Obsession Falls (The Haven Brothers #1)

“I’ll help her set up the app on her phone when she gets home.”

I had no idea why I was explaining everything I did to Max. It wasn’t like he could understand me.

My phone rang, so I pulled it out of my pocket to answer. It was Garrett.

“Yeah.”

“Just checking in, although there’s not much of an update. We didn’t pick up any prints or fibers, so that’s a dead end.”

“What about neighbors? Anyone see something?”

“Not a thing. It doesn’t help that there aren’t any houses directly across the street. The Campbells up the road have a doorbell cam, but it doesn’t show anything useful. Too far away. And Mrs. Cutter next door wasn’t home that day. She was visiting her daughter.”

“Damn.”

“I know. We contacted the ex-boyfriend but he has an alibi.”

“What if he hired someone?”

“Yeah, he could have. I’m not ruling him out, especially because Audrey doesn’t seem to have any enemies. I hate to admit it, but this one has me stumped. Writing on her door in animal blood is pretty extreme.”

“No shit.”

“Did you get cameras installed?”

“Yeah, just finished with the last one.”

“Good. That will be a deterrent if nothing else.”

“I don’t really expect the guy to walk up to the door again now that there are cameras. But you never know. If he’s arrogant enough, he might.”

“Let’s hope if he does, she’s not home. Is she staying at your place?”

“She did the first night. I’m staying at her place now.”

“Good. I don’t want her to be alone if we can help it.”

“Trust me, that’s not happening.”

“I’m going to get in touch with her mom today. See if there’s anything she can tell us. There might be something Audrey isn’t saying or hasn’t thought about. An old rivalry or something like that.”

I didn’t think Audrey was hiding anything on purpose, but he had a point. She’d lived out of the area for a long time and moving back could have triggered someone holding an old grudge. Especially if that someone was already unhinged.

Because seriously, a guy had to be unhinged to kill a squirrel and write on a door with its blood.

Zachary and I had cleaned it up for her once the cops had given us the okay. Some had seeped into the wood, so I’d sanded and painted it after the emergency town meeting. Now all traces of it were gone.

“Keep digging,” I said. “We need to find this guy before he does something worse.”

“Agreed. I’ll keep you posted.”

“Thanks.”

I ended the call and pocketed my phone.

My blood surged with anger when I thought about that psycho. I wanted to rearrange his face for what he’d done to my girl. Not just the vandalism, but the fear and stress he was causing her.

Audrey was literally one of the sweetest, kindest people I’d ever met. Who would want to fuck with her like this?