She stiffened up again. He grabbed her hand and walked, pulling her behind him.
“You need to go and enjoy the things going on in Ryker Falls,” she protested.
“They’re going all day. Relax. You know my family business. Fair’s fair.”
He led her into the house and toward the voices. They were in the kitchen. Mrs. Harper was making coffee, slapping cups down loudly on the countertop. Chief Blake and Mr. Harper were seated at the table.
“Hi, Quinn.” Chief Blake got to his feet and shook her hand. “Luke.”
If he thought it odd Luke was here, he didn’t mention it, just retook his seat. Face calm, body relaxed.
“Now, your daughter told me she is worried about what’s been going on, Ivan and Shelly. You want to tell me why?”
“It’s silly.”
“It’s not, Mom,” Quinn said. “Tell him everything.”
Ivan Harper let out a loud sigh.
“What harm can a conversation do? Just tell me the details if I think it’s nothing I’ll leave, and we don’t have to speak on the matter again,” Chief Blake said.
“My wife thought my memory was going because things have been happening around here. Mistakes. I had the fall, and then the fire, plus machinery breaking. The goats just now was the last of it. But the tests I took said my memory is fine.”
Chief Blake nodded.
“Sit, Luke.” Mrs. Harper waved him into the seat beside Quinn, then handed out mugs of coffee, face pinched with disapproval. She then went to the freezer and got out an ice pack for her daughter.
“Tough game?” Chief Blake asked.
“And then some,” Quinn said from behind the ice pack her mother handed her. “Someone came to see Mom and Dad about a year ago and offered to buy the farm. He came back again just before I flew out to Lyntacky, and I talked to him because they were in town.”
“What did he say?” Chief Blake started scribbling notes, asking the Harper family questions.
It sounded suspicious as fuck to Luke now he’d heard everything that had been going on.
“And you say things started happening after that man came to offer for your farm?”
“I can’t remember when it first started, but now I think on it, yes, it started after that,” Ivan Harper said slowly.
“You got a card or a name of the man who called by?”
Shelly got out of her seat and disappeared out the door. She came back with a white square of cardboard in her hand.
“This is the man.”
Chief Blake got out his phone and took a picture of the card.
“And you think all these incidents can be explained, Shelly?”
Chief Blake fixed his gaze on Shelly Harper after she’d taken her seat again. He wasn’t accusing, just asking the question, but color flushed her cheeks.
“I just don’t see why anyone would be targeting us.”
“One thing happening, maybe two or even three could be put down to a mistake, but in the time I’ve known both you and Ivan, Shelly, I don’t think I’ve ever thought of you as forgetful.”
“Oh but, me?” Shelly looked shocked at the thought. Clearly she hadn’t considered she could be part of any of this.
He raised a hand when she started to speak. “I’m not saying you’re right or wrong. I have to say that something feels off. Quinn was right to call me. That fire could have killed Ivan and Quinn, and the fall could have done more damage to your husband, Shelly. You need to think about this now.”