The Widow's Protector. Stephanie Newton

hanging by a hinge. Tension wound tighter. What had happened here? At dinnertime, Fiona should be here with Sean, doing homework and eating spaghetti while one of her assistants looked after the shop. Where was she?

       He tried to push past the line of police but Douglas held out his arm. “Hold on, Hunter, there’s nothing you can do. We’re waiting for the K-9 team from the state police. They should be here in a few minutes and they’ll be able to tell us exactly what we’re dealing with.”

       Fiona came around the corner from the back of the house. She looked calm, but when she saw Hunter, she broke into a run, hitting him full-on square in the chest. He folded his arms around her, pulling her close. The guys in his crew were watching, but he didn’t care.

       He murmured against her hair, “You okay?”

       She nodded against his chest and then stepped away, her eyes damp, which told him she wasn’t okay at all. Far from it.

       “Sean?” Hunter eased back, but kept within easy reach of her.

       “He’s safe. My cousin Bridget took him to her house today after school.” She pushed her fingers through hair that was falling out of its usually neat ponytail, shivering even though she was wearing a blazer over her T-shirt and jeans. “I keep thinking about that. What if they’d come here instead? My hands are shaking. I’m a mess.”

       Quickly he placed Bridget among Fiona’s many cousins. She was the school teacher—taught fifth grade at Sean’s school and had been providing after-school care for Sean since he’d started at Fitzgerald Bay Elementary. If they’d been home when someone broke in, it could’ve been bad. “Fiona, the dispatcher said it was a bomb threat.”

       “Douglas didn’t tell you?” She shot her brother a look. “When I got home the door was hanging on its hinges like that. I called Douglas and waited outside.”

       Fiona paced two steps away and back again, clenching her fingers nervously. “Douglas went into the house to make sure the intruder was gone. He found the device on the desk in my office. It looked like the detonator on a bomb.”

       Hunter narrowed his eyes. “What exactly did it look like?”

       “Douglas, can you please come here?” She crooked her finger at her brother, the police captain, who was in conversation with Danny. He walked closer and she held out her hand. “Let me see the photo.”

       Douglas handed her a cell phone and she turned it around to show Hunter. He studied it for a minute, trying very hard to school his features so she wouldn’t know what he was thinking. Her brother knew exactly what this was, which was why he had called in the accelerant-sniffing dog from the state police’s Arson and Explosives Unit.

       Hunter put his arm around Fiona. “Douglas was right to call in for reinforcements. We don’t want to take any chances.”

      * * *

       Two hours later, Fiona learned the house had been cleared by the Arson and Explosives Unit. There was apparently no accelerant used. Whoever left the device in her home just wanted to scare Fiona.

       The guys from the arson unit were out on the lawn, talking fires with Hunter’s crew. He was standing beside her waiting for her to get up the nerve to actually walk in the door.

       “You know, we can nail the door shut tonight and you can come back tomorrow morning when it’s light. No one’s going to think less of you if you don’t go in.” Hunter leaned against the wall beside the ruined door.

       “I’ll think less of me.” Fiona took the rubber band out of her hair, slicked back her red hair into a smoother ponytail and took a deep breath. There was no way she was letting fear get the better of her. Of course, she was spending the night at her cousin Bridget’s with Sean—she wasn’t stupid.

       She also wasn’t a coward. She was definitely going in to see the damage before she left.

       The door hung on its hinges, but she pushed it open anyway. Her kitchen didn’t seem to be too bad, but she kept a box on the counter with bills and things that needed to be addressed during the week. The box had been upended, its contents scattered over the kitchen counter.

       The living room was the same, as if whoever had come through was looking for something in particular. The expensive stamps from her grandfather’s collection she had framed on the wall were still there, but the books on the bookshelf had been thrown all over the room. She swallowed hard, smoothing a hand over her hair again.

       Hunter was right behind her. She didn’t have to do this by herself, a fact she’d reminded herself of every single day since Jimmy had died. It was so tempting to wallow in self-pity, but that wasn’t her style. She’d loved Jimmy and she’d grieved. But wallowing wouldn’t honor his memory.

       Surviving every day became a testament to his life. Knowing she had Hunter to help gave her the strength to get through some really dark days. He’d been there, just like he was right now.

       Across the hall was the office. She stopped in the door, her hand to her throat. Everything from every drawer and every shelf had been thrown around the room. The detonator had been left in the center of her desk. Now there was fingerprint dust all over the surface.

       She took two steps into the room and crunched glass. Looking down, she saw a photo of her, Jimmy and Sean smashed on the wood floor. She’d known in her gut all along and now she had proof.

       This wasn’t just a random attack. This was personal and it was vicious.

       She picked up the photograph from the floor. Glass fragments rained down around her feet.

       She turned it so Hunter could see it and raised her eyes to meet his. “Do you still think there’s a chance I’m not a target?”

      * * *

       Fiona swept glass from the broken picture frame onto the dustpan while Sean built a castle with his Lego pieces on the floor in the hall.

       “Why aren’t we going to Granddad’s today? It’s Saturday. Bridget said everyone was going for a cookout Saturday if the weather was nice.” Sean didn’t look up from his Lego creation, since his dragon was smashing into the wall where he’d stashed the princess.

       “We have a lot to do, bud. Mommy needs to get all this cleaned up before work on Monday.” Truth was, she just couldn’t face all the questions. Cops and firefighters were the best, loyal to each other to the end. She loved them. But they were nosy.

       She just couldn’t take it, not today. And the family had enough to deal with, without adding her mess on top of it.

       “It’s messy in here. I want to go play.” Sean’s voice edged toward a whine.

       Fee took in a deep breath. Patience. She had a list and the list didn’t include losing her temper with her six-year-old. “We can play here, Sean. We’ll have fun.”

       He stomped to his Lego blocks and she had to resist the urge to stomp her way back to the glass she was sweeping. Yes, it was just as well that she had too much to do cleaning up here to go to the family dinner. She might growl at someone.

       The doorbell rang. Sean popped to his feet. “I’ll get it.”

       “Sean, wait—” Before she could get the words out, he was gone. She followed him to the front door, which he wrestled open.

       “Hunter!” Sean immediately ran for his Lego masterpiece. “Come look at this!”

       Fiona looked into Hunter’s eyes and shrugged. “The dragon’s attacking the castle. These are dangerous and exciting times if you’re a princess.”

       “I’ll say.” He followed her into the house and closed the door. “So, is there a reason you’re not outside enjoying the warmest day so far this season?”

       She stopped midstep. “My brother Owen called you, right?”

       Hunter chuckled. “How’d you know?”