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were standing on her front porch. She knew pretty much every deputy in the area, and thankfully they had all been friendly with her after she’d left Greg. One of them detached from the others and started toward her. When he stepped out of the shadows and into the sunlight she recognized Frank, a thirty-something deputy who used to work with Greg.
    “Piper. You all right?”
    She forced a nod, her heart thudding against her sternum. “How bad is it?”
    “There’s a fair amount of damage.”
    Ugh. “Can I go in?”
    “Not yet, the forensics teams are still working inside. And Greg was definitely attacked and kidnapped. One of your neighbors saw him being dragged out of the house by two men.”
    “Oh, Jesus,” she whispered, feeling sick at the thought.
    His gaze shifted between her and Easton. “Come sit in my patrol car and tell me what happened,” he said to her.
    She glanced at Easton, who nodded, then followed Frank to his car. After rehashing everything that happened with Greg, he told her what they’d found so far, then radioed the forensics team and got the okay to bring her inside.
    Before letting her out, he paused, his eyes full of sympathy. “I’m so sorry about all this,” he said. “I hate seeing him wind up like this.”
    Yeah, her too. “Any leads yet?” Whoever had come after Greg must have shown up within minutes of her leaving, because the cops had arrived under ten minutes after her call.
    Her neighbor had seen two men put Greg, who had appeared unconscious, into a black car and drive off. Whoever had taken Greg might have seen her, waited for her to drive off before attacking. It made her skin crawl to think that someone that violent had been watching her and her house.
    “No. We’ll need to get the samples analyzed before we know if it’s his blood or not. It’s not a large amount, so whoever was injured, we don’t think it’s severe. And if the attackers wanted to kill him, they would have just done it and left him here. So there must be some reason he was taken alive.” He straightened and reached for his door handle. “You ready?”
    “Yes.” Bracing herself, she climbed out onto the foot of her driveway. Easton pushed away from his truck and started toward her.
    “Want me to come inside with you?” he asked.
    “Yes please,” she murmured, thankful he was here.
    He stayed close beside her as they followed Frank up to the front porch, but didn’t touch her. Officers and techs moved out of their way as they approached, and Piper hated the pity in their eyes.
    It was happening all over again. By morning the entire town would be abuzz with rumors and gossip, and her good name would once again be tied to Greg and this incident as people speculated about what had happened. Yet another reason she wanted to get the hell away from here, but this latest incident meant her departure was going to be delayed even longer.
    Even though she’d prepared herself for what she was about to see, she still sucked in a breath at the first sight of her living room. Everything she’d staged so carefully to sell her home had been destroyed.
    Tables, lamps and her desk had been overturned. The flat-screen TV was lying facedown on the floor, apparently ripped off the wall, bits of its plastic frame lying around it.
    Books and other items she’d placed on the shelves of the built-ins on either side of the TV littered the area rug. Chunks of drywall were missing from the walls where something heavy had crashed into them. The framed prints she’d hung around the room were all lying smashed on the floor. Broken glass glittered in the sunlight streaming through the front windows.
    Holy shit. Greg had put up one hell of a fight. It turned her stomach to think of him in here, fighting off two men. Maybe fighting for his life.
    Easton set a hand on the small of her back, his touch comforting and warm, helping to melt some of the ice inside her. Her heart sank when she glanced toward the kitchen and saw