She didn’t feel like explaining to Nate or any of her brothers why she’d felt compelled to move. Nor had she confided in her mother or any of her friends. Buying this place had been a simple decision she’d made single-handedly. She shuddered as she imagined her family discussing the pros and cons of the change in her life. Let them think what they would. She’d decided three years ago to stand on her own two feet, come hell or high water. No more running to her brothers. No more discussions with her mother. No more depending upon anyone but herself. Okay, so Shea and Robert and Aaron had helped her with this last trauma, but from now on, she’d make her own decisions. In the past she’d let her family talk her into things, but no more.
“No more,” she said aloud and felt a chill, as if a cloud had slid over the sun. But when she opened her eyes, the sky was still clear, the golden orb in the sky as intense and bright as ever.
Funny.
She rubbed her sore shoulder and looked for the dog, only to find him standing stiffly, hackles raised, eyes trained on the woods just on the other side of the fence line.
Shannon’s body tensed.
Frozen, Khan let out a low warning growl.
“What is it?” Shannon whispered as she gathered her shoes and socks. Sitting alone on the edge of the dock, dangling her feet in the still waters she’d felt innocent as a schoolgirl, but that was foolish. Hadn’t she learned? Hadn’t the attack against her or Mary Beth’s death taught her anything? Exposed as she’d been, she could be a target for any—
Stop it! Don’t go there! Do NOT go there. You still have to live your life and not feel compelled to cower and hide.
But Mary Beth was dead. Horribly and cruelly murdered.
And Dani Settler was missing.
Had she allowed the insanity, the fear, to follow her to the place she’d hoped would become her haven?
Slowly letting out her pent-up breath, she turned her gaze to the shadowy area of trees. There was nothing visible. No one lurking in the umbra. Yet the goose bumps on the back of her arms didn’t go away and she felt as if someone was watching her, someone studying her every move.
Angry with herself, she gave a sharp command to the dog and Khan, still growling, tucked his tail between his legs and sprinted for the truck.
“You’re being a big wuss,” she told the mutt, ruffling his hair after she’d climbed inside. She rammed the Dodge into gear. “Make that a major wuss!”
And so are you, Shannon!
Flipping on the radio, she caught the tail end of the weather report as she cranked on the steering wheel, forcing the truck into a wide arc.
“…continued heat spell with no end in sight. Temperatures will soar into the upper nineties and fire danger remains high…” the announcer said as she glanced in her rearview mirror.
Her heart jammed into her throat.
He was there!
Through the dust, a blurry, dark figure appeared in the reflection—a quick image of someone darting through the trees.
She gasped.
Slammed on the brakes.
Whipped her head around to stare through the back window. Dust settled behind her.
Heat shimmered in waves, distorting her view.
Yet no one was visible in the dappled light beneath the black oaks. No bogeyman lurked maliciously in the shadows. No evil presence skulked through the thickets.
She glanced at the dog. Khan looked up at her expectantly. His coat was smooth. Unruffled.
There was no sound other than the soft call of birds over the thrum of the truck’s engine and the click of insects hidden in the grass. Shannon forced her muscles to relax. “Idiot,” she ground out. She was moving up here to get away from her demons…she would not bring them with her. No way. Slowly, she eased off the brake and with one eye on the rearview mirror continued driving down the lane.
Nothing seemed disturbed.
Nothing was out of the normal.
The rambling bungalow near the shores of the wooded lake disappeared from view as she rounded a corner and the pickup bounced and jarred down the grooved lane.