Don't Make a Sound (Sawyer Brooks #1)(38)

Aria knelt down to take a look at Raccoon. “I’ll have to talk to Sawyer about this and see what she plans to do with him.”

Aria loved animals. She’d been fostering dogs and cats and birds for years. She’d even taken in a pig for a few days, and a parrot. Mr. Baguette was one of the few foster animals she’d gone on to adopt. She was happy for the animals when they were adopted, but she always cried too when it came time to say goodbye.

The cat hissed at her when she put her hand on the side of the carrier. “You are a feisty raccoon, aren’t you?”

Harper was in the kitchen, a super compact area that had everything most kitchens possessed. Nate had built it within an alcove at the far corner of the studio. Harper was opening and closing drawers.

“What are you doing?” Aria asked.

“Looking for latex gloves. This place is a mess.”

“It’s my mess. Leave it alone.”

Harper’s gaze was fixated on something Aria couldn’t see. “Why do you have a gun sitting out in the open? What if Lennon or Ella had come over?”

“I had an early shooting practice, and I was going to clean it. It’s not loaded, and I knew Ella would be at camp for a week and Lennon is with his dad.”

Despite telling Harper to leave her mess alone, her sister was still piddling around in her kitchen, which was set off from the rest of the living space by a countertop and two high stools.

Aria sat down on one of the stools and watched her sister clean the dishes. She was used to it. She’d learned to keep her mouth shut when her sister went on one of her cleaning frenzies. But it wasn’t easy, having a conversation while she scrubbed, her face and body tense. Harper’s kids and husband had also learned to move around her as they went about their daily lives.

Aria loved her sister more than anything, but she worried about Harper. Once, she’d found Harper in her bedroom with all the curtains pulled shut, simply sitting in the dark, doing nothing. Those moments worried Aria the most.

When Harper finished with the dishes, she mixed vinegar with dish soap and then put the bristle end of a long-handled dish brush into the solution and swirled it around. “Leave the brush for about an hour and it’ll be good as new.”

“Great.”

Harper peered into Aria’s eyes. “You can talk to me, you know, if you ever need to get something off your chest.”

Aria sighed. “Thanks, but no thanks.” Harper was always wondering why she didn’t go on dates or have many friends. Her issues with people were all connected to Uncle Theo and dozens of other shadowy faces, but she knew better than to tell that to Harper. Aria slid off the stool and went to Mr. Baguette’s cage. The cockatiel began to whistle the theme from Star Wars.

“He’s gotten that tune down,” Harper said. She pointed at Aria’s sleeve. “Looks like he pooped on you again.”

Aria grabbed the tissue she kept tucked under her belt and cleaned it off.

“Have you talked to Sawyer since she left?” Harper asked.

“We’ve been playing phone tag for two days,” Aria said. “She left a message, though, letting me know she was fine and planned to stay for a few more days.”

“I still can’t believe she would go anywhere near that place.”

“I can.”

Harper arched a brow.

“Sawyer’s not like us,” Aria said. “She might experience anxiety at times, but she’s strong. She faces her fears head-on.”

The truth was, Sawyer’s return to River Rock had stirred up all kinds of shit from Aria’s past. She had hardly slept last night. Anytime an image of a man from the past crept into her brain, she’d jumped out of bed, covered her ears, and started humming and jogging in place.

Maybe Raccoon would be the distraction she needed.

“I think Sawyer is too fearless,” Harper said. “It’s as if she’s trying to prove to herself or maybe to us. She jumps into things too quickly, like moving in with Connor, a man she hardly knew. Never mind her new job as a crime reporter. Now she’s back in River Rock. It’s like she’s drawn to death and destruction like a moth is attracted to flame.” Harper shook her head. “Sometimes I wonder if she’s lost all sense of self-preservation.”





CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Sawyer’s hands were full. She was carrying a bucket filled with cleansers, a mop, broom, dustpan, and a box of garbage bags.

“What are you doing?” her mom asked.

“I’ve had a change of plans. I need to stay in River Rock for a few more days, so I thought I’d move into Gramma’s cottage if that’s okay with you and Dad.”

“It’s dirty, cluttered.”

“That’s why I’m going to clean it.” Sawyer used her chin to gesture at the doorknob. “Can you get the door for me?”

“I thought you were leaving after the weekend?”

Sawyer set everything on the floor. “I talked to my boss, and he’s agreed to let me stay and cover the Estrada murder.”

Mom’s stony expression gave away her disappointment. “I don’t understand you.”

“You’ve never tried to get to know me. How could you possibly understand me?”

“Right there,” Mom said. “The way you talk to me. All three of you were always disrespectful, running around like wild animals.”