“I already did,” Mac said. “He’s on his way.”
Dale nodded, shoving his phone back in his pocket as his gaze returned to hers, his expression softening. “I know it may not seem like it, but we’re going to get to the bottom of this. I promise. I’m going to need you to stay close to me, okay?”
She nodded, liking that part, digging deep to bring a smile to her lips. “Okay. If I must.”
“Yes,” he said, a smile now twitching his lips. “You must.”
Dean, who had been silently observing, finally spoke up, “We need to check the security feed from your dad’s backyard, Dale. See if we can catch a glimpse of our suspect.”
Dale nodded, releasing her to quickly pull up the footage on his phone. The loss of his warmth and strength sent a chill through Sadie. Lifting her chin, she set her shoulders back and ignored it.
I’m not a damsel, dammit.
Everyone crowded around Dale’s phone, watching the screen intently as the video played. Not really wanting to see it, because that would make this more real, Sadie thought about putting more coffee on, but she still had her arm around Dale’s waist, and his hand was still gripping her hip.
Movement in the shaded area in the back of his father’s yard caught her attention on the screen. Someone was using the shadows and foliage of the trees and bushes in front of the chain-link fence separating his yard and the yard behind his as natural camouflage.
A figure in a black hoodie.
The same one they’d seen before. He moved with deliberate, practiced ease, never once turning his face toward the camera.
Sadie’s blood ran cold as she watched the intruder enter her yard by using the gate Sam had recently put in.
“Son-of-a-bitch,” Dale muttered.
“He’s brazen,” Mac observed. “I don’t like it.”
Neither did she.
She didn’t like any of this. It was clear this intruder knew exactly what he was doing and where he was going. This wasn’t a random act—it was calculated, premeditated.
“He came from the yard behind my dad’s,” Dale muttered, his eyes glued to the screen. “Mac, get Carter on the line. We need to see if there are any other cameras in the area that picked up where he went.”
Mac was already dialing, his voice clipped and efficient as he relayed the information to Carter. Sadie could hear the urgency in his tone, could feel the collective anxiety of the group as theywaited for any scrap of information that might lead them to whomever was behind this.
It was becoming a nightmare of pranks that kept escalating with each act.
She worried about Sam and the horses, herself and Dale, as well as Telsa and Ranger.
Ranger…
The memory of her and Dale breaking their kiss when the dog barked because he was alerting them of the team’s arrival had her thinking about the reason he’d barked the second time.
Sadie released Dale to walk over to Ranger, who was laying on the rug in front of her sink. “You are a good boy,” she said, kneeling in front of him to scratch under his collar. “You were barking before because of that bad man outside, weren’t you?”
The pup made a groaning noise as he yawned and surged up to lick her face.
The room grew quiet as everyone’s attention shifted to the dog.
“I think you’re right,” Dale said. “He probably was barking at someone outside, not because he got excited about our ruckus in here. Good boy, Ranger.” He bent over to pat the dog’s head.
Cooper walked over to add his praise.
“So that was…what? About an hour ago?” Mac asked.
RJ nodded. “Give or take.”
“Wait a second.” Dale straightened and his brow furrowed. “Why didn’t the alarm on my phone go off when the perp entered my father’s yard? The system should’ve alerted us the moment he stepped foot on the property.”
