Page 26 of Forged in Peril

It droned on and on, and she turned over in her bed, pulling the covers over her head and burying her face against her pillow

The dream she was having had started off with a nice walk through downtown San Antonio, but now the ringing noise coming from all of the cars nearby was rather distracting…

She sat bolt upright, feeling suddenly very much like she’d just been woken up by a bucket of ice water being dumped on her head.

She fumbled for the phone on her desk, which stopped ringing just as she got her fingers around the slippery rubber case.

There was one missed call from Forge Brothers Security.

She tapped in her passcode, messing up the first two numbers and having to do it over, her fingers shaking.

It was already well past seven-thirty, and she was supposed to be in court at eight.

Finally, she managed to navigate to the call log and hit the correct number, punching in Jaclyn’s extension immediately.

“Bristol, I hope you’re calling to tell me you’re pulling in right now,” Jaclyn said without preamble, her tone clipped.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, pressing a hand to her forehead and trying to stem the tears that threatened to spill over. “I set three alarms, Jaclyn, and somehow–”

“Cut the excuses,” Jaclyn spat. “Just get here as soon as you can. I’ll try and stall Hammerstein, but he’s not gonna be pleased.”

Bristol swallowed a groan of frustration. “Okay. I’m coming.”

She hung up the phone, realizing that her heart was racing. She forced herself to take a few breaths. She was already late, anyway, and panicking wasn’t going to get her there any faster.

Besides, there was one thing she had to check.

She tapped at the phone’s screen until she located the alarm app, and as soon as it opened, she felt her chest going tight.

There was nothing there.

She had selected three times that were close together for the alarms.

She could remember doing it the night before, and then double checking that all of the little sliders were slid to the ‘on’ position at least twice before she slept.

Did she somehow manage to not only turn off the alarms, but actually delete them in her sleep?

It made no sense. She wasn’t exactly a morning person, but she wasn’t quite that bad. And she’d been so anxious to get this right. She doubted her subconscious could have engaged in such an act of sabotage.

She sucked in a breath as she got off of the bed and put on a pair of socks.

If she hadn’t done it in her sleep, what other possibility was there?

Her mom had been at work all night, and wouldn’t be back until at least eight. Not that she would have tried to make her late for work, anyway.

She headed for the back of the trailer, passing her mother’s room, the tiny bathroom, and the beat-up utility area that doubled as a laundry room.

She reached for the back door’s chipped metal handle. It was unlocked and turned easily, and with a burst of courage thanks to the friendly light of the morning, she opened it out onto the small back lawn. Nothing was out of place.

Cameron had told her to keep locking the windows and doors until they found the vandal, and usually she did so anyway, especially since what had happened at D&P.

Still, she couldn’t be absolutely positive whether she’d locked it or not last night. She’d been focused mostly on getting her alarms set so she’d get up in time, not worrying about a break-in.

It wasn’t the nicest trailer park she’d ever seen, but it wasn’t a bad one, either. Most of her neighbors were older ladies like her mother. There were a few young families starting out, and a couple of single guys who wanted room for their dogs and outdoor gear that an apartment couldn’t provide, but that was it. No one she had ever had reason to worry about.

She went back into the house, taking another look around in search of anything that appeared to be missing, or out of place, but found nothing. Everything looked exactly as her mother always left it, and her room showed no sign that anyone but her had been in it.

This was crazy.

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