Page 29 of By the Book

I had made an impulsive decision that night she was attacked. I ordered a security system to put up at her store. Leaving her with her friends was torture, and I laid in bed that night unable to sleep. I needed her to be safe, I needed to do something. And I certainly hadn’t asked Ivy about the idea before clicking buy in the middle of the night.

“You will be?” she asks, surprise in her voice.

“Sorry to disappoint, but you aren’t getting rid of me,” I echo her words from this morning.

Surely, I was overstepping with the security system. But I couldn’t seem to shake my fears for her. The idea of Ivy hiding under her desk, trapped and desperate, creates a combination of nausea and rage within me. And it’s enough that I can’t seem to put space between us this time. Nor do I think I want to anymore.

Turning the set of keys around my pen, I lean back in my desk chair and examine them closer. There is nothing remarkable about the first one. A typical silver key that could be cut at anyhardware store, more than likely a house key. The second key, however, is a different story.

Flat and wide, the golden object is aged and tarnishing. The bow of the key is like a hollow three leaf clover with cuts at only the far end. It’s almost a skeleton key, if not simply a more modern version. And I recognize it immediately. Because I have one of my own in my pocket at this very moment.

It’s the key to the man gate down at the harbor.

Clearing a larger space on my desk, I lay out the printed copy of the Taylor’s guest list I made and turn to my computer, opening the dock permit register. If I can compare the lists to find who at the party also has a dock, then I can really start narrowing things down. I’ll finally have a suspect pool for the first time since the vandalism started.

Between a shift change and two trips out to the department kitchen for coffee, it takes a few hours for me to get through the list. It turns out, a lot of people in this town have a dock at the harbor, and more than twenty of them attended Wes’s party—including Jackson and Reid.

I feel my jaw jump at the thought of the lawyer. The way he laughed and bet money on how he’llnailIvy. Like being with her would be a game. Let it be him, it will give me a reason to finish what I started that night.

“Hey boss.” Millie appears in my doorway. “Any updates?”

As the first on the scene, she should be primary on this one. It’s a testament to our friendship that she’s letting me steamroll her and pull rank.

I motion for her to come in and slide the keys across my desk. “A few things are starting to shake out, yeah.”

Millie studies the harbor key. “Why does that look familiar to me?”

I withdraw my own keys from my pocket and dangle them in the air before me. “It’s the Foxport Harbor key. Whoever did this must have a dock.”

“I wonder if he also lives or works on the coastal edge of town then. It makes sense why he hit there the first few times.”

“I don’t know. If that is the case, why change from his comfort zone now?”

“He did leave that note, which I think was specifically intended for you,” Millie points out. “I think he changed locations to get at you.”

“I have nothing to do with the Brick District.”

Millie sighs, as if frustrated by my response, and sets her sights on the keychain next. “But you have everything to do with the Taylor family. And you confirmed that this is from their party, right?”

“Yeah, that’s definitely the favor Ruth gave out.” I slide the guest list over to her next, the paper speckled with highlighted names. “The yellow is guests that have a dock permit at the harbor.”

“In one day you narrowed it down from the whole town to like, what, twenty people? This is good.”

I run my hand along my jaw and sit back. It’s not good enough, yet. I need to make sure this guy is far from Ivy, stop the mayor from canceling the fall festival, and in a few days, stand in front of a town hall meeting and answer questions while giving nothing away.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Millie interrupts my spiral of doubt.

“What am I thinking?”

“That it’s not enough. This is personal for you, and you think you are letting her down. But she doesn’t think that. And thisisgood news.”

“No, I agree that this is solid progress. But it’s progress that is going to stay between you and I for right now,” I reply, standing and grabbing my jacket from the back of my chair. I drop the perp’s keys into my desk drawer and keep my own in hand. “And who is it that I think I am letting down?”

“We both know who I’m talking about. There has always been only oneherin your life. Even when you tried to pretend you could make it work with other women. It’s always been Ivy.”

“What is this, relationship counseling?” I planned to leave, but her words have me rooted in place.

“I spend more time with you than with my wife, Forester,” she says with a roll of her eyes. “Needless to say, Iknowyou. And you carry yourself differently when you’re around Ivy, you always have.”

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