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“And what are you going to tell him?” Pierce asks.

“That I need a personal day.”

“He’s going to ask questions.”

“So? Let him.”

“Forge—”

“I am not leaving her alone in a house she’s never been in before, with people potentially looking for her. Tomorrow is Friday. It’s one day, then we have the weekend. We’ll see how we feel on Monday.”

He nods, letting it go.

He’s not arguing because he disagrees, he’s arguing because he has this need to appease people, and he knows Mendes is going to be pissed. We’re already on his bad side. I don’t give a fuck about him or what he thinks though. All I care about is keeping Raewyn safe.

The more my feelings grow for her, and the more I sit and think about this case, the more I realize that Pierce is on to something with Mendes. I can’t put my finger on it, and that’s what’s keeping me from making that leap and fully agreeing with Pierce. I like facts. I like certainties. But that doesn’t always happen in cases, which is when I need to be flexible—something that doesn’t come naturally to me.

“Fine,” he says. “But if he gets snappy with me, you’re making it up to me.”

I smirk. “Is that supposed to be a punishment?”

“Guess we’ll see, won’t we?”

Raewyn has barely anything with her, which isn’t surprising. She ran off with one bag that had hardly anything in it. Apparently, most of the clothes she now has came from Trinity’s daughter who left some things behind when she moved away for college.

“We can take you to the village this weekend to get your things,” Pierce says as we pull into the driveway.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Raewyn says.

Pierce puts the car in park, but we don’t get out.

“Why not?” I ask.

“What if they think I did it?”

“No one in that village thinks you did anything,” I say.

“He’s right,” Pierce adds. “When we were questioning everyone, they were adamant that you were not involved and were worried about your safety. A few of them thought you’d been kidnapped too, and they were scared that there was someone trying to harm the people in the village.”

“Really?” she asks, perking up. “They did?”

“Yes,” I say. “They knew you would never do anything like that.”

She smiles, letting out a little sigh. “I’d love to get my things from there then, as long as it’s okay with you.”

“Of course it’s okay with us,” Pierce says. “Whatever you need.”

We get out of the car. I grab Raewyn’s bag from beside me and we head up the walkway and to the front door.

“We have a security system,” Pierce explains as he unlocks the door. It swings inward and he immediately punches numbers into the keypad on the wall just inside to the left. “We will set up an account for you so you can get access. You’ll have your own pass-code.”

“How does it work?” she asks, stopping in front of the keypad on her way in. She looks at it like she’s trying to figure it out.

“There are sensors on all the doors and windows. Once the house is armed, if you open the door or window, it’ll set the alarm off. A call will go out to the company, who will then call us and ask for a code word. As long as we give them the correct word and say we don’t need help, they won’t call the police.”

“I don’t have a phone,” she says.

I share a look with Pierce, then say, “You won’t need one because we have our cell phones and there is a landline, but if you want one, we will get you one.”