Page 235 of Secrets Hidden In The Glass

Chapter Forty-Two

Callie lay in the tub full of bubbles, listening to the intermittent drops falling from the faucet. She’d needed this—warm water, candlelight, and the four-mile jog on Highway 1, overlooking the Atlantic from the cliffs. The brisk ocean breeze had soothed her—the ability to take several deep breaths surrounded by the scenery she loved so much. Now if she could stop thinking about the frightening moment when a man had picked her up in her dreams… Sighing, she stared out at the half moon through the skylight, wishing for a moment of true peace. She closed her eyes, yearning to remember something beautiful from her early childhood—the sound of her mother’s laughter or playing on the swings in a Boston park. For so long, she’d resented the woman who’d dropped her off at a diner and walked away, but tonight Callie’s heart ached for the loving mother who’d bought her little girl vanilla ice cream cones and sat with her in front of old stone churches, watching small-town parades.

She sank deeper into the peach-scented suds as her cell phone alerted to a text. Sitting up, she grabbed her phone off the ledge and smiled as she read Nate’s message.

Thirty minutes or less. I’m thinking we should eat dinner and head to bed. The order doesn’t matter.

Her lips curved again as her thumbs flew over the keypad. Sounds good.

Another message popped up. How are you?

I’m hanging in there. How are you?

He responded quickly. Ready to be home with you. I miss you.

“Aww.” She nibbled her bottom lip and typed again. I smell like peach bubbles and there are strawberries in the fridge.

A heart-eyed smiley face popped up on her screen along with Growwwwwl.

Chuckling, she reached for the stopper and let the water down the drain, taking a moment to blow out the half-dozen candles she’d lit before she stood and wrapped herself in her plush blue spa robe. Dropping her phone on the bed, she debated whether to get dressed and decided against it, heading downstairs in the dark instead. She flipped on the kitchen light, determined to put her sad thoughts away. Nate would be home soon. He needed an easy night as badly as she did. First Steve Smith’s stolen car this morning, then Buzz Deacon’s slashed tires a couple of hours ago. Poor Nate and his deputies couldn’t catch a break. Dinner in bed and a funny movie were officially on the agenda. Hopefully Nate would be able to stay home long enough to enjoy both. Lately they couldn’t spend an evening together without the phone ringing off the hook.

She opened the refrigerator door, scanning their options for an easy meal. She wasn’t particularly hungry, but Nate always seemed to be. There were makings for a salad, and Nate loved ham. Grilled ham and cheese on whole-wheat and some greens on the side would probably do the trick. Humming, she reached for the butter and paused when she heard a quiet thump on the exterior living room wall. She stood perfectly still, staring at the fireplace bathed in shadows, listening in the silence. It was hard not to be a little spooked with all of the stuff going on around the island. Currently, no one seemed safe from Sanderson’s troublemaker.

Seconds ticked by and she heard nothing more. She walked over and flipped on the living room lights, then got back to work, grabbing the packages of deli sliced cheese and ham from the drawer. She moved to the counter, reaching for the bread in the cupboard, barely stifling a scream when something tapped against the window right in front of her. She backed up, her breath heaving in and out as she kept her gaze locked on the blinds she’d closed not long after she’d gotten home. The knocking came again—three times and louder. She flinched, hearing herself whimper as she moved farther away, pivoting toward the short hallway to check the lock on the front door. She found a second’s relief that the dead bolt was turned in place, but the moment’s reprieve ended when whoever was outside fiddled with the knob, the brushed nickel rattling and clicking with each slight left and right turn.

She hurried back toward the center island where she typically left her phone and remembered that it was on the bed. Bolting up the stairs, she tripped up the last three steps, too terrified to look behind her. Gaining her feet, she ran down the hallway, then shut and locked herself away in the master suite. She yanked up the phone and pressed Nate’s contact information with an unsteady finger.

“I’m just walking out the door.”

“Someone’s here,” she choked out, barely able to speak over the fear constricting her throat.

“What?” he asked, his voice growing tense in an instant.

“Someone’s trying to get in the house.”

“Stay on the phone with me. Get up to the bedroom and lock the door.”

She stood paralyzed by the edge of the bed, her gaze darting around in the shadows. “I already did.”

“Shawn, I need backup out at my place right away. Someone’s trying to get in the house.” Within seconds, tires were screeching and the siren blaring. “I’m coming. Get in the bathroom. Lock the door in there too.”

Glass shattered downstairs and she gasped, clutching the phone tighter.

“What the fuck was that?”

“A window,” she sobbed out. “It was a window, Nate. I think they might be inside.”

“I’m coming. Just hang on.”

She nodded, listening to Nate’s unsteady breathing as a board creaked somewhere down the hall. “They’re upstairs,” she mumbled, walking to the closet instead of the bathroom, thinking of the shadow man lifting her up in the dark. Stepping inside among the hanging slacks, sweaters, and dresses, she punched in the code for Nate’s lock box and pulled out the pistol his grandfather had taught him to shoot with and an extra magazine he kept at the ready. On autopilot, she watched herself shove the clip in place and rack the slide—like she’d seen Nate do every morning before he left for work—and stepped back into the deafening quiet of the bedroom.

“I’m turning up the lane.”

“Okay,” she heard herself say as she raised the gun, pointing it at the door as sirens blared down the road. “Don’t come in,” she said, her tone flat, her mind floating as tears raced down her cheeks. “I don’t know where he is.”

“Shawn’s right behind me. We’re here together. Stay where you’re at until I tell you to let me in. Wait for me to tell you so I don’t shoot you. Do you understand?”

The gun trembled and jerked in her shaky grip as she kept her aim, even as blue lights reflected on the walls through the windows. “Yes.”