Taken In Texas. Susan Sleeman

      She squeezed his arm and released it. “I’m sure if you give him time.”

      “Nah, that’s not going to help.” Cord shook his head. “Lucas thinks it’s my fault they died. I was supposed to be on that plane instead of his parents. I caught a big homicide case at the last minute, and Jace went in my place. He took his wife, Annaliese, along for a couples’ weekend.”

      “But it isn’t your fault.”

      “Isn’t it?” He fisted his hands. “You and I always put work first. Before relationships. I didn’t realize what a fool I was until I lost my family. Now I would give anything to have them back.”

      She watched him, her eyes dark and appraising. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking. He really wanted to know, but he wouldn’t ask. Not now. Maybe never, as that would mean they still had some sort of a connection, and she’d ended that when she’d broken things off with him. Besides, now wasn’t the time to get into some deep conversation about their past. Now was the time to focus on locating Eve.

      He firmed his resolve. “We need to get to work and find my aunt.”

      Kendall nodded but quickly pushed on her nose again, pain racing across her face.

      He hated that she was hurting and wished he could do something about it. “You don’t always have to be so tough, you know?”

      “Excuse me?”

      “You’re in pain. I can see that from the way you keep pressing on your nose, but you won’t admit it. It’s only your sister and me here, so you can let go.”

      She lowered her hand and lifted her shoulders. “When you’re a woman in law enforcement, you have to be tough.”

      “Yeah, I know. It’s harder for you. But still, it’s just Tessa and me in the house. What can we do to help?”

      “Nothing,” she replied. “I’ll grab some aspirin from my car when I get my notepad and supplies. I’m also going to check the mailbox.”

      She turned to leave.

      “Wait. I’ll do it.”

      She sighed and looked back. “Look. It’s going to get annoying pretty fast if you don’t trust me to do anything on my own.”

      “No. That’s not it. I was thinking about what your dad said. You saw the intruder’s face. He can’t be too happy about that and could try to take you out again.”

      She frowned. “Do you really think that’s going to happen?”

      “I don’t know, but I’ve seen it often enough in my job that we have to believe it’s a real possibility.”

      Her eyes narrowed. “Even if it is, he’s not going to be out front waiting for me. Not with a law enforcement presence here tonight.”

      “I’d agree with you, except I also know that many criminals often aren’t the brightest of people. When they panic, they do stupid things, and this guy has got to be pretty panicked right now.”

      She stared ahead as if processing. “Fine. Your point is valid. You can come with me. I’ll grab the things from my car, and you can get the mail.”

      He nodded and followed her firm march toward the door. She’d worked hard in her early years on patrol to develop a tough-guy persona. She was so driven to succeed, and he’d always thought it came from being the second born in the family. She had a lot of the same traits as Jace, who was younger than Cord. Correction—had been younger—something Cord still could barely comprehend.

      Kendall stopped in the doorway to look around. Good. She was taking the threat to her life seriously. Cord hadn’t wanted to scare her, but the threat was very real.

      Her hand on her sidearm, she made her way to her car, and he retrieved the mail. Back in the house, he dropped the stack on the dining table and sat to flip through it. Older postmarked letters mixed with more current ones, and some of the advertising flyers were outdated. Clearly, Eve hadn’t been home in some time. At least not in three days, as the blood would indicate.

      “Tell me about Eve,” Kendall said, but didn’t sit. “What kind of things does she like to do away from home?”

      “She volunteers at her church, Cumberland Community, and at the animal shelter. She lost her dog a year ago. She didn’t want to commit to a new one just yet but wanted to spend time with them.”

      Kendall wrote in her notebook. “Does she have any close friends?”

      He nodded. “But I hate to admit I don’t remember their names. I met them at her church once.”

      “We should start by interviewing them first thing in the morning.” Kendall sat and added something else to her notebook. She looked up, her expression still pinched. “I saw a computer in the other room.”

      Right. Kendall loved working with computers and had attended college part-time to earn her computer forensics degree so, as she said, she could bring her father and the department into this century when it came to the digital age. “About that. Did you finish your degree?”

      She started to nod, but then winced and stopped. “Once I make detective, I hope I’ll be able to use that knowledge more.”

      She sounded as enthusiastic as she had back in the day. She loved law enforcement and technology but didn’t want to have to choose between them for her career, so she pursued the degree and figured she’d be able to employ both areas at work.

      “Do you know if Eve has an online presence?” she asked, keeping them on track.

      “Facebook. She emails, too. But I think that’s the extent of her computer activities.”

      “Let me see if I can find her last Facebook post.” Kendall picked up her phone and tapped the screen.

      “I had a friend make sure Eve had strict privacy settings, so I honestly hope you can’t see it.”

      Kendall frowned. “Several Eve Smalleys listed but not your aunt.”

      “That’s odd. I’ve never seen her account, because I don’t use Facebook, but I know she uses it regularly. Try adding her maiden name—Watson.”

      Kendall started typing. “Yes. Here it is. Eve Watson Smalley.”

      Kendall kept tapping the screen but she soon sighed. “Just as you said. Her security is blocking everything but the fact that she has an account.” She looked up at him. “We can ask her friends at church if they’re online friends, too, and we can see her posts that way. Can you think of anyone else who might be her friend?”

      He almost said his mother, as he still had moments when he forgot she was gone and he could pick up the phone and call her.

      “My mom was friends with Eve, but I had her account closed after she died,” he said and tried not to sound as sad as he felt. “I suppose we could ask Facebook to activate it again, but that would be as complicated as asking for access to Eve’s account.”

      “She might be logged in on her computer, but I don’t want to turn it on here. If we’re dealing with foul play, I need to image the hard drive first. I’ll take it into evidence and review the files then.”

      She didn’t need to explain her process. If his aunt had come to any harm, the computer could hold evidence. But if Kendall turned it on now and performed a search, it would alter the state of the hard drive, calling every bit of information it held into question in a court of law. So Kendall had to take a sort of snapshot of the hard drive to preserve it, and then she could look at that image.

      He could hardly even believe he was having to think about such things regarding his aunt. How could something like this happen?

      He stared over Kendall’s shoulder at the black of night outside the window. Was Eve out there? In danger? His gut churned. He couldn’t lose another