“Until you get off work?”
“I’ll be a couple of hours, but Koda and Shiloh will keep you company in the meantime.”
“You’re coming over?”
“You’ve got a guest room, right?”
She nodded slowly.
“I’m going to stay with you until we’ve got this sorted.” There was no way I was going to leave Everly alone when this asshole was clearly watching.
She tipped her face up to the heavens as if praying for patience. “It’s normal to ask, Hayes. ‘Hey, would it be all right if I stayed with you for a few days? It would make me feel a lot better.’ Something like that.”
I shrugged. “Normal’s overrated.”
Everly let out a sort of growl of frustration and threw up her hands. “I give up. Give me the damn key.”
I grinned as I placed it on her palm. “See you tonight.”
“You’ll be lucky if I don’t short-sheet your bed.”
I chuckled. But the humor didn’t quite reach the depths it usually did. I was too damn worried. I hated that I had to watch her drive away right now. But she’d have others looking out for her until I could return. I pulled out my phone to text Shy and my dad to tell them to do just that.
I pulled up to the tiny cabin. As I climbed out of my SUV, I caught movement in one of the paddocks. I moved towards it, leaving everything I’d hauled over in my vehicle. As I approached, Koda lifted his head from the blanket bed someone had made for him. He th
umped his tail but didn’t bother getting up to greet me. He was too enthralled with the scene in front of him.
Shy and my dad braced a two-by-four on the inside of the metal animal shelter while Everly hit it with a nail gun. They moved in a silent rhythm that spoke of all the time they’d spent working together over the past couple of months. I cleared my throat. “Aren’t you supposed to be resting? You do have a concussion.”
Everly glared at me. “I’m fine.”
Shy snickered. “We’re almost done.”
They fit two more boards into place, and then the interior walls were done. As Everly straightened, she wobbled just a bit. I pushed off the fence and strode to her side. “You’re pushing it too much. If you don’t rest, you’re going to end up back in the hospital.”
Dad wiped his brow. “He’s annoying and interfering, but in this case, he’s also right. Don’t push it. We can pick back up in a couple of days.”
Everly handed the nail gun to my dad. “You guys are ganging up on me.”
“Or we just don’t want you to keel over.”
She rolled her eyes, but I didn’t miss the slight wince afterward. “I’m fine.”
I resisted the urge to throw something. “A couple of days isn’t going to make a difference. Give yourself a break.”
Everly opened her mouth to say something and then promptly shut it when Shiloh sent her a look. She turned her annoyed glare to me. “Then you’re giving me work hours this weekend.”
I held up both hands. “I’m happy to help.”
She traced a design I couldn’t make out in the dirt with the toe of her boot. “Any leads on the note?”
“Not yet.” It was amazing to me that in a town so busy with local foot traffic, no one had seen anyone hovering by Everly’s SUV. “I’ve still got officers asking around and looking at camera feeds from nearby stores. And the lab will process the note first thing tomorrow.”
“Maybe they’ll find some prints.”
She didn’t sound especially optimistic, and neither was I given what we had right now. “I won’t stop until we find him, Ev.”
“I know.” She gave herself a little shake. “I think we’re done here for the day.”