Free BIG SKY SECRETS 01: Final Exposure by Roxanne Rustand Page A

when you leave the place at night. You might want to look into installing more security lights on the property, too. The one in front of the store doesn’t cover the back door, but a new one in back would also cover the cottage pretty well.”
    “I’ll make some calls today. I also intend to get a security system. I just haven’t had a chance to look into it yet.”
    “What about caller ID?”
    “I just bought one and hooked it up. And I took another step—a big guard dog.” She gave the deputy a rueful smile and tipped her head toward Charlie, who had flopped at her side to rest his head on her shoe. The dog hadn’t stopped wagging its tail since the deputy appeared. “But as you can see, he hasn’tgrown into his consistent protective mode quite yet. He does let me know about interlopers—as long as they’re chipmunks and squirrels.”
    The deputy looked at Charlie and chuckled. “I was just going to suggest that you keep your dog in your bedroom at night, but I’m not sure he’d be much help.”
    “Charlie’s working on it. He’s still a baby.”
    She watched the deputy drive away, feeling only frustration, instead of relief.
    He’d been polite. He’d taken time to look for possible clues. But he was right. Maybe Ollie hadn’t really seen someone from a distance. And maybe everything else had just been her imagination, born of her fears over a long ago tragedy.
    From inside the store came the ring of the telephone.
    Grow up, she admonished herself as she turned to go back inside. And have faith.
    But no one responded when she picked up the phone. All she heard was the sound of rapid breathing.
    “Hello?” she said again, glancing at the caller ID. Not available. “Who is this?”
    “The cop didn’t find anything, did he,” a man said flatly. “I suppose that makes you wonder if you’re just imagining things. And now,” he added with harsh laugh, “the cops won’t be so quick to respond to someone who keeps crying wolf. Too bad…for you.”
     
    He hung up with a soft, deliberate click that sent a chill through her veins.
    The caller knew the deputy had stopped by.
    Someone with a police scanner could’ve heard that a patrol car had been dispatched to her address, but to hear the call they’d need to be within range of this 911 district. Which meant the caller had to be close.
    Or maybe he was even closer—and standing in the shadows. Maybe he’d seen the deputy shake his head and drive away.
    Was he watching the store through his binoculars even now? And why?
    She certainly didn’t have much to steal—and certainly nothing worth the risk of capture and incarceration. She had an old digital camera and an even older laptop. She didn’t own a fancy computer or giant, flat-screen TV or have jewels stashed in her bureau. There wasn’t a high-end sound system in her cottage. Her car was nine years old and didn’t even have GPS; she didn’t own original artwork or anything else of much interest.
    And heaven knew there wasn’t much in the store’s cash register or in her bank account.
    She stared out the windows of the cozy little store that had offered such warmth and fascination when she was a child. It had always been a place of laughter and her grandparents’ loving devotion.
    But now, she only felt the chill and desolation ofthe approaching early snow that had been predicted for tonight.
    And it was a long time before she remembered to put the phone receiver down.
     
    Saturday dawned bright and sunny, turning the light dusting of snow into a landscape of sparkling sequins and lifting Erin’s spirits. The heavier, predicted snowfall had missed them, and by afternoon, the thermometer had hit forty degrees.
    She eyed a poster pinned to the bulletin board at the front of the store. “I wonder if it’s too late to sign up,” she mused under her breath.
    At her shoulder an old man who’d come in to buy bread squinted at the sign. “That’s the church potluck and bazaar. Don’t