Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

F rom the look of exhaustion on Bailey's face, Nate doubted she slept much at all last night. Was it because of the intruder outside? Or was it related to their conversation? Goodness knew both had kept him up much of the night as well.

What he'd said about not wanting to jeopardize their friendship was true. What he didn't voice was that it'd been difficult to ignore his feelings before. Now that he knew what it felt like to hold and kiss her, pretending that it hadn't happened was going to be torture.

He was relieved, however, when she'd come downstairs with a smile on her face as she'd greeted him this morning.

Now, she was making scrambled eggs and hash browns while Seth and Jordan waited patiently at the table for their breakfast.

"I heard from Rachel this morning," she told Nate as she stirred the eggs. "She's going to stop by later today to help out for a while."

"That's great." He pulled two slices of bread from the toaster and buttered them. "I can run the evidence over to the police department while she's here." He'd feel better knowing someone else was at the store with Bailey and the boys.

He got a stack of plates out of the cabinet while Bailey retrieved forks.

This was only their second morning in the same house, and he couldn't ignore how well they worked together. He was going to miss spending so much time with her and the boys once everything got back to normal. It was going to be difficult going back to only seeing them a couple of times a month.

They ate breakfast in comfortable conversation, mostly revolving around looking for frogs after last night's rain and cleaning up the store.

When they'd finished, Nate left Bailey to wash dishes and headed back out to the spot where the man had been watching last night. Now that it was daylight, maybe he'd be able to see more evidence. He took two baggies with him just in case.

The rain had washed away the footprints just as he'd feared it would. He was glad he'd taken photographs. There were still a few cigarette butts on the ground where he'd found the others. He took some more pictures and left them there just in case someone from the station wanted to see the location.

After that, he walked along the tree line all around the house and found two more places with discarded cigarette butts. Whoever that man was, he'd been watching the house for a while and from multiple vantage points. Anger burned, and concern flared. He was even more thankful she'd agreed to let him stay at the house.

He took photographs of each location as well as a photo of the house so that he'd have a record of what angles the guy was watching.

Back at the house, Bailey, Seth, and Jordan were getting ready to head out to check on animals and then go work on the store. While her sons were busy deciding which toys to take with them, Nate pulled her aside and told her what he'd found.

"I'd like to come with you guys to check on the animals. After that, please do me a favor and make sure you lock the doors while you're working at the store. Until we catch this guy, don't let the boys out to play by themselves. I'd rather be safe."

Bailey nodded, her expression serious. "I agree on all counts. I'm not even sure we should be walking anywhere at this point."

He'd been thinking along the same lines. He doubted the suspect had been watching them on the way to the old barn last night because Minnie would've noticed. Still, just the idea was disconcerting.

"If you're okay with it, I'll leave Minnie here at the house while we're all gone. Trust me, no one will mess with it while she's here."

Nate was able to leave the farm early because Rachel was already waiting at the store when they arrived. Even knowing Bailey wasn't there alone, he still hoped to get back as soon as possible.

Walking in the front door of the Destiny Police Department was somewhat surreal. He hadn't been there since he'd taken his leave last February. To be honest, he'd avoided it. Part of him had worried that returning would stir up some of the anger and grief he'd experienced after Lana's death. What he hadn't expected was the strong sense of home that it elicited.

Tia was manning one of the windows and was helping someone who'd come in. She looked up and spotted him, giving him an enthusiastic wave. He grinned in response and pointed to the door that, when buzzed open, would lead to the bullpen beyond.

Tia nodded. A moment later, the lock clicked, and Nate pushed his way through. There were a lot of new faces, but plenty of officers he'd worked with before greeted him and shook his hand. It took ten minutes to make his way through to Detective Paris's office. He knocked on the doorframe.

Paris stood and waved him in. "Hey, Walker. Good to see you. Glad you came in—it's been too long."

"Yeah, it has." Nate shook the detective's hand and took a seat across the desk from him. "We had some interesting developments last night, and I thought I'd come by and give a report personally. I've got some evidence to log in as well."

Paris raised an eyebrow. "I can't wait to hear about it." He looked up as a shadow darkened the doorway.

Nate turned to find Chief Arnold Dolman standing there. Nate got to his feet and shook the chief's hand. "Good to see you, sir."

"You too, Nate. It's a real shame what Bailey is going through. I'm glad that she's got you in her corner." Chief Dolman jabbed a thumb behind him. "Mind stopping by my office on your way out?"

"Not at all, sir. I'll be right there."

"Great. See you in a bit." With that, Chief Dolman left again.

Paris fought a smile. "Back for a half hour and already in trouble with the chief. Old habits die hard. "

"Funny, Paris." Nate acted offended, but really, he enjoyed the teasing. He'd missed these guys and hadn't realized just how much.

He placed the bags of cigarette butts on Paris's desk and went on to give an account of what happened from the moment Bailey spotted the red glow until Nate had a chance to investigate the area in the daylight.

"I was hoping we might get some DNA off these cigarette butts. Most may have been out during the rainstorm. But this one should be good." He pointed out the one he'd found smoldering last night. "I'd definitely have the lab test that one first."

Paris nodded and seemed impressed. "I'll be sure they get there myself. With any luck, the DNA profile will match someone in our database, and we'll have a name in the next few hours."

"I sure hope so. Bailey's been through a lot over the last couple of years. She shouldn't have to deal with this on top of it all."

"No, she shouldn't." Paris's voice was firm with conviction. "Is there anything we can do to help her?"

"Actually, I do have an idea, and I wanted to run it by you first."

He explained his plans and was happy when Paris agreed with him and promised to help set everything in motion.

Nate stood. He wanted to get back to the farm, but he still needed to stop in and see the chief on his way out. "There's one last thing. Has anyone done a check on the property and the last few people who owned it? Specifically, I'd really like to know more about the large barn that's barely still standing and what happened to the owners who built it. "

"I'll get someone on that today." Paris held out a hand. "Keep me updated, and I'll do the same. Stop by anytime. We've missed you around here."

"Thanks, I'll have to do that." The men shook hands, and Nate headed out.

He was waylaid by two other people who wanted to say hello before he made it to the chief's office. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Come on in and close the door."

Nate did as he was asked and took a seat. He wasn't sure what the chief wanted to talk about, so he started off with small talk. "How are Chloe and the baby doing?"

Chief Dolman's face lit up. "They're great. Thank you." He picked up a framed photo and handed it to Nate. The baby girl was adorable with hair the same dark blonde as her mom's. "Etta is five weeks old now and changing every day. Chloe and I are sleep-deprived but elated." He chuckled.

"That's great to hear, sir."

"I'm thankful that you, Durant, and Paris are doing so much to help Bailey. She's still one of ours, and it upsets me that someone is messing with her like this."

"Me, too, sir. We're doing everything we can to catch whoever's behind all of this."

"I know you are, which brings me to why I asked you in here. I hear you're doing great things through Paws with a Cause. They're lucky to have you." Chief Dolman paused as he studied Nate. "Now that you're essentially working a case, have you given any thought to returning to the PD?"

The chief never was one to beat around the bush for long. Then again, that's partly why it made him so good at his job.

"I'm not going to lie. I've missed working with everyone, and I'm feeling the loss even more now that I've been back in the building." Nate tried to choose his words carefully. "But I'm not sure I'm ready to come back. Not yet."

"I hope that means you might consider it in the future. If that is the case, please know you'll always have a place back here if you want it."

"I appreciate that. Truly. Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome." Chief Dolman stood and extended a hand. "I'll let you get back to it. Keep the department updated."

Nate shook the chief's hand. "Will do. Please tell Chloe I said hello. Congratulations to you both again."

By the time he got back out to his truck, he was ready to check on Bailey and the boys. He'd kept his phone handy but never got a call or text from her. Hopefully, that meant she and Rachel were busy working on the store and that everything was going smoothly.

He prayed that they'd hear from the station in the next few hours with some good news after the evidence was processed.