Page 172 of At First Spark

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My shoulders go tight automatically.

“We’ve got her.”

The words settle into the pit of my stomach, bile rising with each passing second.

“Where?” I ask, shoving my free hand through my hair that desperately needs a trim.

“Pulled her over about twenty minutes outside town. She didn’t run.”

Something about that knowledge doesn’t sit right.

“Didn’t argue either,” he adds. “Not at first.”

Not at first. I glance out toward what’s left of the barn.

“What changed?”

There’s a pause on the other end.

“She asked about you.”

My grip tightens on the phone.

“About me…”

“And Lark.”

Of course she did.

“She knew the farm,” he continues. “Knew where the barn sat. Knew the layout well enough to describe it without seeing it.”

That confirms what I already knew, even though I’d never once considered bringing her to my property. We always met at her townhouse.

This wasn’t random.

“She say anything else?”

Another pause, much longer this time, which makes the hair on the back of my neck rise.

“Yeah.”

I wait.

“Started talking when we cuffed her.”

That sounds about right. People like Kenzie don’t break quietly.

“What’d she say?”

The deputy exhales.

“Kept repeating that it wasn’t supposed to go like that.”

My jaw tightens.

“Did she say why?”

“She said—” He hesitates, like he’s deciding how much to repeat. “She said you were supposed to see it.”

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