Page 17 of Secrets Along the Shore (Beach Read Thrillers #1)

“So, am I safe to go back to bed?” I had no intention of going back to bed.

I had no desire to go back into my apartment.

It felt like a trap, and if Sophia’s killer had somehow tied me to her investigation or—worse—if the Serpent Killer was back .

. . “Never mind. I’ll call Livia.” I took my phone back from Reuben’s hand.

He was still holding it after looking at the door cam footage.

“Probably a good idea.” Reuben nodded. “I just—” He put his hands on hips and sighed.

“You just what?” I pressed.

His jaw worked back and forth, and for an irrational second, I calculated our age difference as if he were a potential bachelor. He had eleven years on me. Thirty-eight, if I remembered correctly.

Reuben coughed to clear his throat. “I just don’t feel good about this.

” He looked around us, squinting into the dark places the apartment building’s lights didn’t reach.

“Your case—Sophia—the other two missing women. I think it’s best if you stay with Livia for more than just tonight.

I think you should camp with her for a while.

” He confirmed my fear. “So we know you’re safe. ”

But was I? Was I ever safe? We didn’t know where the Serpent Killer had been this past decade.

After I escaped, he’d gone dormant—or something.

There had been ten years of tenuous peace.

The kind that felt good but always left me looking over my shoulder like I was being watched, or he was going to jump out at me.

And if he wasn’t associated with Sophia’s killer, then that meant there was another deviant lurking.

Two .

They said trouble comes in sets of three.

I was more than willing to stop with two.

I wasn’t sure I could take another one.

“Heard you had a fun night.”

It was Toby. Gosh, I loved Toby’s frankness.

He was the one person at work I could count on to not to patronize me.

He was predictable and because he was too old to be anything other than brotherly and platonic, sometimes I had the insatiable and really weird urge to throw myself into his teddy bear arms. I was sure he would beat all my villains to hell and I was okay with that.

But then, he was also Toby. He installed fireplaces and air conditioners and, to my knowledge, had zero interest in the bodyguard career. Bummer.

Once again, we’d met at the time clock. This morning, someone had left an open box of doughnuts from the local gas station on the table below it. The only ones left were pink frosted with colorful sprinkles. Toby wasn’t above taking the pretty pastry and stuffing half of it into his mouth.

“How’d you hear about it?” I slid my time card into the machine and it punched the inked time and date on the line. I eyed the last remaining doughnut. The calories would probably be worth it, and after last night, I deserved it.

“Social media is the number one tattle tale, kid.”

“What?” I frowned.

“Haven’t you been on the Wisper’s End Community United thread?”

I eyed Toby. I hadn’t pictured him to be a social media browser. “No.” I reached for the doughnut.

“Well this morning someone posted a report off the police scanner with an incident at the apartments you live at.”

“And they posted my name ?” I couldn’t help my voice raising. Sprinkles fell from my delightful circle of sugar and flour.

“No.” Toby stuffed the last bit of his morning breakfast into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. But I put two and two together. I mean, it mentioned police were seen outside a first-floor apartment with a bay window on the east end of the complex.”

“That’s worse than giving my name,” I grumbled. “I’m the only apartment on that end with a bay window.”

“I know.” Toby gave me a meaty-handed pat on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. Most people ignored it. The next post was about a dead cat in the road on Third Street and the entire town is in an uproar that anyone would allow their cat to roam free.”

I was bested by a dead cat.

I was okay with that. Poor pitiful creature. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. On second thought . . . I didn’t allow myself to ponder.

“Well, I’m fine.” I wasn’t, but Toby didn’t need to know that.

He didn’t know that I considered staying here in the break room for the rest of my work shift.

The white walls were scarred with marks the guys made by leaning back in their chairs.

A framed poster of a woodstove was the only thing on the walls, but someone had put a Christmas wrapping bow on the corner of it and never removed it. Probably Elsie.

The door between the office and the back room opened and the warehouse manager came through, gripping a Styrofoam coffee cup with a black lid.

“You okay?” Alan asked. He glanced at the empty doughnut box.

“Does everyone know?” I retorted.

His lopsided grin was apologetic. “If you’re on social media. And who took the last doughnut?”

“Sorry not sorry?” I retorted, taking an exaggerated bite and smiling as Alan feigned a look of disappointment.

“I don’t know! What’s going on, homies?” Elsie limped in, her aged, petite frame looked as if it’d blow away in a slight breeze, and I could see her scalp through her thinning permed hair dyed a weird ash blonde. “Tell me all the news.” Her voice had that elderly shake to it also.

“Nothing,” I said.

“Someone broke into her apartment last night,” Alan supplied .

“Leave the kid alone,” Toby groused.

Elsie’s eyes widened behind glasses that already magnified them twice their normal size. “For all that’s holy! Are you alright, honey?”

“I’m fine.” The attention was becoming uncomfortable.

“Don’t you go home tonight. You come stay with Harold and me. I have a spare room and my mother’s afghan collection is in there too, so it’s all comfy and cozy.”

I had a vision of being cuddled in a bed with piles of yarn on top of me. It wasn’t the worst idea. “I’m staying with my friend, Livia.”

“That’s good.” Elsie patted my arm.

Why was everyone always so touchy? I tried not to pull away.

“Gotta get going.” Toby winked. “You know you can call me day or night, right, kid?”

I nodded. But no, I hadn’t even thought of calling Toby. He was a co-worker—not a friend.

“Seriously, Noa. Next time, speed dial me. I’ll come bust someone.”

A little piece of the wall I’d built up against trusting people broke at that moment. Warmth filled me and saturated the fear that was still driving me this morning.

Alan lifted his finger and waved it at me as he followed Toby. “Me too! You’ve got a crew of guys here who’d wrestle an alligator for you.”

The door closed behind them, and I squeezed my eyes shut for a second to push back unwanted and unexpected tears. I was relieved that they had left and removed so much focus from me, but there was also an unfamiliar sense of comfort that these two men, who mere coworkers, were so protective of me.

Elsie sidled up next to me. “Sometimes the safest folks are the ones closest to you, dear.”

She left me standing in the middle of the break room, staring at an empty table and a now silent time clock.

Oh Elsie. The sweet naivete of old age. I swear. If she only knew how many times growing up in foster care that it was the people closest to me who were the most dangerous?—

I froze.

Closest to me .

A movement in my peripheral vision snagged my attention. I spun to my right.

Sophia was there.

Her fingers in her perpetual v .

The people closest to you . . .

The idea lit a new idea in me. One that I knew I needed to pursue.

Locking eyes with Sophia as she stood motionless in the corner, I wondered why I hadn’t thought of it before.

I sucked in a shuddering breath. I couldn’t wait either.

I needed to act on this. I had to see Reuben. I had to find him now.