Knowing Wyatt had been inside her house was almost as strange as having someone break into it without her permission. At least her would-be attacker wasn’t someone she would ever see again. Or she hoped not. Wyatt was in and out of her life in at least a casual way because of their connection to Lindsay. She usually saw him during holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but the two of them made it a point to avoid each other.
Even though he wasn’t someone whose opinion Elsie would have said mattered to her...he apparently was, because she found herself wondering what he thought about the small cabin. Most people wouldn’t be impressed, with its small size and simple layout, but it was her refuge.
What would Wyatt think of it? And of her? Lindsay had said more than once that the cabin was a reflection of who she was as a person. Minimalistic, but warm and cozy. Simple, but with unexpected details.
The front door opened into the main area, which was warm with the wood tones of the walls. A small kitchen sat in one corner, and opposite that was a stone fireplace, with stones that reached for the vaulted ceiling. Initially the cabin had had a low roof that was sinking in and needed to be replaced, and Elsie had wanted as much of a natural feeling to the cabin as possible. It was earthy and comfortable. Traditional. And it was the only home Elsie had ever had that was worthy of the word.
“Coffee?” she offered, and Wyatt nodded, saying nothing as he looked around. Elsie busied herself with the coffee maker to avoid seeing his reaction to the space.
“Cream? Sugar?” she asked.
“Sugar would be great. I used to drink it black, ’cause I figured that was the manly thing to do. Hated the stuff.” Wyatt laughed at himself. He had a different laugh from what she remembered. Easy and a little self-deprecating. Looking up, Elsie watched him as he walked toward the fireplace, then took in the built-in bookshelves against one wall, the cozy chair she’d situated in the corner for the best views. He looked so large in her cabin. She’d forgotten how tall he was. Over six feet, maybe by a couple of inches.
“I like your place,” he said at last. “It feels like a home.”
A spark caught in her heart at the word home. Exactly what she’d been going for, since it was all she’d ever really longed for. The compliment made her chest warm, her heart skip a little. Only because of the way it complimented her, not at all because the implication was that if he liked her house, then...
He must like who she was, too?
No, that would be silly, and she was a grown woman, not really given to silliness. There was no time for it. There were too many people to find.
Or was she avoiding finding herself, facing herself?
Too deep for tonight. Elsie shoved the thought back and yanked the carafe out, even though the coffee hadn’t finished brewing, realizing as she did so that she hadn’t responded to Wyatt’s compliment.
“Um, thanks. I really like it here.”
Yeah, that was brilliant. Strange that she didn’t have people over more often, with stunning displays of wit like that.
She added sugar to the coffee, something that made her smile a little. She’d definitely have pegged Wyatt as a black-coffee kind of guy, all swagger and projected toughness, but the longer she was around him, the less he seemed like the guy she’d known in high school. Or thought she’d known.
“Here you go,” she offered, holding out a pottery mug to him.
“Thanks.”
She took her own coffee, made with a splash of half-and-half and no sugar, and motioned to the small table by the side window. “Have a seat.”
Normally, she found the darkness outside beautiful, but as soon as she sat down, Elsie wondered if someone was out there watching. She set her coffee down on the table and reached to shut the curtains, blocking out the view. It felt like a small defeat, like she was letting whoever was after her win. But she had to be practical. Leaving the shades open was an unnecessary risk.
“Weird to think they could be out there, huh?” Wyatt commented, and Elsie nodded, exhaling the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding as she did so.
“It’s not my favorite feeling, wondering if I’m being watched.”
“Have you had that a lot?”
Elsie looked up at him, considered. “The feeling of being watched?” she asked to clarify.
He nodded.
“It’s happened before.”
His expression made it clear he didn’t like that answer. “Is this recent, or something that’s been going on for a while?”
“Recent.” She didn’t know if that truth made her feel better or not. It seemed to indicate that whatever danger she might currently be in was something that had a starting point. Therefore, it might have an end point, right? Now that she thought about it, she’d started feeling this way in the last couple of weeks. What was going to happen next?
“You didn’t seem very surprised that someone was after you.”
“I’m not.” She seemed to be on a brutally honest streak here. Not that Elsie condoned lying, but she’d have anticipated at least dancing around the truth with someone like Wyatt. But nothing about him made her feel uneasy or defensive tonight.
That alone should terrify her. That was probably how he’d ended up dating half the girls in his senior class, spending more than his fair share of time out at the end of Destruction Point Road in the dark with some of them, too, if rumors were to be believed. When she’d been young and naive, Elsie had harbored the notion once that she could change him and had nurtured the tiniest crush on him.
Time and his continued bad behavior had killed that, thankfully. It was too embarrassing even to admit to herself. Sweet, quiet Elsie with a crush on the town bad boy? It was so cliché and impractical it made her cringe.
Now this grown-up version of Wyatt was here, handsome as ever but with a note of humility and self-awareness that he hadn’t possessed back in high school. When had he changed? Had she avoided him so studiously every time they’d crossed paths recently that she’d missed this?
“What can you tell me? Are you in trouble somehow?”
She quirked her mouth into a smile. “It seems like it.”
“You know what I mean. Are you...I don’t know...mixed up in something?”
“We sound like our collective mystery-solving experience is Nancy Drew books.”
“Add that to a couple of criminal-investigation shows I like to watch on the weekends and that’s pretty much what I’ve got.”
“No way am I supposed to believe you used to read Nancy Drew.”
Wyatt grinned, shrugged. Then his face grew serious. “Really, Elsie. You’re in danger. I want to know why.”
“And I said I’d tell you what I know...” She trailed off, wishing she hadn’t made such a foolish promise. “But why? Is this just curiosity? How are you going to help?”
“I have no idea. I fly for the Troopers sometimes. Maybe they could help?”
“They’ve got nothing to go on. And besides, I don’t want to involve the Troopers.”
“Why?”
“Too much drama. I don’t want to be caught up in all of that. Someone broke in. Maybe they tried to steal something and just needed me out of the way. I don’t see any reason to think I’d be a target.”
“Except?”
“You know that I was in foster care when I lived next door to you, right?”
Wyatt shook his head.
Stuck in his own little world even as a kid? Elsie knew he’d been around when she and Lindsay had talked about it. She referred to her foster parents as “my foster mom” and “my foster dad.” Surely he’d heard her say those phrases at some point over all the dinners she’d spent at his family’s house?
Her expression must have shown her disbelief.
“So I wasn’t an observant kid.”
“Anyway, when I was in foster care...” She hesitated. Maybe it was the fact that it was so easy to talk to him, or that he didn’t seem intimidating. Or like it wasn’t such a bad idea to have a crush on him anymore. Maybe she was overly emotional from what had happened tonight. All Elsie knew was that she was finding herself distressingly attracted to this man and therefore needed to hit the brakes on any more vulnerability. He’d seen the inside of her cabin. He knew she was in danger.
She couldn’t keep giving him glimpses into who she was. It wasn’t safe for someone to know you that well. Her foster family had taken good care of her, but they’d never tried to form much of an emotional connection to her. She’d always understood that she could count on food and shelter, but she’d never felt loved or known. Maybe that was a good thing, though, because the idea of allowing either was utterly terrifying to Elsie.
Opening up to Wyatt any more was scary. At the same time, she’d said she would tell him what she knew. Didn’t she owe him that? She could abbreviate the story.
“I was in foster care because my parents were out of the picture. There’s a chance something...less than legal...could have taken place surrounding that whole situation.” Elsie shrugged, but she could tell that Wyatt saw through her pretended nonchalance.
“You don’t know for sure, though? That your biological parents were into something illegal?”
“I don’t know any details of why I ended up not being with my parents.” There, that sidestepped his question a bit but still told the truth.
“So someone could have been after you this whole time? That doesn’t make sense. Why come after you now after however many years? Surely if they’d wanted to abduct you or something, they could have done that before now.”
“I know. It just crossed my mind, but it’s definitely unlikely.” She said the words with more assurance than she felt. It was unlikely, but not impossible. She’d always been uncomfortable with the lack of detail surrounding her past and her childhood, but that didn’t mean there was actually anything criminal that had gone on. More than likely it was the same-old-same-old story of parents who picked an addiction over a kid, the Office of Children’s Services took over and details got lost by the time a child grew up and started asking questions.
Except...usually kids didn’t end up found on remote islands, alone. Too traumatized by...something to help rescuers and authorities understand anything that had happened to her before her rescue. And if her past was really as cut-and-dried as she was trying to fool herself into thinking it could be, shouldn’t she have answers by now?
Still, Elsie didn’t want to pursue this line of thought with Wyatt here. She’d told him she’d explain why she’d been suspicious. She’d held up her end of the deal and she had zero desire to stand around convincing him that she was in danger. She didn’t need anyone butting into her life.
Something about her too-innocent expression made Wyatt wonder what else there was to this story, but he was uncomfortable prying any further into Elsie’s life. It had been a heedless impulse to come here in the first place, a random desire not to stand aside while someone got hurt. More specifically, he hadn’t wanted to risk Elsie being the one who got hurt when he could do something about it.
His instincts had been right that she’d been in trouble. Were his instincts right about something else going on, too? That she was still in danger and that she might know more than she was letting on?
“I still think we should let the Troopers know what happened. Or at least Destruction Point Police. They should be on their way.”
Elsie raised an eyebrow, and yeah, he got it. The Destruction Point Police Department consisted of three men, one patrol car, two old bicycles and a boat that made the bicycles look high-tech. Not that they were incompetent; one of his best friends was on the force. But it was a very small town with the resources to match and not a lot of crime beyond the occasional bar fight or domestic dispute, which was usually resolvable by one of the pastors of the two local churches. Elsie was talking about a decades-old ordeal. No way would they have the resources to look into that.
But why not let the Troopers investigate? Was she trying to protect her privacy? Wyatt had picked up on her discomfort just having him in her house.
The last thing he wanted to do was push her into something that made her uncomfortable.
“Do you honestly think this was random?” He took another sip of coffee and studied her as she considered the question. Before he’d decided to be a pilot and focus all his energy there, he’d done better in his few college classes than his family had expected. His psychology classes had been his favorite. He enjoyed reading people, something he’d probably used for negative purposes once upon a time.
Elsie’s facial expression didn’t change, but her eyes did focus on some point beyond him for a long moment before she met his eyes again. “I don’t think getting the Troopers involved will help either way. And I think there’s definitely a good chance it’s random.”
Not the answer that would help him sleep well at night, but one that could probably let him walk away and leave her to the privacy she clearly wanted. He nodded once.
“I appreciate that you came over here. I still don’t get why you did, but I appreciate it. I wouldn’t have expected it.” She was usually so polished, it was odd to hear her stumble through her speech like this.
“I had to, once I heard it on the radio. I wondered if it was you.” He looked away from her, not sure what she’d see in his eyes otherwise. Any kind of interest on his part would be unwelcome, he knew. She deserved so much better than him. “Law enforcement should be here soon,” he finally said after searching for a topic. “What’s taking them so long?”
Elsie shook her head. “Maybe they got here when we were in the woods and went to search?”
Seconds later, a knock on the door seemed to confirm her theory. Especially when they heard a voice say, “Destruction Point Police.”
With one last look in his direction, one that seemed to remind him that she didn’t want a big deal made of this, Elsie started toward the door.
“I’ll stick around till they leave and then head out, if that’s okay.”
She met his eyes, nodded and then pulled the door open.
“Elsie. Thank goodness.” Seth Winters, one of the local police officers, had been in Wyatt’s graduating class. He was an overall good guy. Probably Wyatt’s favorite of the officers, so he was glad he was the one to respond. “When I got here earlier no one answered. I did a sweep of the area but wanted to check your house again.” He seemed to be visually scanning her for injuries. “You’re not hurt?”
“No, I’m okay. They got away, though, whoever broke in. Wyatt and I tried to chase them down, but...” She shrugged, as if to finish her sentence nonverbally.
Seth’s gaze swung to Wyatt, seeing him for the first time. His eyebrows rose. “What are you doing here?”
Suspicious because he was law enforcement and Wyatt had been first to the scene of a crime? Or was there something between him and Elsie? He couldn’t see the second working. Seth was a decent guy, nice, honest, honorable, the kind Elsie deserved. But somehow, Wyatt thought they would make a terrible couple.
“He heard on radio traffic and came to check on me.” She spoke up before he could, and while Wyatt didn’t feel like he wanted someone else fighting his battles for him, he appreciated the fact that Elsie was willing to stick up for him. And it helped to ease his mind a bit about her and Seth. If she was defending Wyatt, then chances were good she wasn’t falling for the other guy’s too-concerned demeanor.
“That so?”
“You accusing me of lying, Officer, or accusing Elsie?” He raised his eyebrows.
The other man didn’t justify Wyatt’s snark with a response, which he kind of appreciated. Instead he turned to Elsie.
“I’m going to send a team here to get fingerprints and see if any other material evidence was left behind.”
“No, you don’t have to do that,” Elsie said.
“Good idea,” Wyatt said over her. She turned to him and glared. He saw irritation and a warning to be quiet in her look.
“It’s procedure. After that, we can start a search for who it might have been and so on. It’s possible trace evidence was left that could help us identify—”
Elsie spoke up. “Do you have to investigate fingerprints and all of that if I don’t want you to?”
Wyatt looked at her in surprise, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Seth had done the same. Finally, something they could agree on.
“Why?” the officer asked.
Wyatt kept his mouth shut. Just watched Elsie. Waited. Kind of wanted to pray for her to make the right choice, but getting back onto speaking terms with God after all the ways he’d messed up his life in the years previous was harder than he’d thought it would be.
Would God even listen to him?
Help her, he finally tried, sending the plea heavenward as he waited for whatever she would say.
“Tonight was awful,” she started, looking away from both of them and reaching down to pet her dog, who had settled at her feet. “But I think it was an isolated incident. I don’t want more people in my house combing over it, analyzing things that may or may not help us find whoever was responsible. It was probably a crime of opportunity.”
Wyatt stared at her. That was the opposite of what she’d admitted to him earlier.
Seth apparently didn’t notice the tension in her jaw, the way she was avoiding both their eyes. He continued, trying to explain typical protocol. “Fingerprints and further investigation are what we always do.”
“Can I waive my right to those? Turn them down?”
The officer sighed and Wyatt felt it down to his soul. “Yes.”
“I’d like to do that.”
Elsie smiled at Seth. “Thank you so much for being ready to investigate.” She turned to Wyatt. “And thank you for risking your life for someone you’ve barely talked to in years. I appreciate it more than I can say.”
Her tone clearly communicated that she was ready for them both to leave. They were being politely dismissed. Seth Winters opened his mouth, then shook his head and started to the door, clearly sensing that this was a losing battle.
“Wyatt...” Elsie said. He had a feeling she was about to kick him out a little more directly. Probably because she didn’t want him to call her out for the inconsistency in her story.
Before she could say anything further, he asked, “I, uh, could I use your bathroom before I leave?”
“Sure. It’s that way.” She motioned down a small hallway off the living room. Wyatt walked that direction, despite the fact that he didn’t need it. What he needed was to kill a bit of time until the police officer left so he could talk to Elsie alone.
When he came back into the living room a minute later, she raised her eyebrows at him.
“Did you really just want to wait till he’d left?” The corners of her mouth were tugging into a smile.
Wyatt shrugged. “Maybe. Listen, let me help you, at least. I get it if you don’t want police involved. That would be intrusive. But you admitted earlier that this might not have been random, and the place the guy left his boat tells me the same. Let me help you.”
“And you wouldn’t be intrusive?”
“I’m the lesser of two evils.”
“Bet no one’s ever said that about you before.”
He jerked his head up, half-offended, and realized she was joking. Teasing.
Certainly not flirting?
He didn’t know how he’d begin to process that. Elsie was the last woman he’d expect to flirt with him, and despite the fact that she was gorgeous, he would never want just a fling with her. He wasn’t that guy anymore, the one who didn’t take anything seriously and knew what to say to get a woman interested for the short term.
Besides, he wanted her to know that he meant his offer of help.
Maybe, though, he had messed up too badly to ever change the way people thought about him.