"I'd figured that out on my own. What else can you add?"
His narrow gaze studied her. "You think this is for real?"
"I'm concerned that it might be," she stressed. "What if it is?"
"Then we'll deal with it. In the meantime, there's no way to be certain. I'll take the note and have it checked for fingerprints. Chances are it's clean." He motioned to the envelope. "Same for that." Glancing up, he added, "Show me where you found the letter."
Kali walked ahead of the men and through the kitchen to her back doorstep. "It was there. Resting flat on the top step."
Grant stepped over the spot and took stock of the area. "Gravel all around the house. No footprints. Cement steps, but the delivery person didn't have to step on them to drop the letter. If you didn't see the person who delivered it, and there's no evidence where the envelope was found, then there's little we can do at this point. I can search the files for similar cases, other than that, it's a waiting game."
Kali crossed through the kitchen to the deck, where she slumped back into her seat, baffled. "Nothing?"
"I have to admit, this letter is a bit unnerving." Grant’s gaze narrowed in consideration. "I'm leaning toward it being a real threat."
She choked. "That's not the answer I was hoping for."
"On the off chance that this isn't a joke gone wrong, I need to ask a few questions. If you don't mind?" Grant tilted his head, his dark compelling eyes studying her.
There it was again. That same ping of recognition. Why? Keeping her voice calm, casual, she answered, "Of course not."
"Does this letter mean anything to you? It talks about this being a game. Do you know of, or have any idea where that game idea is coming from?" At the violent shake of her head, he continued. "Rounds. Any games that have rounds? Competitions with rounds?"
Surprised, Kali glanced down at the letter. "No. I don’t. Nothing about finding people is fun or playful in anyway. It’s horrible, depressing and often painful."
"Don’t think of it that way. Think of it more competitively. Back to the wording here. It says I hide and you seek. I’m presuming that is your search and rescue skills being called into play."
She shrugged. "I don't know. Probably."
"It’s simple," Grant continued to read.
"The hell it is." Kali didn’t see anything simple about it.
"And if you don’t find them in time, they die. Not good. Who or what are them ? And how could we find out?" He pursed his lips, studied the letter, her face, then the letter again. "Definitely a competition. Do you know anyone who is jealous of your reputation?"
"My what?" Startled, Kali glanced at Stan for help. "What reputation? And why would that matter?"
Grant explained. "I understand from Stan that you and Shiloh are considered one of the best teams in the Search and Rescue field." He glanced at Stan. "That you recently received several awards and a rather large monetary gift."
She shook her head slowly. This wasn't real. It couldn't be. "I'm good, yes. So are hundreds of other teams. As far as I know, I don't have a reputation ." Kali blinked several times, trying to clear the fog his question had created. "That money went to the center to help offset the costs from all the emergency trips. We have to pay for flights and supplies ourselves more often than not."
"You were written up in several magazine articles."
Puzzled, she glanced at Stan. "I was?"
Stan answered, "A couple of times. Once as part of the team and you've been mentioned several times in write-ups on the rescue work we do."
"Sure, but so was everyone else."
Stan shrugged, adding, "Shiloh won that contest. You were interviewed over that."
"Stan," she protested. "That was last year."
He wrinkled his face. "Still counts."
"I need a list and preferably a copy of articles where you've been featured. That you two can recall. We don't know what might be important here. It seems obvious that this person is jealous or thinks you