Page 103 of Paranoid

She couldn’t go there . . . wouldn’t. Instead, she considered how the night had unfolded. “What were you thinking?” she asked her daughter, then caught Cade’s slight shake of his head, warning her this wasn’t the time or place to chastise their already terrified child. “Never mind, we’ll go into that later,” she said, taking his cue and seeing Harper swallow and fight tears. Shaking inside, Rachel said, “I’m just glad you’re safe.”

Tears began to drizzle down Harper’s cheeks all over again. She sniffed and brushed them quickly away, tried vainly to look tough.

“Look, honey, why . . . why don’t you just go to bed?” Rachel suggested. “We can all talk again tomorrow.”

“I don’t want to talk about it. Ever.”

“Shh. Your mom is right.” Vale placed an arm around Harper’s slim shoulders, then whispered something in her ear and kissed her hair. So tender it almost broke Rachel’s heart. Almost. He looked up and held Rachel’s gaze.

“I am sorry for all of this,” he said, his voice rough. “It’s my fault that Harper snuck out. My idea. It . . . it won’t happen again.”

Harper looked up through her tears and pressed a palm to his chest. “No. It’s not your fault. I came because I wanted to be with you.”

“We can discuss all this later after we’ve all had some sleep,” Cade said. “The important thing is that you tried to help and you’re safe. We’ll have a better perspective in the morning.”

Rachel couldn’t have agreed more. Now that her daughter was home and unhurt, she just wanted Vale out of her house, needed time to get her own head on straight.

“You can go,” Cade said to Vale, “but you’re probably going to be contacted by the department again. There’re bound to be more questions.”

Beside him, Harper groaned. “We already told them everything we know.”

“Right, but there’ll be a follow-up interview,” Cade said. “You might remember something else.”

“I don’t want to remember any of it,” Harper said as Vale rose to his feet and she joined him. With Harper at his side, he made his way to the front door.

“Me neither, but we’re gonna have to.” He looked into the living room and muttered a quick, “Thanks,” though he didn’t explain whom he was thanking or why. He didn’t kiss Harper again, just slipped outside, pulling the door shut behind him. Cade walked to the door and twisted the dead bolt into place.

Harper glared at her parents. “You can’t blame him,” she said. “He tried to help that woman.”

“We don’t,” Cade said, but Rachel wasn’t so quick to acquiesce. If it hadn’t been for Vale wanting to sneak Harper away, they never would have been in this situation. Yes, Annessa would still have been killed, but her daughter would have been safe and spared the trauma of watching someone die.

Just as you did.

She remembered looking down at Luke on the grimy floor of the darkened cannery and watching the light go out of his eyes as he’d slipped into unconsciousness only to die soon after.

Now her own daughter knew the same gut-shredding terror of watching someone die.

Her insides shriveled as she heard a beeping noise and realized it was the security system. She shot to her feet, ran to the back door, and punched in the code to shut off the alarm.

Returning to the living room, she found Harper leaning over the back of the couch to peer through the front window and stare at the disappearing taillights of Vale’s Jeep. With a heartfelt sigh, Harper slid onto the cushions and turned, meeting her mother’s eyes.

Rachel’s heart twisted. “I’m sorry you had to go through this.”

“We all are,” Cade agreed. “Now, before you all go to bed, one last thing.”

“Uh-oh,” Dylan said under his breath.

He focused on his daughter. “How did you get out? The security system was in place and your mom said it was still turned on when she got up and checked. Did you turn it off, then reset it?”

“No.” Harper bit her lip. “I, uh, I asked Dylan to disengage the circuit to my window.”

“What? And you did it?” Rachel said, staring at her son in disbelief. “But that’s the whole point of the alarm, to keep you guys safe.”

“And to keep us in.” Harper folded her arms over her chest, back to being rebellious again.

“Yeah.” Rachel was nodding. “At night. Because it’s dangerous, Harper. You should understand th

at after what you went through tonight. Don’t you see, I’m . . . we, your father and me . . . we just want to keep you safe.”