arrived at the library one Friday a little early for Preston’s lunch break. He was at the counter, and his eyes flicked up at her approach. His frown of concentration curled like an S, halfway into a smile. “Almost done. Last of the new audiobook orders.” He kept typing and moving the mouse. His nails on his right hand were painted purple.

“Nice look. Very punk rock.”

He glanced down, following her gaze. “Oh.” His hand flexed. “Lacey’s been practicing. Except we forgot, um—”

“Remover?”

“Yeah. That. Hence her moving on from her nails to mine. I’ll have to pick some up this weekend.”

“I’ve got some extra. Want me to maybe bring it by?” Unless he still didn’t feel comfortable having her at his house. “Or next time I see you.” Except that would be after this weekend, what was she saying? “I know you’re careful about Lacey.”

He finished whatever he was typing, and his mouth softened. “That would be great. Dani’s coming over for dinner tonight? You could join us?”

There was a trace of uncertainty in his voice. “You sure?”

“If you’d want to?” His eyes lit with amusement. “It’s one Harmony. How disruptive could she be?” He pursed his lips and tilted his head. “Actually—”

“Shut up,” she said affectionately. “Come on.”

It was raining by the time she got to his house that night, and she waited in the shelter of the porch until the door opened and Lacey stuck her head out.

“Hey.” Harmony held out the bottle of nail polish remover. “Heard you need some of this.”

Lacey took the bottle. “Hey. This—” She peered at the label. “Isopropyl acetone. Awesome.”

“Harmony?” Preston’s voice carried from inside. “Come in!”

Lacey didn’t take her eyes off the bottle as she stepped back. “Please come inside.”

“Thank you for having me.” Preston had explained about Lacey not talking around others much, and how it was more about feeling overwhelmed than shyness, but it still shook the chill of the rain off Harmony to know Lacey felt okay around her here at home.

Preston leaned around the corner from the kitchen. “Hey.”

“Hi.” Harmony held up the red wine she carried in her other hand. “I also brought another kind of bottle.”

“Thanks. Treats for everyone.”

Harmony suppressed a snort, but stayed there standing a bit awkwardly in the entryway. She wasn’t sure going in for a hello-kiss was appropriate in front of Lacey.

“Dani’s running late. The rain.” Preston ducked back into the kitchen, and Harmony came a little farther inside, placing the wine on the dining table, so she could see where he was chopping something at the counter. Whatever was already going on the stove smelled amazing. “She says. More likely she lost track of time in her studio. But we’re aiming for dinner in about thirty minutes.”

“Do you need any help?”

He scraped the contents of the cutting board into a steaming pan. “Didn’t you say you don’t cook?”

She shot finger guns. “I said I’m a terrible cook and burn everything.”

“Um, I’ve got it, thanks.”

Harmony turned back with a shrug to Lacey, who shot a finger gun at her. She was one cute kid. “Want me to do your nails?” Harmony knew her strengths at least.

The girl nodded. “We should take this upstairs. Steam and open flames and acetone don’t mix. Or they do , but they really shouldn’t.”

So Harmony followed Lacey to her room, which was covered in more of the artwork Harmony had seen stuck to the fridge before, and a few perfectly folded paper stars. At the desk near an impressive-looking telescope she carefully took off Lacey’s globby purple polish and showed her how to do two coats without gumming them up, and listened about pulsars and constellations while they waited for them to dry. Then she took off her coral matte she was going to redo that weekend anyway and let Lacey practice on her.

Harmony was blowing on her manicure as they came down to the sounds of Dani shouting hello. She’d seen Preston’s friend in passing at the library, petite and with a mass of graying curls, but now Dani swept into the house with the presence of a much taller woman, holding a covered casserole dish sprinkled with raindrops, and pinned Harmony down at once with her stare. “Hello. I’m Dani.”

Lacey ran up to Dani to show off her nails and received plenty of ooh-ing and ahh-ing. “Very nice, bunny. Go wash up?” Preston came out of the kitchen with a bowl of salad and placed it on the table. Dani thunked the dish down next to it. “Tiramisu. Sorry I’m late, babe.” She gave Preston’s shoulder a squeeze.

“Glad you could make it. I know it gets hectic before a show.”

Dani turned back to Harmony. “I couldn’t miss a chance to meet your lady friend.”

“Oh, my god, don’t call her that.”

Harmony vamped down the last few steps. “Are you saying I’m not a lady?”

“Did you all want to eat or just gang up on me or …?”

Harmony stuck out a hand to Dani, who shook it with a wiry-strong grip. “Harmony.”

They gathered at the table around salad, crostini with cheese and tomato, and pasta in a red sauce with chunks of squash, and dug in, except for Lacey, who Preston dished up a plate for with everything separate. After they ate, Dani insisted Lacey play for them and plopped down in the upholstered chair beside Harmony’s, glass of wine in hand. Dani watched Lacey a while, Preston turning pages for her, before murmuring, “He’s happier than I’ve seen him maybe ever.”

Something played through Harmony’s chest at those words, light and dancing, like the melody Lacey was plinking out.

Before she could say anything, Dani went on. “Don’t fuck with him.” She turned to Harmony, tone still conversational. “My kiln goes to two thousand degrees. There’d be no evidence.”

Harmony’s brows shot up before she could stop them. She’d heard a fair number of death threats before. It tended to happen when you emptied terrible people’s accounts and ruined their cushy lives. But those were always full of bluster and impotent anger. Dani’s words were laced with a fierce protectiveness.

“I like you,” Harmony told her, a smile spreading across her face. “I’m glad someone in this town is watching out for him.” Someone would be there for him, at least, when Harmony was far beyond the reach of even this slightly terrifying woman, and Preston found out Harmony had been lying this whole time.

“Hmm.” Dani’s eyes narrowed, assessing, and her mouth pulled into a crooked grin. “Yeah. I figured I’d like you too, if Preston did. He’s an excellent judge of character.”

That sat funny in Harmony’s stomach. So she shoveled a plateful of tiramisu on top of the feeling to bury it, once Lacey asked if it was time for dessert (Dani had made half of the tiramisu without coffee). Harmony asked about Dani’s show, and what kind of art she did, and admired a piece of hers framed on the wall behind her, a patchwork of green and black tiles stamped with patterns of leaves and seeds. Then Dani, simultaneously engaged in a thumb war with Lacey, interrogated Preston on whether he’d written anything lately.

“Written?” Harmony looked to Preston across the table. “Like books?”

“Composed. And no, not so much lately.” He shoved the last bite on his plate into his mouth.

Dani lost to Lacey, which Harmony didn’t believe for a minute. Dani was a secret softie. Even if she was also pushy, demanding, “Preston, play for us.”

“Oh, come on, I’m eating.”

“You’re finished.”

“With my first piece.” He leaned over the table for the spatula. “It’s just that good.”

Dani rolled her eyes but laughed, and soon said she had to get home. “Loading up early tomorrow for a run to the gallery.” She hugged Preston and waved goodbye to Lacey, who Preston told to go up to get ready for bed. Lacey then proceeded to drag bedtime out for several more minutes, bargaining with him to invite Mason for a playdate the next day. When his sister finally shot finger guns at them in farewell, Preston staggered back and dropped onto the couch, clutching his chest. Lacey laughed her way up the stairs.

Preston reached for Harmony’s hand and pulled her down beside him. “Ha, she got you too.” He wove their nail polished fingers together. “Now we match.”

“You gonna do the other hand now she’s getting good?”

“Eh.” He lifted her hand to press a kiss to her knuckles. “Nina already immortalized the look in a video on her TikTok or wherever.”

“Really?”

“She thinks she’s sneaky. I’m pretty sure it was her last year who started a GoFundMe to buy me new shoes. The GSA kids linked it all over. Not because I needed any, they just thought mine were ugly.”

Harmony snickered. “What a brat!” She seemed like such a goodie-goodie, with her fake swears and ASB work.

“No, I feel for her.” He was playing with Harmony’s hand, turning it one way and the other. “It’s not easy, living with a parent who doesn’t accept who you are.”

Something about how he said that made Harmony think he knew from experience. But she wasn’t pushing, she reminded herself. So instead she said, “You’re a really good brother. You know that.”

He raised his brows and blew out a breath. “I don’t always know what I’m doing, but at least I know what Lacey’s going through. Except for the beauty routine. Thanks again for the help there. I’ve been stumbling in the dark.”

“But you’re trying. You’re staying and trying. She’ll be okay.” Maybe it was the coziness of the house under the soft patter of rain, the good food and familiar joking of the evening, that made her say, “My mom took off before I knew her, and I turned out fabulous.”

Preston’s gaze lifted from their hands to her face, eyes gentle but with that focus that made her feel as if he could see right inside her, and that was okay; all her hidden parts were safe with him somehow. “You really did,” he murmured, and she knew he didn’t mean her face or anything like that, with his words as tender as the kiss he pressed to her mouth.

It wasn’t a kiss pushing toward anything more, or to forget everything but that moment, like so many. It felt like being known, and home, and belonging right here.

Where he’d asked her once to stay, and woken up to realize his mistake.

Preston leaned back, and she whispered, “Good night,” and stood. It was harder than it should have been to leave, to head back out into the rain. But she did.

It rained all week, and she barely saw Preston. She had another wave of paperwork to throw together for Brookville’s town hall, and he had a special weekend storytime event coming up. They grabbed lunch once, but otherwise she spent the rainy days reading, working on some social media posts, and going over festival contracts with Alice in preparation for taking vendor payments.

When they were wrapping up one evening at her apartment, Alice’s face pinched as she hunched over her laptop, sitting cross-legged on her bed.

“What?” Harmony asked, knocking a sheaf of contracts into an even stack on Alice’s desk. Rain sheeted over the window it stood under. “Is someone wrong on the internet again?”

“You got a ping on one of your old business emails.”

“Someone has work for us?” Harmony slid the papers into her folio and stuffed it in her bag. She didn’t take jobs with her old crews anymore. She liked doing things her way.

Alice chewed her lip. “No. It was Zach.”

Harmony’s hand stilled halfway zipping her Gucci tote closed. Alice turned the screen around, and she sank to the side of the bed to read the email, which featured an impressive amount of cursing and threats for one message. “Oh, darling, you’re as romantic as ever,” she muttered flatly. “He hasn’t learned any manners in jail.” Zach had never limited himself to the more artful techniques of persuasion Harmony preferred, resorting all too often to harsh words and twisting arms.

“You were right to leave him to the wolves.”

Harmony sighed. “Maybe I was the wolf.”

“I never liked the guy,” Alice said, shaking her head, “and you know my asshole detector is finely tuned. Especially for men who put their hands on people without permission.” Her dark expression fell on Harmony’s hand rubbing one elbow. “He got what he deserved, just like every other jerk we run jobs on.” She pulled her computer onto her lap, worry creeping back over her face. “If he’s out, it’s not safe to stay in one place too long. Not till he cools off.”

Harmony hugged herself tighter, as if she could hide from the anxiety she’d been ignoring like a champ since Zach’s release popped up on her phone that week. No panicking. She stood. There was no reason to freak out. She’d never used the name Hale before. Never told Zach about her plans for Travis Weaver. He had no way of finding her here. “Using the old email I handed to him is as far as Zach is likely to get trying to pin me down.”

Alice nodded, seeming to relax. “And we’ll be gone soon enough.”

“Right.” An unease Zach’s email hadn’t created brewed in her gut now. She fiddled with her bag’s strap. It was good to keep moving on, she told herself, to keep things short and sweet. Before they turned into Zach twisting your arm. That was all she got trying for anything more.

Alice tilted her head up at Harmony. “It’s still pouring, do you want to order in some egg rolls and watch Anthony Bridgerton discover the glory of Kate Sharma’s bare thigh?”

“Again?” Harmony brushed aside thoughts of how very sweet things with Preston were and rolled her eyes. “You’re such a sucker for fictional assholes.”

Alice clasped her hands together under her chin and gave Harmony an imploring look. “Come on. I have a cheesecake in the freezer. Maybe this time Anthony’s shirt will actually dissolve when he falls into that lake.”

Harmony dropped her purse back on the desk and grinned. “Guess I’m a sucker too.” She settled on the bed as Alice arranged her laptop and cued up Netflix. She would always have Alice. No matter how many times her friend got distracted by guys with dimples or ridiculous biceps and cute bellies or translucent shirts, Harmony would never cut her loose. She was like a sweet little baby duckling following her around—a sweet baby duckling who ran illicit online gambling sites in her spare time. One who was far too grateful for how Harmony had taken her back to her little hometown and put an end to the church and the reputation of the man who’d given that sweet baby duckling that world-class asshole detector and a hard edge beneath all the fluff. Alice flopped back to the pillows with a sigh as a string quartet and Julie Andrews’s soothing tones drowned out the thrum of rain on the studio’s roof.

Saturday the clouds moved off, and everything was that unreal bright green against the retreating gray, so the town square was swarming with people finally getting outside and enjoying the patchy sunshine. Harmony met Preston and Lacey for lunch out there before the special storytime, which was going to feature a drag queen along with several “real live princesses” and a parade through the library, according to Lacey. She’d taken about two bites of the BBQ Harmony had brought before the excitement made her jump up and was currently racing around the fountain—its statue wearing a rainbow bikini top and swimming goggles today—with Mason, whose family was picnicking a few blankets over.

“Everyone’s worked up about it,” Preston said while he and Harmony ate and caught up. “This seems to have tipped Cheryl into demanding they set a date for the special inquiry. On the schedule for next month.”

“Because of one drag queen? It’s not like you invited Hayley Kiyoko for a book talk and she’s bringing the entire cast of All Stars to lip sync for their lives in the stacks.”

Preston dropped his chin, shooting a serious look over his glasses at her. “First of all, that would be amazing, can you help us book her?” Harmony snorted. “And we’ve had Rosey do smaller storytimes before! It’s a great program, she does antibullying messaging with some of the books. But once a month we try to have different bigger weekend stuff for all families, and this must have gotten enough attention.” He took the most resigned bite of corn pudding in human history. “Straw, camel’s back, et cetera, et cetera.”

Shit. Harmony had half-hoped that the meeting would take long enough, she’d have wrecked the Weavers’ reputations and wiped out the threat to Preston’s job with her con before then. That wouldn’t quite be in time, though. “Well, you’re gonna grind that camel’s bones to dust at that inquiry.”

Preston’s fork paused in midair. “That’s a little more violent than what I’m picturing.”

“It’s a metaphor. For saving democracy itself.” She popped a hush puppy in her mouth and chewed meaningfully.

“Is this one of those times where you’re just saying stuff?”

She sipped her lemonade. “I mean, any time I’m talking, basically.”

“Hmm. How could we possibly solve that?” He leaned forward and kissed her. “Want to come inside while we get started? If I can boost my head count at any of the contested events, it’ll help prove we’re serving the community and fulfilling our mission. A bunch of the GSA said they’d come just for that, but I think they’re actually excited about all the sparkles.”

“Um, yeah, I’m not missing out on drag queens and real live princesses parading through the library, who do you think you’re talking to?”

“My very own”—he dropped another kiss on her lips—“real live”—and another—“one-woman parade.”

She chuckled against his lips before leaning back on one arm, soaking in the sun that had emerged more fully. “Then I have to run some paperwork over to the town offices before they close.” But Dani was coming from the gallery to take Lacey that evening, so she and Preston would have a chance to catch up properly. And hopefully improperly after that.

Lacey went chasing past, Mason not far behind. Jordan and Nina and a bunch of their friends were crowded around a bench. A game of frisbee took up one corner of the lawn. Harmony recognized several of the families out here, because she’d been in town so long and visited more than even her usual number of local businesses for the festival grift, from wanting to leverage them against Travis, and from wanting more excuses to see Preston.

She pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of Preston with the backdrop of families and sky breaking into blue. Tonight she wanted to show him what she’d gotten done with the social media accounts they’d set up. She could take a few good shots at the storytime too, more for the main library account to tag him in, so everyone knew that when someone attacked him, they were attacking the person behind the storytimes and summer reading programs they loved so much. An important part of their town.

Taken by surprise, Preston frowned at her as she checked how the picture came out. He was centered there among neighbors, the Brookville gazebo to one side, the carpet of green in the foreground. A sudden longing struck Harmony—to belong somewhere as he did here. A wish to not have to drive away again and again, to another hotel room she’d move on from before letting any memories settle in. To stay and be part of a community.

It was a ridiculous thought. The people here enjoying their sunny Saturday would hate her if they really knew her, if they knew she’d been lying to them all. They would hate her soon, once the con played out, just as much as she was trying to make them hate Travis. That never mattered before. Her lying had never bothered her before.

Preston was squinting in the sunlight, watching Lacey run over the grass with her friend.

Harmony’s hatred for Travis seemed balanced on a scale against this strange urge for—for home. For more memories she’d never get to make with Preston.

Even if she wanted to, there was nothing she could do to tip it back now. Everything for the festival had been set in motion. She’d been conning everyone in town for months. Never mind that Harmony would pay them all back, or that she was only helping them by exposing Travis for the greedy monster he was, by removing some of Cheryl’s sway. She was conning herself if she thought there was any way out of all the lies she’d spun.

She tamped down the feeling, drowned it in the perfect sunshine, stifled it in the grip of Preston’s hand holding hers, muffled it in the sound of Lacey’s shrieks as she and Mason raced for the library once it was time to head inside.

Preston went to set things up in the community room and let the special guests in at the side of the library, so when the doors opened to the crowd of kids and parents lined up, it was to a surprise of color and ballgowns and music.

One woman dressed as Rapunzel was set up for face painting, with a long line quickly forming behind her easel displaying designs kids could choose from. Cinderella was helping kids pick out dress-up items. Tiana had an assortment of noisemakers for kids to try out.

The drag queen swept through the room in a gown with flowers attached all over and a headpiece with more spilling around her light brown face, welcoming kids before ensconcing herself on a low stool surrounded by carpet squares and folding chairs. “Rosey Bloomgarden is going to read all you delightful children a story!”

Still feeling a bit unsettled and at sea, Harmony wandered back toward the doors, where Preston had been counting attendees with a clicker in one hand. “I have to go grab another cart of chairs,” he said. “This is a huge turnout. People came from all over. Someone mentioned seeing it on social media? We don’t normally have this much reach.”

She gave half a smirk. “If there’s one thing I do well, it’s building buzz.”

“I told you,” he said as he moved off, “you do everything well.” At least she was helping him do good here, a little, in a real way. To that end, she got out her phone to take some pictures.

Preston unstacked more chairs as people mobbed around Rosey. Kids with glittery flowers and unicorns and butterflies painted across their foreheads and cheeks or plastic tiaras perched on their heads squeezed in to hear You Don’t Want a Unicorn and When Aidan Became a Brother . Lacey, earbuds in, was playing with rhythm sticks while Mason went to town on a drum slung around his neck. Nina was draping a sparkly scarf around Jordan’s shoulders and laughing at her girlfriend’s grimace.

A little girl, or possibly an animated mass of sparkles, ran up to Preston and stuck a glittery sticker to the back of his hand. “You need this. Now you’re perfect.”

“Thank goodness.” Preston automatically crouched to be closer to the girl’s eye level, as he always did with kids. Harmony hung back and snapped a picture. “You must be a fairy godmother.”

“I’m five.” Preston only nodded seriously, as if this followed logically, while the girl slung one of the three feather boas she was wearing over his olive jacket. “Pink looks good with green.”

“You really know your colors.”

“I do,” she agreed solemnly, before running off to grab a maraca and join in with the other kids playing their instruments on command every time Rosey turned a page in a book about singing churros.

Nina, half hidden behind Jordan and giggling into her ear, was definitely, surreptitiously, filming this exchange on her phone. Maybe Harmony should see about her tagging Preston’s new accounts.

When she looked back at her phone, she saw a text from Alice, who was bringing the paperwork they’d been preparing for the next phase of the scam. She was outside, where they’d agreed to meet. So, as the crowd settled in for more stories and jokes, Harmony slipped away.

Alice was waiting in the gazebo, and they spent some time going over the details of the vendor agreements. Before Harmony walked them over to town hall, she relaxed back on the bench. It was nice to talk with Alice, someone she didn’t have to keep up the sheen of lies with. “What are you up to this weekend? Getting in some time with the church boy?”

“After that performance at my apartment?” Alice groaned. “He still hasn’t asked me out. We’re going to be gone before he works up to it.” And while Alice was all about taking big risks when they felt right, Harmony knew the purity culture she’d grown up with and mostly shaken off still made her too shy to do the asking herself.

“Yeah.” Harmony sighed, stacking the papers up neatly. “That’s the game, though.”

“Oh, don’t you talk, with all your sniffing around that library like a lost puppy.”

“Do—” Harmony wrinkled her nose. “Do libraries take in lost puppies?”

Alice pounced on this like she’d just broken a star witness in a murder trial. “They do not! Which is the point!”

Harmony resisted the urge to hide behind the sheaf of papers. Or swat Alice with them. “It’s just some fun until we move on.” That was all it possibly could be, no matter what she might have wished. And she wasn’t even certain what she wanted or if she wanted to ask herself that. Why bother if she might not be able to get it? She’d focus on what she could get. Like making Preston into her very own real live ice cream cone tonight.

Her friend nodded, brows raised and lips pursed dubiously. “You always watch out for me. I just wanna watch out for you. You don’t deserve to get hurt.”

Harmony made a face probably as uncomfortable as one of Preston’s scowl-smiles, dubious right back. She flopped sideways and nuzzled her shoulder against Alice’s. “Come on, keep me company, since coffee boy is too foolish to snap you up.” Harmony had been in town plenty long enough to weave making friends with Alice into the rest of her web of lies. So they popped across the square together and then wandered back into the library.

The party had dissipated. They’d already seen the princesses driving out of the parking lot together, and Preston came out of the community room followed by Rosey and carrying a box overspilling with shiny scarves and flower crowns and trailing boas. He nodded hello to Alice, who Harmony introduced.

“Ah,” said Preston, “you’re the one who revealed the secrets of my drink order.”

Alice grinned. “You must know better than anyone that Harmony is impossible to say no to.”

Rosey threw back her head in laughter, the flowers of her headpiece shaking. “My kind of woman.”

“How was the parade?” Harmony asked.

“Resplendent,” Rosey declared with a flourish.

Preston adjusted the box in his arms. “I’m going to walk Rosey to her car. Lacey’s in the kids section with Mason, but Dani’s on her way.”

“I’ll keep an eye on her.”

This earned her a warm smile Preston didn’t even bother squashing down. “Thanks.”

They were barely to the library door when Alice tilted her head. “Do you hear that?”

“What?” Harmony didn’t hear anything but the usual Saturday murmur of the library, the beep of the checkout machines.

“Is that”—Alice dropped her mouth open in mock surprise—“the opening riff of ‘Careless Whisper’ playing?”

“You’re the worst,” Harmony muttered.

“It is! Huh. Weird. Does that play whenever you two are in the same room? Or only when you’ve been making googly eyes at each other? Or are you always making googly eyes at each other?”

Okay, time for the big guns. “Costa. Mesa.” The location of Alice’s greatest blunder, when the cute bartender she was working beside while they targeted the bar’s owner turned out to be a con man himself and made off with their score.

“Sorry,” Alice stage-whispered. “I can’t hear you over that saxophone.”

“At least Evan’s a good wholesome church boy.”

Alice flicked her eyebrows up suggestively. “Until he finally asks me out.”

Harmony was trying not to cackle when a commotion at the door made any effort to stay quiet beside the point. It slammed open to a shouting Rosey and Dani ushering Preston back inside.

Harmony’s hands fell slack to her sides. “Preston?” Her voice was barely above a rasp. Because as the door swung shut against the late afternoon sunshine, she could make out that he was clutching his face and his white shirt was covered with a technicolor spectacle of red blood.