Page 90 of Romance Is Dead

“Teddy. . .” Deep down, I knew he had a point. And I knew he meant it when he said his intentions were purely safety-related. But in truth, I couldn’t trust myself to keep it purely safety-related. And with Teddy leaving tomorrow, I couldn’t risk my emotions getting deeper than they already were. Just thinking about him leaving made me miss him.

“I’ll sleep on the couch,” he offered, pressing on. “I’ll sleep on the floor.” He nudged my arm. “I’ll sleep in the bathtub, if it makes you feel better.”

“As much as I’d like to see you try to squeeze into the bathtub, I think I’ll be ok.”

A muscle in Teddy’s jaw popped and he bit the inside of his cheek. “Fine. But I’m checking the room from top to bottom before I leave you alone.”

“Deal.”

My limbs were heavy as we trudged down the hall, the fact sinking in that there was someone still out to get me, likely angry that their attempt with the sabotaged tree limb had failed. I went through the evidence we had so far, unable to shake the feeling we were missing something. Scott had an alibi for Trevor’s murder, and he had no reason to want to hurt Brent. Natasha had alibis for both Trevor and Brent’s murders. Mara was a nonstarter. It had to be Audrey—but if she’d sabotaged the tree, wouldn’t she have known to get out of the way?

Who was left? The entire crew, but I didn’t know any of them well enough to even begin parsing whether they had a motive or means for murder.

We were running out of time.

“You sure you’re ok?” Teddy asked as we arrived at my door.

“Yeah. Just tired.” I forced a smile, not wanting to worry him, and slid my key card into the lock. “I’ll be fine.” I pushed open the door.

And immediately froze.

The entire room had been ransacked. Someone had been here.

Chapter Twenty-nine

Tentatively, we stepped into the room.

All the sheets had been ripped off my bed, left in heaping piles on the floor. My clothes had been torn out of the dresser and strewn about. The drawers of the nightstands had been pulled out and dumped on the floor, even though nothing had been in them. Even one of the framed prints on the wall had been knocked askew.

And on the wall, scrawled in red, were the words, “I’m still coming for you.”

I stared around the wreckage, trying to process. So far, the danger had felt near but still separate, something out there but not so close I could smell it. Now it had been here, in my personal space. We could have just missed them. They could still be here.

I should have been terrified. But mostly, I felt angry.

“Let’s go.” Teddy wrapped an arm around my waist, guiding me back toward the door. “I don’t want you in here.”

For once, I didn’t argue. We retreated to Teddy’s room, where he secured both the deadbolt and the security chain. I slid into the bathroom to splash some cold water on my face in an attempt to bring down my adrenaline. It didn’t help. My heart was still racing, but now my mascara was smeared. When I came out, running fingertips under my eyes to remove the smudges, Teddy was pacing.

“Damnit.” He slammed a hand against the wall as he passed. “I should have figured this out by now. You could have been in there when they broke in!”

I walked over to put a calming touch on his shoulder. “It’s ok. I wasn’t in there, so it’s fine.” Even as I said the words, I knew they wouldn’t help.

Teddy shrugged me off. “It’s not fine!” Balling his hands into fists, he continued his pacing. “I should have worked harder. I should have believed you sooner. I shouldn’t have doubted you.” He ran a hand through his hair and down his neck. “I can’t believe I fucked this up.”

I glanced around the room, trying to find a way to distract him. It was mostly tidy, with the odd pair of joggers lying in a corner. I spotted a picture frame on the dining table, the one he’d made in his woodworking class, I assumed. Next to it, I saw a tool I didn’t recognize, a pen with a long needle and power cord attached to a plug into the wall.

“What’s this?”

Teddy’s cheeks reddened. “You’re not supposed to see that yet.”

My curiosity piqued, I moved closer. The frame was small, just large enough to fit a standard eight-by-ten photo. The wood was expertly cut and polished, and along the perimeter were tiny etchings. Decorative flowers and leaves, a miniscule portrait of me, my dad in his Puzzle Face costume, and even a little skunk in one corner.

“Is this Daffy?” Amazed at the detail, I ran my finger along the dark lines of the sketches. “Did you do this?”

“That tool is a wood burner.” Teddy came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist as he rested his chin on my shoulder. “It’s not finished yet. I was hoping to get it done before I leave tomorrow.”

Leave. In the chaos of the accident with the tree and the break-in, I’d completely forgotten he was leaving tomorrow. My chest clenched with an almost unbearable ache and I fought to catch my breath.

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