Raven's Hollow. Jenna Ryan
eastbound vehicle and a single painted word to go on.”
“It was a truck.” Eli kept his tone conversational.
Ty’s dark blond eyebrows came together. “What was?”
“The eastbound vehicle. I’d guess a Dodge Ram, twenty, maybe thirty years old. I’d also go with stolen since the guy was smart enough to send the raven-card email Sadie told you about from a toss-away phone.” He shrugged at his cousin’s glare. “Police computer. I linked to Sadie’s office line. There’s no owner registered on her last incoming. Sender’s got a plan, and it doesn’t involve being identified.”
She’d known that, Sadie thought, of course she had. She’d been a journalist far too long to delude herself. “I don’t suppose you have any idea, beyond terrifying me, what that plan might entail?”
She felt Eli’s gaze on her face. “Working on it.”
Across the cramped room, Ty drummed a pen on his blotter. “Tell me, cousin, how do you determine twenty or thirty years old in a truck?”
“Three back-breaking summers spent on my grandfather’s farm in Idaho. Why are you wet?”
Ty frowned down at his soaked shirt and pants. “I—was hungry, stepped out. Figured the diner might be serving on emergency power.”
“It’s after eleven,” Sadie remarked. “Johnny’s closes at ten.”
“The time thing didn’t occur until I was halfway there. I was heading back when I spotted a couple kids outside Dorothy Leamer’s antique store and made a detour.”
Eli grinned. “Does she still keep her cash float in a cigar box under the counter?”
“It’s her lucky box. She’s been robbed a dozen or more times, but she always gets the money and the box back. Neither thing made it out of the store tonight. Unfortunately, the kids ran off before I could identify them.”
“Making you and Eli even in the ‘oops’ department.” Sadie indicated the curb outside. “The lamp the intruder used is in my Land Rover. I picked it up after he took off, but you could still check it for fingerprints.”
A muscle in Ty’s jaw ticked. “You figure there’ll be any to find?” he asked Eli.
“Doubt it. You might get a clue from the bird. It was shot through the head.”
“Did he use blood or paint for the wall message?”
“Paint. There wouldn’t have been enough blood in a single raven to write a message that large.”
“I assume you secured the scene.”
“Do I really need to answer that?”
The tick in Ty’s jaw deepened. “I think you should stay in town tonight, Sadie.”
“And leave Molly alone out on the point? Answer’s no.”
“Fine.” He yanked out his smartphone. “Is she at the manor?”
“Not when we were there. Save your battery, Ty. I’ve left five unanswered messages. All I can think of is that she went somewhere after work, turned her phone off and hasn’t turned it back on yet.”
“Right, then I’ll just drive you home myself and spend the night.... Crap!” He scowled at his beeping cell, then breathed out and punched Talk. “Raven’s Hollow Police Station. Chief Blume.”
Leaving him to the call, Sadie joined Eli at the rain-streaked station window and studied his face. “Even in shadow, I can see the wheels turning. Talk to me, Lieutenant. Why would someone want to torment me with words that read like threats, and a raven with a bullet in its head?”
“Mine forever. Says it all, don’t you think?”
She did, actually, or would have if she’d been willing to take it that far.
Ty’s voice cut in. “Stay calm, Liz. I’ll be right there.” Frustration etched itself into his handsome features. “A six-year-old girl ran off in pursuit of her new puppy after it wiggled through a window. Now puppy and child are both lost. Mother’s hysterical. Are you sure you secured the scene?” he demanded of Eli.
“I didn’t ditch my badge and training at the state line. Everything you need to see will be there in the morning.”
His cousin’s response came in the form of a snarl. “See that it is.” Giving Sadie’s arm an awkward pat, he said, “Watch your back.” Then he shot an accusing look in Eli’s direction. “Unless you want a knife in it.”
As soon as he was out the door, Sadie plastered a serene smile on her lips. “Well, that was horrible.”
“Can I say I told you so?”
“Only if you want to walk to wherever it is you plan to sleep tonight.”
“I was originally thinking Rooney’s cottage.”
“In that case, you’re facing a long and treacherous hike.”
He chuckled. “I haven’t checked out the bulldog yet, Sadie. You know how Rooney gets stuck on a point.”
“So...Ty’s sofa it is. Good luck with that.”
“Uh-huh.” When she turned away, he tugged on her hair and swung her gently back around. “You know where I’ll be sleeping tonight, and there won’t be any old men, dogs or hostile sofas involved. Your front door lock’s been compromised, Sadie.”
Reaching behind her, Sadie extricated his hand from her hair. “You’re trying to frighten me into letting you sleep at my place. Not only is that an unworthy tactic, it’s also an unnecessary one, because while I don’t appreciate your high-handed I’m-a-cop-and-you’re-not attitude, I do in fact recognize that I’ve been threatened, and there was both a bullet and blood involved. So let’s slide past the sleeping arrangements and the mind games, drive back to Bellam Manor and make sure Molly and Cocoa are safe.”
The hand that had been in her hair moved to trap her chin. Eli’s green eyes stared straight into hers. “This guy doesn’t want Molly or Cocoa, Sadie. That’s not what it’s about.”
She held his gaze. “What aren’t you saying? I’m totally terrified to ask. In my experience, crazy people will steamroll anyone who gets in their way. Or so the theory generally goes.”
“Generally,” Eli agreed. “Except this isn’t general, it’s specific. And in terms of the email card you received, it’s a virtual carbon copy of what happened to Laura a week before she was murdered.”
* * *
TELLING SADIEWHAThad suddenly clicked in his mind did more than shock her into silence. It catapulted Eli back to the night his stepsister—Sadie’s seventeen-year-old cousin, Laura—had died.
Sadie’s aunt had married Eli’s widowed father when Eli was ten. The melding of their families had been a seamless affair. But no doubt about it, Bellams and Blumes living under the same roof in Raven’s Cove had been like Christmas on the local grapevine.
Eli and two friends from school had gone to a movie in the Cove the night of the murder. Laura had been babysitting Sadie, but she’d driven to the Hollow in her mother’s cherry-red ’69 Mustang with a promise to pick them up as soon as her aunt and uncle returned home.
He could have told her not to bother, Eli thought now. Less of a hassle to walk or let someone closer come and get them, but there’d been intermittent hailstorms all day, and face it, what adolescent boy would turn down a ride in the coolest car in town?
So he and his friends had wandered over to the arcade to wait. They’d slain dragons, bludgeoned knights and smashed castle walls, until, finally, the manager had come in and told them he was shutting down.
Eli had felt the first prickle of fear at that moment. He hadn’t known why, not exactly. It hadn’t