I'll drop by after dinner then, and bring along the foot spa for your poor feet.
Cool. Thanks.
Savannah cut the connection, grabbed her keys and ID off the dresser, and snagged her handbag off the back of the door as she headed for the stairs. She lived above the florist shop at the western end of the main shopping strip. Most days she walked to work, except for the week it was her turn to take night call. But with two murders in the last week, she'd begun taking a truck home. Just in case.
She breathed deep the lush scents drifting from the shop, but she didn't bother to head in there to say hello to Anni, the latest in a long line of managers—and probably the least successful. Mainly because Anni loved to chat and often forgot to charge customers for the flowers they walked out with. As much as Savannah enjoyed the older woman's company, with Cade waiting for her, wasting time was the one thing she couldn't afford today. She buzzed open the back door and stepped out, wincing a little as the bright sunshine hit her tired eyes. She raised a hand to shade them and saw a piece of paper flapping under the truck's wiper blade.
"Goddamn them, not again.” She'd warned the local pizza joint three times now about coming onto private property to shove their fliers under car wipers. As much as she understood that they were new and needed to advertise, they were technically breaking the law by doing what they were doing.
She ripped the paper from under the blade, hit the remote to open the truck and climbed in. She gave a cursory glance at the paper as she threw her bag onto the passenger seat and froze, shock running through her.
It wasn't an ad for the local pizza place.
It was a threat.
Against her.
You'll pay for your part in Rosehall's death.
Several words immediately came to mind, and none of them could be said in polite company. Or with Anni hanging out the back window of her shop, trying to catch her attention.
She ignored the old woman and stared at the note, letting the implications sink in, feeling fear stirring in the pit of her stomach.
Ronan was right. They were coming after her as well as Cade. And while in the back of her mind she'd always figured as much, she'd been hoping she was wrong. She'd loved Rosehall and hadn't wanted it destroyed—at least until she'd become aware of the true reason behind Rosehall's existence. That it wasn't a celebration of life as everyone had been told, but rather a temple to death and vengeance.
She dropped the note on the seat and climbed back out of the truck. She grabbed her phone out of her bag, calling the station as she knelt and took a careful look under her truck.
"Kel,” she said, as soon as the call was answered. “You want to get Steve over to my place straight away with a fingerprint kit?"
She had one in her vehicle, but she wasn't touching the truck any more than necessary right now. The fact that she'd already jumped into it and nothing had happened suggested she was being overly cautious, but as the old saying went, it was better safe than sorry.
"Trouble?” Kel asked, concern in her voice.
"Yeah. You'd better tell him to grab Mr. Jones and bring him along."
"Will do."
Savannah hung up and glanced across to the frantically waving Anni. With a sigh of resignation, she walked across. “Sorry Anni. I really haven't got time to talk today."
"It's all right, dear. I just wanted to tell you that the Jackson kid was sneaking about your truck this morning. I chased him off, but I thought you'd like to know."
There were definite benefits to living above the town busybody. “You're talking about Honor Jackson's kid, Denny?"
Anni nodded, sending her long gray curls into a frenzy of bobbing. “It was about six. Not all that long after you'd come in."
Uh-oh. News of the head ranger's late arrival home would soon race across the town if she didn't stomp the flames out immediately. “Call-out from the county sheriff's department. Sorry if I woke you coming in, Anni."
As excuses went, it was pretty good. Reservation rangers were often called in to assist in the recovery of missing hikers or skiers—though now that Ripple Creek had a fully functioning rescue team, most of those calls now went to them.
Amusement glimmered in Anni's brown eyes. Savannah had a horrible feeling her excuse wasn't fooling anyone.
"I was awake anyway, dear, so it doesn't matter."
Meaning the old sweetie had been listening for her. “Did Denny do anything to my car?"
"He was shoving a note under the wiper. Squealed like the baby brat he is when I yelled at him."
And she'd slept through all of it. Some ranger she was. She glanced around at the sound of a car pulling up and saw it was Steve and Cade. “I have to go. Thanks for the help, Anni."