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friends.”
    â€œDarlene and Harvey, by chance?”
    â€œYes. You’ve met them?”
    Kylie nodded. “A couple of times already.”
    â€œYeah, so all of that combined with the bad relationship he just got out of a few months ago—”
    â€œKylie.” Both women snapped their heads toward Nate, who’d appeared in the doorway dangling a telephone. How much of the conversation had he heard? “You have a phone call. Your brother.”
    Suzy scurried away, no doubt before she heard an earful from her boss. Kylie had no choice but to approach Nate, though. She couldn’t read his expression as she took the phone and placed it at her ear. His gaze remained on her another moment before he turned and stomped back into the dining room.
    Once he was out of earshot, she finally spoke into the receiver. “I thought I already called you and told you I was here and doing okay. Are you doing the overprotective thing on me again?” She tried to sound lighthearted and erase all the worry that always seemed to be present in her brother’s voice.
    â€œKylie.” His voice sounded serious, much more serious than she’d expected. “Your house was ransacked last night.”
    â€œRansacked? What do you mean? I thought the police were watching it.” That ice-cold feeling chilled her spine again. She backed away from the dining area, out of earshot.
    â€œA cruiser was going past every ten minutes. We have noidea how the break-in happened. It almost seems like someone was watching, like they knew we were monitoring the house and waited until just the right moment to strike.”
    â€œWas anything taken?”
    â€œIt’s hard to say. Nothing valuable. Your TV, computer, jewelry, all of those things are still there.”
    â€œSo…” Kylie couldn’t finish her thought. Her mind raced with possibilities.
    Her brother’s voice softened. “No, this doesn’t appear to be a random break-in. This was mostly likely your stalker, and he’s most likely trying to figure out where you went.” Her brother paused. “Did you leave anything in your house that might give away your location, Kylie?”
    Had she? Her mind replayed the events of the past few days. The only place she’d written down her destination was in her notebook. She’d jotted Nate’s address and phone number, plus some quick directions her brother had given her. But then she’d torn that page out and had brought it with her. That paper had sat in the car seat beside her on the drive here. She was sure of it.
    â€œNo, I didn’t leave anything there.”
    â€œGood. You should still be safe there in Yorktown. Did you let Nate know what’s going on?”
    â€œWe talked last night.”
    â€œIf anything at all suspicious happens, let him know. Promise me?”
    â€œI promise.” Before they hung up, Kylie told him about the note she’d found scribbled in her book.
    Her brother’s voice sounded stern. “Kylie, be careful. I don’t like this.”
    She nodded. “Neither do I.”

SIX
    N ate looked away from a conversation with one of his regulars and glanced at Kylie, whose face looked whiter than flour. She slowly placed the phone on the hook, and from the way her body sagged, it looked like she hung on to the wall mount to keep from sinking to the floor. He had the urge to go and help steady her, but he didn’t. She seemed to like her privacy, and Nate wanted to respect that, even if he had to grip the chair to keep himself from rising.
    But when Kylie looked over at Nate with strained eyes, he decided she was inviting him to help. He apologized to his customer as he hastily rose and walked into the kitchen. Kylie appeared dazed as he approached.
    â€œEverything okay?” He slapped the dish towel over his shoulder, trying not to appear too concerned. Still, he reached out and gripped her elbow so she