Whispers of You (Lost & Found #1)(23)

“I’m old but I’m not dead. I notice how Clint includes you in every poker night and after-work beers.”

I stiffened. “Clint would get frustrated with me the moment he realized I would never give up this job.”

“What about Chris? Anyone can see how he looks at you.”

I swung around in my chair. “Chris is a friend. Just like Law, Jude, and Nash. It is possible to have male friends, Abel. You’ve never made a pass at me.”

He chortled. “If I was a few years younger, I’d be sweeping you off your feet.”

Warmth spread through me, easing a bit of the anxiety of the conversation. “The curse of my birth time.”

The amusement fell from Abel’s expression in the quiet that followed. “You should talk to him—”

The phone rang, and I rushed to answer. I would’ve picked up a live wire if it got me out of the conversation with Abel. “Cedar Ridge police, fire, and medical. What’s your emergency?”

“W-Wren?”

The tremble in the teen girl’s voice had me snapping upright, my gaze flashing to the screen to check the readout. “What’s wrong, Jane?”

“Someone’s here. They’re trying to get into the house.”

Ice slid through my veins as my heart rate picked up. I focused on my breathing. In for two. Out for two.

“You’re at home?”

“Yes.”

“Is anyone else there?”

“No. Mom’s at work, and Dad’s on duty. We have a teacher in-service day today.”

Dale Clemmons was a firefighter, and he would’ve lost his mind if he’d heard his baby girl’s voice sounding this terrified.

“I hear it again,” Jane whispered. “It’s like they’re scratching at the door.”

That had my brow furrowing, and I brought up a map. The Clemmons family’s home wasn’t too far from Marion Simpson’s place. “Hold on, Jane. Let me get some officers dispatched.”

I switched over to the radio. “Reported 10-62 at 27 Mountain View Way. Sixteen-year-old girl is home alone. Jane Clemmons.”

Amber responded in less than a second. “Anderson and Raymond en route. Keep her on the line and keep us updated.”

“Will do. Be advised of a bear in the vicinity that Marion Simpson was feeding. That could be the culprit.”

“Understood.”

I switched back over to my phone line. “Officers are on their way, Jane. We’ve had reports of a bear in the area, so it could be as simple as that.”

Roan had taken the guy deeper into the forest while he was tranqued, but once bears knew there was food someplace, they would always come back.

Jane let out a half breath, half laugh. “My friends are going to give me so much shit if I called nine-one-one on a bear.”

I grinned. “At least you’ll have a story to tell.”

The sound of glass shattering had any hint of amusement slipping from my face. “Tell me what’s happening, Jane.”

“I-I don’t think it’s a bear.”

“Tell me where you are and what you can see and hear.”

Her breaths came out in soft pants across the line. “I’m in the den. I think he broke the glass next to the door. Oh, God, Wren. He’s trying to get in.”

“Hide, Jane. Find a closet or trunk. Anywhere they won’t think to look.”

My pulse thrummed in my neck as memories flashed in my mind. I shoved them down, focusing on the here and now. I could hear Jane moving as I switched over to the radio. “Window next to the door has been broken. She thinks they’re trying to get in that way.”

The sirens were already on when Amber came across the line. “Less than a minute out.”

But I knew anything could happen in a minute. It could destroy someone’s whole world.

I moved back to the phone line. “Where are you hiding?”

“In the back of the coat closet. There’s a panel in the back wall that leads to our crawl space.”

“Smart, Jane.”

I quickly typed her location into our computer system, knowing Amber or Clint would see it.

“Oh, God.”

Fear spiked through my system. “What is it?”

“He’s in the house,” Jane whispered.

“Did you see who it was? Is it someone you know?”

“I only saw them from the back. I think it’s a guy. He was wearing a hoodie. It sounds like he’s searching for something.”

Everything around me slowed, the world tunneling for a moment. I bit the inside of my cheek, hard. The pain was what I needed to stay in the here and now and not let the similarities pull me under to a decade ago.

“Hold on, Jane. I’m going to mute myself, but I’ll still be on the line. Stay quiet and keep breathing.”

I clicked on the radio. “The intruder’s in the house. Male suspect, wearing a hoodie.”

Amber bit out a curse as the sirens blared. “We’re here. We’ll get him.”

Empathy swept through me at Amber having to be the one to answer the call. She was just as tortured by these memories as I was.

I listened to Jane’s staccato breaths with one ear while I kept the other trained on the radio. The officers maintained an open line as they moved through the house, clearing rooms.