“Max, come.”
Amazingly, he obeyed. Or he wanted to sniff where the scent was strongest and that just happened to coincide with what I wanted him to do. Hard to tell, but at least he didn’t take off.
I stepped closer to the house. The words were in red, but it was brighter than the animal blood had been. It looked like paint. I touched one of the letters with the tip of a finger. Mostly dry but still tacky. Hard to tell how long it had been there, but it must have been some time in the night. We’d been out with Max before going to bed and there hadn’t been a scent for him to find then.
Damn it. I needed to tell Audrey and call Garrett. And obviously install a lot more cameras. I could already tell whoever had done this had figured out the blind spot. Maybe that was what the message meant. He wanted her to know that he could still get to her, despite my precautions.
Fucker.
“Let’s go, Max.”
We went inside and I sent a text to Garrett to give him a heads up. Then I went to the bedroom to wake Audrey and deliver the news.
She looked so cute, all snuggled up in the covers. She’d rolled to my side of the bed, probably to absorb the warmth I’d left behind.
I hated that this was happening to her. Hated that I couldn’t make it stop.
I sat on the edge of the bed and brushed her hair back from her face. “Audrey.”
She took a deep breath and stirred but didn’t open her eyes.
“Audrey, honey. Wake up.”
The fact that she smiled before even opening her eyes hit the soft place in my chest that I wanted to pretend wasn’t there.
“Morning.”
I loved her sleepy voice. “Morning. Sorry to wake you, but we have a problem.”
Her eyes opened wider. “What’s wrong?”
“Someone spray painted the side of the house.”
“Spray painted? Like graffiti?”
“It just says, you don’t see me.”
She sat up. “This is good. Maybe the camera caught him.”
I shook my head. “We’ll check but I’m almost positive he stuck to the blind spots. Obviously I’m installing more cameras today.”
Her shoulders slumped. “I thought maybe it was over. It’s been weeks.”
“Me too.”
“I just wish I knew why they were doing this. And who it is.”
“I think we know who.”
“Colin?”
“Yeah, obviously.”
She let out a breath. “I don’t know.”
“Who else would it be? He already proved he still has a thing for you.”
“I guess, but why would he start vandalizing my house?”
“Because he’s pissed at you.”
Her voice started to rise. “What did I ever do to him?”
“Gee, I don’t know, Audrey. Maybe breaking up with him?”
She fell back onto the pillow. “That was so long ago. And it’s not like he was that heartbroken. He married Lorelei right after.”
“That was probably his first act of revenge.”
“Why does it have to be my ex? Couldn’t it be one of your exes?”
“I don’t have any exes who hate me that passionately.”
“Colin doesn’t hate me that passionately either. He’s not necessarily the nicest guy but he’s not a criminal. I can’t imagine him sneaking over here in the middle of the night to spray paint my house. That’s insane.”
“Well someone did.”
“Maybe my mom is right and it’s someone who hates my dad. My dad’s not around anymore, so he’s harassing me instead.”
I hesitated, not sure if I should say what I really thought. “Look, I don’t know your mom, and I don’t want to talk shit about her, but it’s weird that she’s trying to make this about her.”
“She’s very good at that.”
“Then why are you listening to her?”
“I’m not, I’m just wondering. At the time, it seemed like everyone in town loved my dad, but he was a politician. He had to have made enemies. They all do, don’t they?”
“Seems like it. But I still don’t buy it.”
“Why are you so sure it’s Colin?”
“Because it fits. You break up with him, bruise his ego, so he runs off and marries someone else. Years go by and he doesn’t think about you because you’re not around. Suddenly you move back and he’s reminded of how you rejected him. Maybe you’re the only woman who ever has. He’s holding a grudge. At first he thinks he’ll just manipulate you into bed, take out his anger on you that way. But that doesn’t work and he can see it won’t. So he gets creative.”
“If it’s so obvious it’s Colin, why haven’t the cops arrested him?”
“They just don’t have enough evidence yet. Maybe he finally screwed up this time and his wife will admit he left the house in the middle of the night.”
She sat up again and tucked her hair behind her ears. “I guess.”
A jolt of anger made my back stiffen. “Why do you keep defending him?”
“I’m not.”
“Yeah, you really are. Every time he comes up, you have another excuse as to why he couldn’t have done it.”
“It just doesn’t seem like him.”
“How would you know?” My voice was rising and part of me knew I shouldn’t yell at her. But I was pissed and my self-control on the verge of snapping. “You don’t know what kind of person he is. Maybe when he was twenty-one, he wouldn’t have gone psycho on you, but he’s different now. Maybe he’s just that fucking angry at you.”
“It’s not like our breakup was traumatic. We only stayed together as long as we did because it was what everyone else expected of us.”
“So you’re saying when you told him it was over, he was totally fine with it.”
“No,” she said, as if reluctant to admit it.
“What did he do?”
Her eyes darted away and she didn’t answer.
“Audrey, what did he do?”
“He got mad.”
“And?”
She let out a long breath. “He got really mad. I don’t remember everything he said, but he yelled a lot and told me no one breaks up with him.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“I get it, our breakup wasn’t exactly smooth. But he didn’t do anything after that. He didn’t call or text or drive by my house or try to see me. It was like I’d dropped off the face of the earth. He started dating Lorelei right away and it was obvious he was over me.”
“Dating another woman doesn’t mean he was over you.”
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t know how he felt about it then or why he started dating Lorelei so fast. But they got married and they’re still together. Now he’s a super successful attorney who probably lives in a mansion and gets to strut around town like a big shot. That’s everything he ever wanted.”
“Are you being blind to this whole thing on purpose or are you really that na?ve?”
“Excuse me?”
“You have no idea what’s going on in this guy’s head – what seeing you again might have done to him or what he’s willing to do to you.” I stood and started pacing. “And for some reason that I can’t fathom, you won’t even entertain the possibility that he’s the one behind all this stuff. So I’ll ask you again, why are you defending him?”
“I’m not.”
“You are and you need to stop.”
Her back snapped straight and she clutched the covers to her chest. “You need to not tell me what to do.”
Still pacing, I groaned in frustration. “I’m not telling you what to do.”
“You literally just did.”
“But this doesn’t make any sense. You have someone seriously fucking with you and you’ve convinced yourself the most obvious suspect is innocent.” I needed to walk away before I said something stupid. With another frustrated groan, I rubbed my forehead. “I have to go get more cameras.”
Audrey called after me as I walked out—something about it being too early. She was right—nothing was open yet—but if I stayed, I was going to screw this up.
I was mad, but I didn’t want to do anything to mess things up with her.