Feeling as if they had all the time in the world, Ro’s dad had turned to her with that incredible smile and suggested they go walk around the center’s pond. They’d made it halfway around the encircling paved walkway when her dad had stopped to take out his phone.
Ro could still hear her own laughter, thinking he was joking when he’d suggested they take a selfie with the pond in the background. Her dad had never been the selfie-taking kinda guy.
But then he’d gotten serious, saying he wanted them to remember that day—that exact moment—forever. Because, in his words, that was the first day of a future he’d thought they’d lost.
Three months later, her mother was dead. Ro lost her dad two long, soul-crushing years after that. And that picture…
That afternoon had been the last time she could ever remember hearing her father laugh.
“Besides,” Megan’s lowered voice ripped Ro back to the present. “I seem to recallyougiving me all kinds of crap when I stopped to help a stranger who’d wrecked.”
“Are you kidding me? That’s totally different!” Ro’s voice lifted an octave, but she immediately dropped it back down to a whisper. “And the guy you stopped to help turned out to be a freakingmurdererwho damn near killed you. So this isnothinglike that.”
“So far. And I pray that you’re right, but—”
“But what?”
“What if you’re wrong?” Megan challenged sharply. A beat later, she released a shoulder-dropping sigh, her tone returning to the soft, sweet voice Ro knew and loved. “Do you remember how upset you were when you got back from that marketing conference in Des Moines and learned about what had happened to me? Remember how pissed you got because I hadn’t called to tell you about it as soon as it happened?”
The myriad of colors in her friend’s pretty eyes became glassy, and Ro knew she was fighting off tattered remnants of her own demons.
“Ididcall you as soon as it happened,” she pointed out. “The second I realized there were multiple things I couldn’t find, and that maybe I hadn’t gone batshit crazy, I called you.”
“Because you thought I was going to get here, calm you down, tell you your stuff would eventually turn up, and then we’d go to the movies as planned.”
Sometimes she really hated how well Megan knew her.
“Still, that doesn’t change the fact that—”
“Would you stop?” Megan cut her off, continuing before Ro could make another attempt to defend herself. “Look, I get that you didn’t want me to call my brother, and I’m pretty sure I know why. But you need someone to look into this, Ro. Preferably someone who knows what the hell they’re doing, which isn’t me.”
She also hated when the woman was right.
Relenting only slightly, she blew out a breath and crossed her arms at her chest. “Okay, fine. ButBrody?” He was the very last person she wanted to be around, at the moment. Plus, “This is barely a case for the cops. I mean, look at the place, Meg. You can’t even tell anyone was here.” Ro glanced around at her tidy living room and what she could see of her spotless kitchen. “I’m sure your brother has a lot better things to do with his time than investigate some piddly little burglary.”
Only it didn’t feel piddly or little to her. It felt…
Personal.
“What the fuck?” The deep, booming voice reverberated from someplace close.Tooclose.
Ro squeezed her eyes shut and cringed. Lingering scents of gunpowder and the outdoors mixed with spicy male, and she knew before ever lifting her lids that Brody was standing right beside her.
She forced herself to open her eyes and meet his gaze. Angry slashes cut through the skin of his forehead as he locked his dark, glowering stare with hers.
“Someone broke into your house?” His lips rolled inward with a deep inhale, his mouth nearly vanishing inside the frame of his dark whiskers. “Why the hell am I just now hearing about this?”
Great. First, I humiliate myself in front of him last night, and now he’s pissed as hell. Awesome.
“Because I’m not even sure therewasa break-in. Which is why I made your sister promise not to bother you or Christian. Not that she listened.”
As she shot her friend a look, Brody widened his stance and planted his legs. Strong, capable hands came to a rest on his narrow hips as he demanded she explain.
“Start from the beginning.”
Knowing he wouldn’t leave until she did, Ro obeyed the order and told him everything. From the unlocked back door to the opened cabinet and right-side-up mug, her mother’s missing earrings, and the picture…
She purposely omitted the MIA panties, and luckily Megan didn’t bring them up, either.