States government. I think we can handle Arrowhead Bay.”
They all knew Vigilance had the resources to tap into things that weren’t readily available to your typical police department.
Devon let out a long breath. “Thank you so much.” Not that she didn’t have the greatest admiration for Sheri, but Arrowhead Bay had just a six-person police force. The most difficult things they handled were speeding tourists and bar fights during football games. Surely for something like this they needed more help.
Avery looked over at her sister. “So I’m guessing first on your list is the cell phone?”
Sheri nodded. “You’ve got staff and equipment that is way above anything us ordinary mortals have. But time is critical here.”
“No problem.”
“Good. When we leave here, I’ll run it right over to you.” Avery got up to brew another cup of coffee for herself.
Devon was only half listening. She kept sliding glances toward the front door, tuned in for sounds of Logan’s arrival. Safe! There was that word again, along with secure. Grounded. She’d felt it from the moment he’d jogged over from his truck. All those things. How could she feel that about a man she’d just met? Hadn’t even known more than an hour?
And now she was going to be staying with him in this house, just the two of them. Her hormones seemed to be doing battle for first place with the little ball of fear in her stomach. Crazy, right? But just as inexplicable as everything else in this insane situation.
And then he was there, his presence filling the room.
“Muffins.” He placed a bag from the bakery on the table in front of Devon.
She inhaled the aroma of the fresh muffins, the scents of chocolate and cinnamon teasing at her nose even before she opened the bag. Surprisingly, she discovered she was hungry.
“Yum. That smells wonderful.”
“They cure almost anything,” Avery told her with a smile. “Thanks, Logan.”
* * * *
Logan smiled at his boss. “No problem.”
Then he took a hard look at Devon, seated at the table with her fingers wrapped around a steaming mug of what he assumed was coffee. She was still pale, and the tension surrounding her was so strong it almost vibrated in the air.
Back on the highway he’d been worried about her. For a few minutes, he was afraid she was going to fall apart. Now, however, she looked a little bit better. Her color still wasn’t great but she looked more in control of herself. He had to give her high points for the way she was handling herself. He was glad when Sheri got up, found a plate for the muffins, and set them in front of her.
“Coffee, Logan?” Avery was standing by the coffeemaker.
“Not right now. I want to get the stuff into the house. Devon, what’s the deal with a remote for the garage door? I don’t want to leave my truck sitting outside.”
“There are some in the garage,” she told him.
“Some?” He lifted an eyebrow. “Most people just have one.”
“I know, but my father was obsessed with them. Every so often he’d change the codes. He showed me how to reprogram them and if I was coming to visit, he would give me the new code. I asked him about it once, and he said people coming to the house could clone the remote so he changed the code after every visit.”
And wasn’t that just interesting. People only did that if they had something to hide and wanted to control whoever had access to them. Logan had been through that before.
“What kind of visitors did he have?” Avery asked. “Do you know? And how long did it go on?”
Devon scrunched up her forehead. “Let me see. It started about two years after he built the house, and I haven’t the foggiest about visitors, beyond Cole International people. He never discussed them with me. Why?”
“Because that shows a high level of paranoia. That could be when things took an unexpected turn for him.”
“That’s what we’re going to find out.”
“God.” She swallowed. “Okay, the inside door to the garage is right off the front hall.”
It took him a few trips to bring in all his and Devon’s things from his truck. She pointed him to her room and he chose the one across from it for himself. Better surveillance, giving him a direct line into her room if he needed it.
By the time he came back into the kitchen, Devon had a fresh mug of coffee and was making an attempt to eat a muffin. Then he excused himself while he scoped out the rest of the house. What he found—or didn’t find—troubled him.
“You’re right,” he told Avery. “This house could have been wiped by a professional. Something’s way off here.”
Avery had just handed him a mug of coffee when Sheri’s phone signaled. She listened for a moment, shock suddenly freezing her face.
“What is it?” Logan demanded.
“The boat.” The way she looked at each of them made every one of his warning signals go off. “The Princess Devon is on fire.”
Devon’s face turned white.
“On fire? But—But…” She looked up at Logan, who had moved to stand behind her chair, his hands resting on her shoulders. “How? Why?”
“We don’t know,” Sheri told them, “but the Coast Guard has to be notified, and I need to get down to the marina. The fireboat from Almonte County Fire Department is already there.”
“I’m going, too.” Devon jumped up, almost knocking over her coffee.
“No.” Logan tried to push her back into the chair. “You don’t need to be there.”
“Damn it.” She pushed his hands away and leaped up, almost knocking over her chair. “That’s my father’s boat. He disappears and suddenly his boat catches fire? Something doesn’t add up, and I want to know what the hell is going on. Please, Logan.”
“Devon, you’ve got a big target painted on your back,” Avery reminded her. “What if someone did this to draw you out? Besides, you don’t have a car.”
“I don’t care what you say,” Devon snapped. “I’m going. Someone can take me or I’ll walk.”
Avery’s reasonable voice wasn’t going to work here. Logan could feel Devon vibrating like a tuning fork, and he was filled with an overwhelming need to protect her. Which might, considering the circumstances and her attitude, be a difficult job.
“I’ll take her,” he said. He’d rather have her glued to his side than running off even more recklessly. “She’s going, so save your breath. We all need to get moving.”
“Stay. Go. Whatever.” Sheri threw up her hands. “I need to get down there.” In seconds she was out the door.
