into the radio clipped to his shoulder. He raced to the window. His gun seemed to jump into his hand. He peered outside, squinting as he examined the thick line of trees surrounding the cottage. Nothing moved. A quick glance down, though, showed fresh footprints in the flower bed below the window. Large footprints. Whoever had thrown that rock was probably around six feet tall. Jace figured the person was in shape given how fast they escaped the scene. In the distance, an engine roared to life. Jace let out a frustrated sigh as he realized pursuit would be pointless.
A gasp behind him caused him to whirl. Melanie was staring at a crinkled piece of paper. She was trying to keep it steady, but her hands shook violently. Her face was ashen. She looked as though she might faint. Alarmed, Jace went to her and snatched the paper out of her grasp. She didn’t even flinch.
MURDERER! YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE. LEAVE WHILE YOU CAN.
The large block letters had been cut out of magazines and newspapers. Whoever had thrown that rock made sure their handwriting couldn’t be traced. That amount of effort pointed to premeditation. The person had probably been outside the window waiting for Melanie’s return.
Jace scowled. What kind of lowlife threatened women? Sarah Swanson was about as harmless as you could get. And as for Melanie... He narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the young woman. Her face was pale, and her lips seemed bloodless. The dark curls framing her face emphasized the pallor. The haunted look in her velvet brown eyes tore at him. Even knowing her past as he did, Jace disliked seeing her slender frame tremble with fear.
He hated himself for feeling drawn to her. He thought he had banished the attraction four years ago. A flare of resentment surged as he looked at the young woman kneeling on the floor. Hadn’t he learned his lesson? He had let affection cloud his judgment once before, with disastrous results. Never again.
Melanie raised her head. Her eyes met his. His hair stood on end as electricity zapped between them. Then, as if a light had been switched off, Melanie’s eyes became guarded. He could see her exercising every bit of control she had to master her fear and appear calm. She was brave. He’d give her that. He would have expected tears or outright panic. He wasn’t about to complain, though. Having a hysterical woman on his hands would only make a bad situation worse.
To distract himself, he turned his attention to Sarah Swanson. She was still unconscious, but the swelling around her mouth and eyes was noticeably diminished. He could see that her chest was moving now as she breathed, a sure sign that she was improved.
Jace cleared his throat. “I need to look around outside. Stay by your aunt. Yell if you see any changes.”
“Should I clean up the glass? So the paramedics don’t step in it?”
“Leave it. I called for another cruiser. We need to process the scene first. I’ll make sure it’s cleaned up afterward.”
Zipping his coat, he strode toward the door, noticing they had left it wide-open in the excitement. He spent the next ten minutes searching for evidence. Other than footprints that led off into the woods, he found nothing. A horn honked. He lifted a hand in greeting as another cruiser pulled in, followed by the paramedics. A third cruiser pulled in and parked in the yard. Jace raised his eyebrows. A third cruiser was unusual, to say the least.
He led the paramedics into the house and set the two officers about evaluating the scene. One of the officers approached Melanie. Jace stiffened. It was natural to question her, but the look of attraction on the officer’s face was unsettling. They were cops. It was their duty to remain focused. Letting an ex-con, no matter how pretty, distract them was not going to happen. Jace made his voice stern.
“Olsen, go help Jacobs. I’ll want your report ASAP.”
“Yes, sir.” The young policeman cast one last regretful glance at Melanie and returned outside.
“On three...” The paramedics lifted Sarah Swanson onto a stretcher and loaded her into the ambulance.
* * *
Mel looked around the room, feeling lost. Her aunt was on her way to the hospital, and no one would talk to her or tell her what she should do. It was disconcerting enough being out of jail, away from the routines that had, for better or for worse, been her life for the past four years. She’d been told that she’d have to adjust to life on the “outside,” but no one had explained how to deal with something like this. How was she going to get to the hospital? Was she supposed to go in the ambulance? Would someone drive her? Should she get a taxi? Unthinkingly, her eyes sought out the lieutenant. He might not like her, but he was the only steadying presence in the house.
Melanie glanced at him again. He had just flipped his phone shut and was talking with the officers as the ambulance roared to life and headed back to town toward the hospital. Well, that answered one question. Since no one was paying attention to her, Melanie made her way to her old bedroom.
Melanie stood in the doorway, breathing deeply. The room was the same as it had been nine years ago when she moved out. The blue-and-lavender color scheme, the ruffled curtains. Even the Bible her aunt had given her on her seventeenth birthday was there, sitting on the little end table beside the bed. Waiting for her. Mel walked over and picked the Bible up. Tears clogged her throat.
She had sneered at that Bible when she had received it, she remembered now with pain. What would she need that for? she had scoffed. Her aunt had merely smiled sadly.
“Someday, Melly,” Aunt Sarah had replied softly, “someday you’ll need a friend. Someone strong to carry you. This is where you’ll find Him.”
Her younger self had rolled her eyes at her aunt’s “preaching.” Thinking about it now, Mel was pretty sure she had never opened it. She didn’t even know why she had kept it. It wasn’t that she’d wanted to protect her aunt’s feelings. If that had been the case, she wouldn’t have walked out the moment she graduated from high school nine years ago.
But she had never gotten rid of it. And when she moved out, her aunt had left it here as if she had known that someday her wayward niece would come back for it. Although neither of them could ever have guessed that it would take a prison sentence to bring Mel to God.
Sitting on the bed, she opened the Bible to the book of Psalms. She read slowly, until she felt peace seep into her soul. Feeling calm again, she closed the Bible and stood. She startled when she saw Lieutenant Tucker standing in the doorway. He watched her, his brow furrowed and the corners of his lips pulled down.
She walked over to him and waited.
He stared back for several seconds. Then he straightened and nodded.
“Right,” he said briskly. “Let’s go. I’ll take you to the hospital.”
Mel hesitated. She didn’t relish the idea of remaining in his presence any longer than she needed to. He had made his disdain known. He was a man who viewed her as a criminal, and always would. Even if she could find a way to prove her innocence, would he believe it? Or was he too hardened against her?
Lieutenant Tucker frowned at her hesitation. “Come on, Melanie. I really don’t have all day.”
Melanie shivered at the chill in Lieutenant Tucker’s deep voice. His contempt for her was almost tangible. The last thing she wanted to do was get back into the cruiser with him. She needed to go to Aunt Sarah, though, so she followed him to the car.
As he backed down the driveway, she caught one last glance of the house. A
