Guilt hit Colin for being too tough on her. “I’m just trying to protect Jewel and get to the bottom of all this.”
“To be fair, dear—” Katy sent a regretful glance Meral’s way “—we’d gotten caught up in chatting. Maybe I kept you too long.”
“Chief Winters, I’m so sorry this happened,” Meral said. “We heard noises coming from above us. I thought I heard someone cry out, so we came first to Jewel’s bedroom and that’s when we discovered she was gone.”
“Then we heard the awful crash.” Katy sat on the edge of the bed. “We ran up to the third floor and found the attic door hanging down.”
“And so we climbed the steps and found Jewel covered in boxes.” Meral fidgeted. Glanced out the bedroom door. Was she waiting on Buck? Wondering where he was? Colin certainly was. This was the second time the man seemed to be missing when Jewel was hurt.
“She could have been crushed.” Katy rubbed Jewel’s leg as if coaxing her to wake up.
“The boxes weren’t heavy enough to crush her.” But there she was in the bed, unconscious, regardless. Colin didn’t want to think about what could have happened. “I don’t know why she’d go to the attic, but she’s not in any condition to move around an obstacle course.”
A moan escaped Jewel’s lips.
He turned his attention back to her. Pressed his hand against her face. Felt her soft skin. “Jewel, can you hear me?”
Her eyelashes fluttered.
“Jewel, wake up. It’s me, Colin...er...Chief Winters.” His heart was getting the best of him. “Doc Harland is on his way.”
He hoped.
“He is,” David confirmed from behind.
When her lids finally opened, he could see the pain in her eyes. “I know, hon. I know it hurts.”
“Again?” Her question came out in a groan.
“Looks like it, yes. But you’re going to be all right. You hear me?”
“No, no, I’m not.”
“Don’t say that. You’re just fine. You have a concussion probably, and a few new bruises, but nothing worse than that. Doc will fix you up right as rain.” Colin sounded as if he was grasping for hope.
“Doc can’t fix what’s wrong with me.” Jewel frowned, clearly in pain. “Someone is trying to kill me.”
When had Jewel decided she was the specific target?
Colin eased onto the edge of the bed, sitting closer. It should feel wrong, him sitting here like this when Jewel had her sister and Katy Warren to comfort her. What was Colin doing? Hadn’t he decided he shouldn’t do this? But one close call too many had the protector in him coming out and rearing its big head. The comforter in him that he hadn’t realized resided inside was taking over.
“I’ll find him. Don’t you worry. We went to the waterfall today. We’ll find out who did this.” He hadn’t wanted to bring that up yet since he didn’t have any real leads to share, but it was all he could think to do to reassure her. His words portrayed more confidence than he’d felt, though. “In the meantime, you need to rest and recover before you start exploring on your own.”
Jewel opened her intense hazel-green eyes and turned them on Colin. His heart jolted in his chest. He couldn’t remember a time when his heart jumped into his throat this high, this forcefully. Jewel grabbed his hand on her face. “Don’t coddle me, Chief Winters. Forget about the waterfall. He was in my attic.”
* * *
Surprise mingled with disbelief in the police chief’s eyes. That hurt Jewel more than she wanted to admit.
“You’ve been injured, Jewel.” He reclaimed his hand, leaving a cold spot where warmth had been. “You’ve had a knock on the head. Think about what you’re saying.”
She wanted to tell him that his words upset her. But then she’d be admitting out loud that his opinion was important. Meral watched her, sympathy carved into her beautiful features. Did she think Jewel had imagined it, too?
“But we were all here. How could someone have been in the house without us knowing about it?” Meral asked.
“How could he have hidden in the attic all this time?” Katy joined the doubters. “We would have heard the noise.”
“You did hear noise,” David said.
“Yes, but only for a minute or so before we heard the crash.”
“I thought I heard you scream.” Meral pressed her hand over her mouth, eyes wide. “You think...you believe...he was here?”
Jewel grabbed her forehead and slowly sat up, ignoring Chief Winters’s protests, along with those of Katy and Meral.
“I don’t think. I don’t believe. I know what I’m saying. I know what I saw. I know that I fought an attacker. I know what I experienced before I was knocked out. This time, he tried to strangle me. I got free for a second, only he tackled me before I could reach the door. But I think Meral and Katy scared him off when they responded to my scream and the noise. Maybe he thought he’d killed me. He could have done just that. I should be dead right now.”
She turned her eyes to her sister and Katy. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Chief Winters lifted her chin, his touch light and gentle. He looked at her neck and his frowned deepened. Then his eyes shot back up to hers, the scolding in them well and alive. “You walked right into that attic without being suspicious or careful. You were told not to go anywhere alone.”
She knew he was right, but she couldn’t help defending herself. “I’m not accustomed to sitting around and doing nothing. I don’t like others waiting on me. I have work to do. Besides, it’s the middle of the day and this is my home. I wasn’t expecting to find an intruder in the attic.”
“You weren’t expecting someone to push you into the falls either.” He crossed his arms, leveling his gaze.
She turned away, but avoided that stupid mirror. “At least my guests are still out and about. This didn’t happen with any of them here.”
“And maybe that’s the exact reason he thought he could attack you in the middle of the day here in the B and B. That could be the reason he thought he wouldn’t get caught. But at least you got a look at him this time. Do you know who did this?”
“He attacked from behind. The attic was dimly lit, and the small window doesn’t give much light. I fought him, but he was strong and finally I had to head butt him to get free. I didn’t have time to look back—I just ran, but he toppled me.”
She eyed the nightstand drawer, wanting to pull out her Glock and hold it, keep it close, but she didn’t want to scare the others. Jewel shook her head and stared at the floor, remembering how it felt to fight for her life. Her breath caught. What good was self-defense if she couldn’t win that fight? She fully expected Chief Winters to give her some lecture on the correct moves, what she had and hadn’t
