“You going to talk to Rance?” I growled.
Lawson nodded. “As soon as I leave here. But we can’t only focus on him.”
“We’re going to interview everyone in Grae’s life. See if they’ve noticed anyone hanging around that shouldn’t be or anyone who has been unnaturally focused on her,” Nash added.
That muscle under Lawson’s eye fluttered again. “Not sure what the end game is with this. Are they trying to scare her? Just want her attention in some sort of sick way?”
My jaw worked back and forth. “You should talk to Gabe. I know he has an alibi for the fire at her house, but I’m not sure about the car fire.”
“I will,” Lawson assured me. “But you need to brace. He’s not going to like it, and he could take that out on you.”
“I’m used to my brother’s wrath.”
Lawson clapped me on the shoulder. “I’m sorry, man.”
Grae straightened as she looked at the contents of her bag, her face going pale. I was moving before I consciously decided to. “What’s wrong?”
Her pale blond hair swirled around her face as she looked up at me. “I had an extra change of clothes in this bag.”
I looked down at the items spread out on a sheet of plastic. “They’re right there, aren’t they?”
Grae swallowed hard. “My underwear. They’re gone.”
* * *
Grae sat on the couch,her hands wrapped around a mug of tea. I paced back and forth in my living room as Lawson and Holt discussed our options.
“I can have a four-man team here by tomorrow,” Holt said. “They can keep a low profile.”
Grae shook her head. “I don’t want a bunch of bodyguards.”
“G,” Nash urged.
“No. I’m staying in a gated estate. I’ll agree not to go anywhere alone, but I’m not getting bodyguards.”
My muscles wound so tight they felt like stone, but I couldn’t stop moving. “What did Rance say?” I asked Lawson.
He sighed. “He said he was fishing this morning. Another guy saw his car at the lake, but no one actually sawhim.”
“I can’t imagine him doing this,” Grae whispered.
Holt turned to his sister. “This is an obsession. Someone who is mentally ill. And some people are really good at hiding that sort of thing.”
She leaned forward, setting down her tea and dropping her head into her hands. “This is making me look at everyone differently. Even strangers on the street. I wonder if they’re the ones doing this.”
I strode to the couch, dropped next to Grae, and rubbed a hand up and down her back. “We’re going to find them. You’ll get your life back.”
Her head lifted. “I don’t want to feel like a prisoner.”
I heard the words Grae didn’t say. That she’d already felt like that for too long. She’d worked so hard to prove to her family that she could handle her illness and her life despite her diagnosis. Now, she felt like she was losing that. “You’re not a prisoner.”
“We just want to make sure you’re safe,” Lawson said.
“But at what cost?” Grae asked.
Holt sighed. “Okay. We hold off on a security team for now, but I want to put cameras at your work. I’ll talk to Jordan about it. And no leading trips on your own.”
Grae’s shoulders slumped. “Okay.”
