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breathe. The familiar panic attacks she’d suffered after the bus accident threatened. Willing herself to be strong, she closed her eyes and took slow, even breaths.
    It had been seven years. She was alive. She was safe.
    Or was she?
    Judging from the bloody message on her mirror and walls, someone didn’t want her here.
    A shudder coursed up her body and she locked the door, then shoved a chair in front of it. The chair wouldn’t keep an intruder out, but at least if it fell over, it might wake her.
    If she ever managed to fall asleep.
    Dusty and grimy from the work she’d done and achy from the earlier nosedive into the ditch, she forced herself to leave the chaotic mess waiting in the living room, grabbed a bottle of cleaner for the shower and climbed the stairs. She’d tackle the den tomorrow.
    Chaz had erased the message from the mirror, but the ugly words still taunted her. She stripped the sheets, found clean ones in the closet and put them on the bed. Then she retrieved her toiletry bag and walked into the bathroom.
    The walls smelled of bleach, but the shower looked grungy, so she scrubbed it, then the toilet and sink. Then she turned on the water, stripped and climbed in the shower. The hot water felt heavenly on her aching muscles, and she soaped and washed her body and hair, then rinsed off. She wrapped a towel around her damp hair, then stepped from the shower and brushed her teeth twice to get rid of the dust in her mouth.
    She towel dried her hair, slipped on a pair of pajamas, took a sleeping pill and fell into bed. Seconds later, she closed her eyes and drifted off.
    But even as she faded into sleep, images of the bloody message flashed back.
    If she didn’t leave town, would the intruder come back and kill her?

Chapter Five
    Chaz hesitated before driving away from White Forks, but he couldn’t stay with Tawny-Lynn around the clock.
    Could he?
    If the threats continued, he’d have to.
    He carried the blood samples and prints he’d collected to the sheriff’s office. His deputy was on the phone when he walked in.
    Judging from the goofy grin on his face, he was talking to his girlfriend, Sheila.
    He looked up at Chaz and dropped his feet from the desk. “Listen, honey, I’ve gotta go. Call you later.”
    He hung up, then quirked his brows at Chaz. “I didn’t expect you back tonight.”
    “There was some trouble out at White Forks.”
    “You mean that place where the Boulder broad lives?”
    “She hasn’t lived there in years, but yes, that’s the one. She came back to town to get her old man’s ranch ready to sell.”
    “I heard folks around here don’t much like her.”
    Chaz scowled at his deputy. “Who’ve you been listening to, Ned?”
    “No one in particular. Some old women were gossiping about her in the diner. Said if she’d spoken up about what happened that day, they might have tracked down your sister and Peyton Boulder.” He scratched the back of his neck. “Hell, someone even said that she helped them run off.”
    Chaz silently cursed. Ned had come from a neighboring town and had formed his opinions based on rumors. “First of all, I don’t think my sister just ran off. She wouldn’t have done that. Second, Tawny-Lynn almost died in that crash herself. She was unconscious when the paramedics found her, had a broken leg and a concussion.”
    Ned made a clicking sound with his teeth. “The concussion caused her amnesia?”
    “Yes, according to the doctor,” Chaz said.
    “But the accident— Didn’t the sheriff think that was suspicious?”
    Chaz nodded. “There were skid marks from another vehicle on the pavement, but it started raining and they couldn’t get a good print.”
    “Why would someone run the bus off the road?”
    “Good question. The bus was carrying the softball team. Could have been some teen following too close or—”
    “Competitors from another team?”
    “I don’t think so. The sheriff looked into each of the girl’s lives, but none of