Page 105 of Paranoid

“God, Dad, yeah. Go check for yourself!”

“I will. But you show me.”

Dylan rolled his eyes but led them all into the kitchen, then the pantry, where the system control box was located. He walked them through the system, explaining that it was now “live,” that all the doors and windows were engaged.

“Okay, disconnect it for now, and I’ll turn it on after Dad leaves,” Rachel said.

“See how hard it is?” Dylan said sarcastically, tapping in the code.

Cade pointed to one of the tabs that was marked FDC. “What’s this?”

“The camera for the front yard. It means front door camera,” Dylan said.

“Was it working the night the door was vandalized?” Cade asked. Dylan shook his head. “Nothing on this system was.”

Cade’s face fell. “Too bad. We might have been able to ID the guy that sprayed the door if he’d been caught on camera.”

“Yeah, but the image might have been all grainy. This system’s a dinosaur,” Dylan said. “You might not even be able to get parts for it.”

“Time to upgrade,” Cade observed. “You can get digital systems that are easy to install and record and connect to your phone.”

“We will. But not tonight,” Rachel said, suddenly bone weary. “You two”—she waved a finger between her children—“go to bed. School tomorrow.”

“You’re making us go?” Harper let out a disbelieving huff.

“Yep.” That might not be true. Though her daughter deserved a tough punishment for sneaking out, she had been through a horrid trauma, one to which Rachel could all too easily relate. Was it punishment enough? Probably. Still, Rachel needed to make a stand.

Tomorrow.

Dylan shot down the hall like a bullet, Harper following more slowly. Rachel waited until she heard both their bedroom doors close before saying to her ex, “Welcome to my nightmare.”

“Mine, too. And I’m serious about that security system upgrade.”

“Got it. I am, too.”

“Good.” He was walking toward the front of the house again.

“I just can’t believe that Annessa’s gone,” Rachel said as she kept step with him. “That someone would do that. Leave her for dead suspended in the bell tower. Why?”

“Don’t know. Yet. But we’ll find out.”

“I hope so. Does her husband know?” Rachel asked.

“Uh-huh”

“You think it’s connected to what happened to Violet?”

“Yeah.” He thought for a moment. “You know what struck me? Not just that they graduated together, or that they may or may not have been friends. The thing is that both women were at the cannery that night and both testified on your behalf.”

“That’s pretty random,” she said, but felt a little drip of fear slide through her. “I mean, it all happened twenty years ago.”

“And now it’s being dragged up in the newspaper, right? And you’re having your high school reunion, bringing all the players together?”

“I don’t think either Annessa or Violet planned to come.”

“Even though they still live in the area?”

“Maybe that’s why,” she said sarcastically. “Anyway, it really pissed Lila off. She wants to make the reunion one of the best ever or something along those lines. You know Stepmommy-Dearest. Always wants the biggest and best; to make a splash.”