Page 105 of Archer

He shook his head, gaze traveling over the broken glass in every visible room of the cottage. “How are you doing, Harper?”

“Not great.” I forced a smile. “Getting kind of tired of this.”

He pursed his lips. “Can you walk me through everything that happened tonight?”

Not everything, I thought. But I shared the parts he’d be most interested in.

Nash took notes, his jaw tightening by the minute. When I finished, he looked at Archer. “You saw the suspect?”

Archer moved in our direction. “Yeah. It was Webb, from what I could tell in the dark. He had a jet ski waiting in the water. By the time I reached the beach, he was already twenty yards out.”

“And the boombox?”

“Still outside. I didn’t want to disturb it before you could process the scene.”

Knox appeared on the porch, then poked his head through the doorway, tools in hand. “Colton and I are going to board up the busted windows. Replacements can be ordered first thing tomorrow, but this will keep the elements out for now.”

“Thank you.” My voice cracked on the little words.

Colton moved through the cottage from the back deck toward the front door. He paused at the kitchen table and lifted his chin at Knox. “I’ll be right there.”

Archer crossed his arms. “What’s up?”

Nash and I turned our attention to Colton as well.

“I’ve been thinking about the song choice for Webb’s photos.”

I ran through the melody in my head. “A love song.” Made sense to me, sort of. Assuming he imagined himself in love with me. My mouth formed an unintentional grimace.

“It’s the lyrics that are bothering me,” Colton said. “I studied all your work while I built a profile on the stalker. I was trying to understand his imagined connection to you. And what fuels his delusion.” Colton set his cell phone on the table. “I think we can agree this guy doesn’t make random moves. So, it goes to reason that the song he chose is important.”

Sloane set a steaming mug in front of me, then carried the other one to the seat beside mine and lowered onto the chair.

“It’s the bridge,” Colton continued. “It changes from breaking down walls after the first verse to burning down everything between you by the end of the second. In between is the equivalent of a prayer about being together for eternity.” His eyes met mine. “I don’t think he’s hearing a love song anymore. I think he’s looking for permission to tear down every boundary between you two.”

My vision swam as the words floated through my mind. “It’s supposed to be about choosing someone and meaning forever when you say it. Not—not this.”

“I know.” Colton’s voice was gentle, but deep concern crinkled the corners of his eyes. “But after this, I’m starting to think that, to him, breaking down your walls means he has the right to destroy whatever keeps him away from you. Even if that’s your safety, your privacy, and your free will.”

Sloane placed a gentle hand on my arm. Her kind eyes and reassuring touch had probably helped more than one person through a crisis. “I’ve been where you are. Different circumstances, of course, but there are similarities. Like the feeling that nowhere is safe and someone’s always watching.”

“How’d you get through it?”

“Knox.” She glanced at him, leaning sheets of plywood from Gram’s garage against my broken windows. “And his team. They protected me until the threat was eliminated. They’ll do the same for you.”

Knox palmed a hammer and peered around the first board in my direction. “Harper, I’m going to make some noise. Just warning you.”

I nodded, and the pounding began. Methodical. With all the windows covered, the cottage would feel less like home and more like a bunker.

I hated that.

Nash asked a few more questions for his report then assured me he’d personally follow up on every lead. “You want to point me toward that boombox?”

Archer pushed away from the wall where he’d been observing, then led the sheriff through the back doors.

Colton navigated to an app on his phone and showed me the tracking programs he was running on Webb’s social media accounts.

“He’s careful,” Colton said. “Using VPNs and proxy servers. But everyone makes mistakes eventually. He will too.”