Pay the Price (Harmony Grove Book 3) by Carol Post (which ebook reader txt) 📕

The dog was still intent on his investigation when Shane came back in. She looked up at him. “It’s gone?”

“It’s gone.”

“Thanks.” Hopefully he disposed of it in his own trash can.

He gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Are you going to be okay?”

She bobbed her head and swallowed hard. Because she suddenly felt like she was going to cry. No way. She hadn’t cried when Buck beat her. She hadn’t cried when Daryl cleaned her out. She hadn’t even cried when she’d learned Prissy was dead. She wasn’t going to cry over a stupid snake.

“I’m fine.” She forced the words through a constricted throat. “Just shaken up. I hate snakes.”

“I can tell.” A smile quivered at the corners of his mouth. “You killed the TV.”

“I know.” That really stank. It was a big screen, LED, something she’d never be able to replace. Maybe if she didn’t eat for a year. “I’ll bring out the one from the spare bedroom.” It was much smaller, but it was better than nothing.

Shane shook his head, the repressed smile still there. “I can’t believe you killed a rattlesnake with a crutch.”

“I was slap out of shovels. I had to make do.”

He cast a glance at the window. “We need to get you somewhere safe, at least for tonight. And we’ve got to get the window fixed. We need to call the police, too.”

“I’ll get a hold of Handy Andy in the morning. I’m sure he can have the glass changed by the time I get home from work.” Last week’s brake job and now the window repair, both coming out of this week’s paycheck. Someone was making it awfully hard to get ahead. “As far as calling the police, it seems like a waste of time.” Branch would be the one to show up and poopoo her concerns or, even worse, hide the evidence.

“We still need to make a report.”

“I know.” She frowned. “I think you and I ought to view the video surveillance, though, and if there’s anything of value, we’ll get with Alan.”

“I agree.” He looked back at the broken window. “Once the police are gone, where are you going to sleep? You can’t stay here.”

“I’ll call BethAnn.”

After calling the police and then BethAnn, she headed down the hall. When she returned to the living room five minutes later, she had toiletries and clothes for tomorrow and the promise of a bed for tonight. Shane stood with his back to her, looking out the shattered window. Beneath his white t-shirt was the clear outline of a pistol handle. He’d forgotten his keys but had thought to grab his weapon.

Headlights shone beyond him, and he turned. “Looks like the police have arrived. In the dark, I can’t tell who it is.”

She’d guessed right. When she opened the door, Branch sauntered away from his cruiser where he’d parked behind her Bug. He stepped onto the porch and scanned her up and down. “What is it this time?”

Shane moved into the space beside her, and the bored indifference fled Branch’s face.

“Jessica had a visitor tonight, brought her a little present.”

Branch narrowed his eyes. “What kind of present?”

“Someone broke her window and tossed in a rattlesnake.”

His expression remained neutral. Jessica wasn’t fooled. Chances were good he’d been in on the plans.

“I’ll see if I can lift some prints in the window area.”

For the next several minutes, he dusted the area around the window inside and out, as well as the blind slats, then promised to let her know of any developments. She wouldn’t hold her breath.

After Branch left, Shane watched him back onto Oak. “Let’s see if your security system caught anything. I’ll get my tablet, and we’ll stream the video from your camera.” He reached for the door, then hesitated. “You’ll be all right for a minute?”

“I’ll be fine. I’m feeling much better than I was when you arrived a half hour ago.” In fact, she was starting to feel silly for how she’d reacted. Or more so embarrassed that Shane had witnessed her loss of control.

He disappeared out the front door. When his soft knock sounded, less than a minute had passed.

She swung open the door. “You must have run the entire way.”

“I did.”

He sat on the couch. She sat next to him, Buttons on her opposite side, and within a few minutes, he had the video pulled up on his tablet. At first, everything was still, the glow of a light coming from somewhere beyond the left-hand edge of the frame. Then there was movement, and a figure entered the picture from the right, from the direction of Main Street.

She pointed. “There. What’s he carrying?”

Shane squinted at the image as the figure moved closer. “It’s a box. I think he has a crow bar in his other hand. He’s wearing a ski mask.”

Just like Autumn’s kidnapper. In fact, he was probably the same person. He squatted to put the box on the lawn and laid the crow bar on top of it. After straightening, he climbed the two steps onto the porch, the thud of his footsteps coming through Shane’s tablet. His arm lifted, and the glow of the light disappeared.

“He just unscrewed the bulb.” She’d known it was working when she’d turned off the interior lights and gone back to the bedroom to read.

The assailant returned to the box. After opening the top, he removed a bag. Some kind of narrow rope or twine seemed to be tied around the top. Even without the porch light, the moon cast ample glow. The camera was likely designed to pick up activity in the dark, too.

When the man straightened, he held the crow bar in one hand and the bag in the other, well away from his body.

“That’s the bag with the snake.” An involuntary shudder shook her shoulders. She’d told Shane she was fine. She wasn’t.

She watched the man in the image approach the house then disappear from the frame altogether. The angle of the camera didn’t capture the