Page 84 of The Fragile Ones

“I said, who are you?” The wind battered her face and she was getting soaking wet.

As a huge gust almost unbalanced Katie, the man turned and ran.

“Hey!” she yelled, taking off after him. The mud and gravel under her bare feet was uncomfortable, but finding out who he was was more important. Fighting the wind, with a wall of rain blasting her face, slowed her pursuit. She pumped her arms, trying to keep her eyes open.

The sound of a gunning engine roared to life.

Katie stopped and frantically turned in a three-hundred-sixty-degree circle—no sign of the man. Suddenly, the gray truck she had seen on her run zoomed out from behind a set of trees, headlights blinding. It swerved right, just missing Katie, and then sped out of the parking area.

Katie stood staring after the truck.

“Katie!” yelled McGaven. “Are you alright? Who was that?”

“Someone tried to break into my room.”

“C’mon, let’s get you back inside.” He helped his partner as she started to shiver uncontrollably.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the gray truck back in Pine Valley?” said McGaven after she recounted the events.

“Honestly, I had pushed it out of my mind until tonight.” She had changed into dry clothes with a blanket wrapped around her.

Cisco wouldn’t leave Katie’s side.

“We need to call this in.”

“To who?” she said. “Who can we trust in this town? Clearly someone doesn’t want us here.”

“Are you sure that they don’t want us here?”

“Aren’t you?”

“What if all these things are happening because someone is trying to get our attention?”

“You mean like the flat tire, the tree branch in the road, tampering with evidence and lurking outside my room in a storm? Well, I have news for them—they got our attention,” she said.

“Get some sleep. I’ll crash on the couch.”

“No, you don’t need to do that. I have Cisco. Besides…” she laughed. “That couch isn’t big enough for you.”

“Just for added protection.”

“Thanks, Gav. I’ll be fine.”

After McGaven left, Darren Rodriguez came to Katie’s mind. He used to do dirty jobs for Whitney Mayfield. Maybe Whitney found someone new. But who is Whitney Mayfield?

You know all about him. You can reach out and touch him.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Tuesday 0830 hours

Katie sat a small bistro table in the motel restaurant, with Cisco lying down underneath waiting for a crumb to fall. She ate a bowl of oatmeal with fruit as she waited for McGaven. The storm had cleared for now, but there was worse weather predicted.

Betty fussed around her. “You need any more coffee, Detective?”

“No, thank you. Please call me Katie,” she said and smiled.

“Very well, Katie. My daughter-in-law is named Katie.”