“I don’t want to think it,” she finally admitted, not wanting to dwell on the pain the boy had endured, pain she’d caused.
Crouching down, Pierce touched the offensive letters, studying them, then looked up at her. “I’ve been reaching out to him, trying to help. To say he’s rejected me would be an understatement. I even offered for him to live up there.” He motioned toward the ceiling, above which was the attic over the garage that they’d been converting to office space bit by bit.
“What?” she asked, more than a little taken aback. “You didn’t want another dog, but you’d take in an angry teenager with a serious grudge against us—or at least me?”
“Don’t worry. He wasn’t interested. But you’re right. Toby’s angry. Really angry. With you. With me. With the whole damned world. Ten to one, he did this.”
She still didn’t want to buy it. “But Tom Fink’s car was vandalized just recently, too. Someone scratched MAN-WHORE into his Corvette. Would Toby do that? Why?”
“Don’t know.”
“But … it’s reaching to think that there are two vandals out there doing the same thing at the same time.”
“Both messages are personal,” Pierce pointed out, straightening, but still eyeing the car and its damage. “Not just obscure or random graffiti like you’d expect from a gang or a bunch of kids out for some kind of thrill. I don’t like it, Nikki. You could have been killed or seriously hurt.”
“I don’t like it, either, but I don’t think he was aiming for me.” She’d replayed the scene over and over in her head. “I assume he was aiming for the car. It seemed that way. And the reason I’m calling him a male is because of the way he threw the rock. He looked like he knew what he was doing. Like he’d practiced a lot.”
“Like maybe a kid who played baseball?”
“Yeah … It was hard to see, but that was the feeling I got. Growing up, I played catch with my brothers, and they’d always throw the ball hard, trying to knock me over. That’s what it felt like.”
“Don’t suppose you kept the rock or whatever it was that hit the car?”
“Didn’t think about it.”
“Could have had fingerprints.”
“Maybe,” she said aloud, but thought back to the fleeing figure dressed in black. “I think he was wearing a ski mask and gloves.” She paused. “He threw left-handed.”
“Did he?” Pierce’s face darkened, and he swore under his breath. “Toby was a pitcher for the JV team. Ambidextrous. Could throw left-handed.”
“He didn’t play varsity?”
“Quit.” His eyes held hers.
“Because of his mother’s death,” she said and felt terrible all over again.
Pierce exhaled a long breath, stared up at the ceiling and ran stiff fingers through his hair. “I made a promise to Morrisette,” he admitted, then added, “but there’s nothing we can do tonight.” Once more, he surveyed the damage to her Outback, which looked ready for the junkyard parked next to Pierce’s gleaming Cadillac. “I don’t want you driving around in it.”
She let out a laugh without any humor. “So you’re going to let me drive the Caddy?” she said, tapping his vintage car’s hood.
“We’ll see.”
“No—just kidding.” She couldn’t imagine driving around in the huge vehicle. It would draw more attention than her vandalized Subaru. And she needed stealth and anonymity, to blend into the woodwork for what she planned on doing in the next few days. “I’ll get a rental.” Something innocuous. A vehicle that no one, not even her husband, would notice.
She caught Pierce’s eye and imagined he could read her mind, so she determinedly shrugged off all her concerns about the car, at least for now. Heading into the house, she was immediately greeted by Mikado and Arlo, both dogs acting as if they hadn’t seen her in days as they wriggled and twisted, demanding attention and generally getting in her way.
Chloe was seated on the floor in the middle of the family room, where the TV was on mute, Lily on the couch with a book. Chloe looked up from surreptitiously playing with Phee’s forgotten Barbie dolls, then quickly clambered to her feet and ran across the room.
“I thought you’d be in bed, fast asleep,” Nikki said, sweeping herdaughter off her feet, only to be ignored. Chloe leaned away and stuck out her arms to Pierce as he came inside.
“Daddy!” she cried, excitedly.
Nikki grumbled, “Traitor,” as she passed the toddler off to Pierce, who twirled her around. Chloe giggled wildly, while Arlo, thinking it was a game, spun in circles beneath her, his tail wagging wildly above his rear end, where his fur was trying to grow back over his wounds.
“She had a fit about going to bed tonight,” Lily explained. “Trust me, I tried.Everything.”
“So you just let her stay up?” Nikki asked.