Page 21 of Knox

My heart kicked against my ribs at the sight of her. Was she hurt? In danger? Here for help?

She carried her shoes by the straps, hooked onto one crooked finger, and wore a sundress that whipped against her ankles in the morning breeze.

I jogged the remaining distance, closing the gap between us, terrified something was wrong. “What are you doing here? Everything okay?”

She stopped a few feet away, her arms wrapping around her middle. This close, I could see the exhaustion in her face. The smudges beneath her eyes. The tightness around her mouth. She’d been crying. Recently, if the redness of her eyes was any indication. And it didn’t look as if she’d slept any better than I had.

The bruises on her throat and arms had darkened, along with a mass of small, angry contusions on her wrists and collarbone. I ached to rewind time and chase down the man who’d done this.

“Hey.” Her voice was rough, scraped raw. From screaming. And the hands that had closed around her throat. “I hope it’s okay that I’m here. I couldn’t sleep, and I didn’t know where else to go.”

“Of course it’s okay.” I grabbed my T-shirt from where I’d tucked it into my waistband and pulled it on, suddenly conscious of my bare chest and the sweat cooling on my skin. “Are you all right? Did something else happen?”

“No. Nothing like that.” She glanced over her shoulder, as if checking to make sure she hadn’t been followed. “Every time I close my eyes, I’m back in the dark, fighting with that creep.” Her fingers drifted along her arms, touching the bruises gently. “So I got in my car and ended up here. I was going to wait a while before knocking, but I saw you down here, and I thought maybe you wouldn’t mind the hour.”

“Never. Come on.” I gestured toward the house. “Let’s go inside. I’ll make coffee.”

“Actually...” Sloane looked out at the water, where waves caught the morning light and turned to liquid gold. “Could we sit for a minute? Out here?”

I nodded and led her to a spot above the high tide line, where the sand was soft and dry. We sat side by side, not quite touching, our knees drawn up. The silence between us was surprisingly comfortable despite everything that had happened.

“I keep thinking about what you said,” Sloane began, her eyes still on the horizon. “About the missing hikers. The three people who disappeared.”

“What about them?”

“Last night, when that man grabbed me...” She swallowed hard. “I thought I was going to be next.” Her voice cracked. “If you hadn’t been there⁠—”

“But I was there.” I shifted toward her, our shoulders brushing gently. “And you fought like a champion. Let’s consider it a joint effort and be glad you’re safe.”

“Am I though?” She turned to face me, and the fear in her eyes tightened my chest. “Because that man is still out there. He knows what I look like. He knows where I live. And the sheriff didn’t find any evidence. No leads to bring him any closer to catching this guy.”

I thought about the VW bus, wishing I’d mentioned it sooner or gotten a look at the plates. “Nash is good at his job. He’ll keep looking.”

“I believe he will. But in the meantime, will this guy come back? Was my attack an act of opportunity because I was alone at night? Or is it something more? Either way, what am I supposed to do? Hide in my house and jump at every shadow until we know something?” She shook her head. “That’s not living. That’s just... existing in a state of terror. I can’t do that.”

My hands curled into fists where they wrapped around my legs. I hated that she was going through this, and that there wasn’t anything I could do other than offer a few flimsy words of reassurance. Nash and the sheriff’s department would do everything they could to find this guy, but the fact remained that three hikers were already gone. Still, I looked for the positives, hoping to bring her some small measure of peace. “Thanks to you, local law enforcement has a general idea of this guy’s shape and size now. That’s more than they’ve ever had before. And in the meantime, I’m right here if you need anything.”

Sloane pulled in a deep breath and squared her shoulders. That same resilience I’d seen in her last night shone again. I tried not to smile when I thought of how her would-be abductor had struggled against someone so much smaller. He’d expected her to be easy prey. Someone he could pluck out of her own backyard, but Sloane was a fighter. He’d sorely underestimated her. I couldn’t help wondering how many others in her life made the same mistake. It surely wouldn’t be me.

“I want to find this guy,” Sloane said. She turned to face me fully, and her jaw set with determination. “I have money, resources and every reason in the world. I know you’re already looking, that your mom was too. I want to help.”

My throat tightened as I thought of her in danger again. What if I wasn’t there the next time someone got too close?

“Say something.” She hiked her dark brows in challenge when I didn’t respond.

I released a labored sigh, realizing she’d given me the perfect opportunity to keep her safe. “Okay.”

My simple agreement seemed safer than the other thing I wanted to say. That the attraction I’d felt for her since the moment she walked into my mom’s shop had doubled when she chose to stand with me instead of letting Tyler pull her away. It was a small, silly thing, but I’d liked it. A lot.

Sloane’s determined expression pinched. “Really? Just like that? You’ll let me help?”

“Sloane—”

“I know what you’re going to say,” she interrupted. “It’s dangerous. I should let the sheriff handle this. Or maybe I should go back to the mainland with my family and put the run-in behind me.” She shook her head. “But I won’t do that. I’m not built that way. I don’t run and I don’t pretend. The families of those missing women deserve answers. I would’ve wanted someone to do this for me, if he’d succeeded last night.”

Something shifted in my chest as she spoke. I appreciated her confidence, her love for the island, and her connection to my mom. But this feeling was different. This was admiration, I realized. Respect for someone who wouldn’t back down when things got hard. Still, she wasn’t safe to move forward with her plan. She was still a potential target. The prey.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” she said. “You keep going quiet, and I need you to talk.”