Page 23 of K-9 Prime Target

She looked down at the keys in her hand, then up at him again. “Thank you. I’d like it if you came with me.”

* * *

She drove carefully to her home, scanning the mirrors for any sign that someone was following her. Someone besides Liam, that is. Every time she glanced back, his rental SUV was there, his face indistinguishable in the darkness. But knowing he was there reassured her.

“I’ll feel better once we’re inside the house with the doors locked,” she said, pretending she was speaking to the dog in the back seat, as much as to herself.

Sky’s tail thumped against the seat, a comforting tattoo.

She pulled into the drive, headlights sweeping across the snow-covered front yard, then illuminating the garage door. She hit the brakes hard, throwing her body against the restraining seat belt and surprising a yelp from Sky.

Liam pulled in alongside her. Within seconds he was tugging at her passenger door. Still focused on the garage door, she fumbled to unlock her car. “I’m calling the sheriff right now,” he said.

She remained silent, staring, dimly aware of him making a phone call. Then he leaned over and gently hit the button to turn off the ignition. “Don’t look at that,” he said. When she didn’t respond, he touched her cheek and urged her to turn her head. “Look at me.”

She looked, but she still saw the horrible image splashed in red across her garage door—a stick figure woman lying down, hair in long braids on either side of her head, the way Nina had worn her hair in her racing days. The figure’s arms held ski poles in the air, her legs on skis splayed at odd angles. And where her eyes should be were only Xs.

* * *

Two sheriff’s department vehicles responded to Liam’s call. The same deputy from the night before—Officer Dale—emerged from the first vehicle. Sheriff Van Howard stepped out of the second. He wasn’t a tall man, but he stood very straight and walked with a swagger. His face was bronzed, deep lines on either side of his mouth, furrows around his eyes, like a visage weathered from granite by time and weather. He approached the driver’s side of Nina’s car. Sky barked, and Angel joined in. She and Liam hushed the dogs, then she lowered the window and turned toward the sheriff. She was feeling stronger now. Less shocked. “It was like this when you got home just now?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He glanced toward the garage, and she couldn’t help but follow his gaze. A cartoon. Graffiti. Yet horrible because of what it implied. “Is that paint or blood?” he asked.

Blood? She gaped at him.

“We haven’t stepped out of this car,” Liam said. “We haven’t touched it.”

The sheriff turned away. He and the deputy walked up to the garage door. While the deputy took photographs, the sheriff studied the drawing. He touched a lower corner of the drawing, then sniffed his finger.

Then he returned to Nina’s car. “It’s paint,” he said. “Not quite dry, but it takes a while in these cold temperatures. What time did you get home?”

“All of a minute before I called you,” Liam said.

The sheriff frowned at him. “Let Ms. Rose answer the questions.”

“I pulled into the driveway, saw the garage door, then Liam got into the passenger seat and called you from there,” she said. “That couldn’t have been more than a minute after we pulled in.”

The sheriff glanced over at the black SUV. “That your car?” he asked Liam.

“Yes.”

Nina pulled her coat more tightly around her. She was getting cold, sitting out here with the window open. The sheriff directed his attention back to her. “You work at the resort, right? SkyCrest.”

“Yes.” She wanted to tell him he knew perfectly well where she worked, but she held her tongue.

“The resort closes at four. It’s almost seven o’clock. What were you doing between quitting time and now?”

“We went to the bar in the Sheraton and had some wine and cheese and talked,” she said. “Then we came here.”

“And you came with her?” he asked Liam. “Why was that?”

“I knew about the notes Nina received from a stalker last night and this morning,” Liam said. “I wanted to be with her if there was another note.”

“You didn’t by any chance plant those notes yourself, did you?”

The sheriff’s question startled a gasp from Nina. “Why would you think that?” she asked.