heard Dr. Drummond was one of the missing persons. I’m so sorry. I know you used to see her.” Alice’s forehead creased in a frown. “Do you think he’s killing them?”
Brenna inhaled and let the air out slowly. “We don’t have proof and we may not find them until spring, but my gut tells me it’s not good.”
Alice’s face blanched. “Wow. Here in Riverton? A killer in our midst.” She gave a mirthless laugh. “Makes me want to go pick up my kids from school and keep them inside.”
“You do that. And lock your windows. If you have a security system, make sure it’s on.”
“Seems strange taking orders from my baby sister. But you were always the strong one.” Alice squeezed her hand. “Just like Dad. Mom and I leaned heavily on you when he died. Must have been hard for you. You and Dad were so close.”
“I didn’t mind.” Liar. She’d missed her father so much after his death, but she couldn’t fall apart. Her mother and sister needed her to be strong. So she was. “Besides, I have to keep it together. The kidnapper sent me a note after the first woman disappeared.”
“No!” Alice’s eyes widened and her face paled. “He could be after you next. Do you think it’s someone you know? Oh, Brenna, you’re a single woman. Are you safe walking around on the streets? You should come stay with Stan and me. Speak of the devil…” Alice directed a smile over Brenna’s shoulder. “There’s Stan now.”
As Stanley Klaus stepped through the front door, Brenna turned to face him, a friendly smile of greeting pasted on her face. The man was every bit as tall as Nick, but not quite as broad in the shoulders. His sandy-blond hair was pleasantly ruffled by the wind. Brenna understood what Alice had seen in Stan. He was a good-looking man.
The right side of his mouth quirked up in a half smile. “Brenna, good to see you.” He reached out and engulfed her in a hug. “What’s it been—a month since you were here last?”
Brenna endured the embrace for her sister. No matter how hard she tried, she never felt as though Stan was family and she didn’t like being hugged by anyone but family and very close friends. Somehow, Stan didn’t fit into either category.
“I’d stay and catch up, but I just stopped for a bill I left on my computer.” Stan left the women standing in the hallway, an awkward silence stretching between them until he walked back through the house with a paper in his hand. “Got it! I might be late for dinner.” With that parting comment, he sailed through the door and was gone.
Alice’s gaze followed him until his car left the driveway, a small frown crinkling the middle of her forehead. “Nice to see you, too, dear,” she said softly. When she finally faced Brenna, her lips twisted into a wistful smile. “That’s the life of an old married woman.”
“You’re not old.” Brenna wrapped her arms around her sister and hugged her briefly before stepping away. “I know this is crazy but I always get the feeling he’s never forgiven me for trying to talk you out of marrying him.”
Her sister snorted. “At my wedding! You have to admit that was pretty poor timing on your part.”
“I’m sorry. I had no right.”
“Yes, you did.” Alice smiled, only her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “You did what any sister would do. You tried to give me one last chance to change my mind. But it’s been seven years, I’m sure he’s forgotten all about it.”
Brenna shrugged into her coat. “Well, you know where I’ll be and I’ll have my cell phone if you need to contact me.”
“You sure you won’t stay with us? We’d love to have you.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. I’ll be in and out at odd hours and I only need a place to shower and sleep.”
Alice crossed her arms over her chest and gave Brenna her best big-sister scowl. “Let me guess, you’ll be at the police station the rest of the time.”
“Or out searching for clues.”
“And you couldn’t have crummier weather.”
“Tell me about it.” Brenna hated the last part of winter. After six months of snow, she and everyone else in North Dakota were ready for green grass and sunshine.
Alice sighed. “At least at the police station you’re surrounded by other cops. And they say warmer weather is at the back end of this storm.”
“I hope so. Look, I have to go.” Brenna straightened her shoulders. “Remember, be careful. If this guy is really after me, you could be in danger just by your association with me. You might consider going to stay in the Cities.” Five hours away, the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul teamed with traffic and their own share of crime. Yet they suddenly seemed like a safe haven compared to the small town of Riverton, North Dakota.
If Brenna did her job right, Riverton would be back on track for one of the best places to raise a family. Then she’d get her promotion and move to Minnesota and even farther away from her hometown and family.
If she didn’t get killed in the meantime.
Chapter Three
Checked in at the hotel, Brenna stripped down to skin and padded to the bathroom to brush the road grime from her teeth. As she stood in front of the mirror, her mother’s words returned to bounce around her thoughts.
Settle for a man who’ll accept her and all her scars.
She stood back and assessed herself in the full-length mirror on the back of the door. Besides the toothbrush in her mouth, she looked pretty normal. A little on the short side, but just like anyone else. Until she turned around.
Pivoting, she glanced over her shoulder at the wide swath of scarred skin from her right shoulder down to the bottom of her right thigh. Laced across the smooth, leathery scar tissue was a mottled pattern of splotchy pink, purple and blue lines. Burned in a freak barn fire as a small child, she accepted the scars as a part of her. But children were cruel and many had poked fun at her, calling her alligator skin and burned cookie when she’d gone outside in shorts or a swimsuit. Not that she’d let them stop her. With her father’s love and encouragement, she’d grown up confident and as normal as she could. Yet when it came to adult situations in the bedroom, the lights were definitely off.
The one time she’d opened herself enough to let a man into her bed—that sleazebag Victor Greeley—he’d forgotten to tell her one important fact. The jerk was married. While she’d been hiding her scars in the dark, Victor had been hiding uglier sins.
She should have known better than to date a traveling salesman. What kind of cop was she that she fell into the age-old trap of being the other, unsuspecting woman?
After she’d learned his secret, avoiding him was easy…until he’d moved his wife to town and bought a house on a street just around the corner from Alice.
Brenna’s embarrassment at her stupidity, coupled with the guilt she felt for nearly ruining another woman’s marriage, was sufficient motivation to leave town and the police force she’d cut her teeth on. Living in Bismarck, she didn’t have to pass by Victor’s house, nor did she bump into his sweet
