Shadow Of Suspicion

Maybe—just maybe—the detective would eventually believe her. Maybe the police would start looking in the right direction, focusing their efforts on the real kidnapper instead of Laney.

She prayed to God that she wasn’t asking too much.

Please, Lord, give them wisdom. And watch over Sarah.

* * *

Mark’s comrades in arms had managed to catch the man who’d tossed the Molotov cocktail into Laney’s front yard. Mark had memorized his license plate, and the police had quickly tracked him down at his house two blocks over. As he suspected, the man—a neighbor—had wanted to show his displeasure that a “kidnapper” had been released into his neighborhood. The community often wanted to show their own justice at the atrocities that affected them, especially when they felt like the police weren’t doing their jobs.

The man had no prior history, but he’d acted as a vigilante on behalf of the neighborhood. He had a background first in the military and currently as a security guard, which he felt gave him a license to take justice into his own hands.

At the moment, fire trucks lingered outside Laney’s home, officials making sure there was no further danger from the bomb that was thrown, two police cars still remained, and an ambulance had even come, just in case. Neighbors peeked out their windows, curious about the circus going on outside their homes.

When he walked back inside, he stopped in the foyer. Laney held a metal object in her hand and swept it across pictures on the dining room wall. The machine started to beep by a mirror and she set what he now recognized as a metal detector on the table before shoving the mirror aside.

“What are you doing?” Mark’s hands went to his hips. Had this woman lost her mind? Was she paranoid?

She plucked something from the wall and stepped back, a deep frown on her face as she stared at the bug-sized object.

“I’m looking for these.” She raised the small, metallic device in her hands up to the light so Mark could get a better look.

“What is that?” Mark had an inkling, but that just didn’t fit with the situation or with Laney, for that matter. He still remained cautious, hoping the woman wasn’t crazy.

Fire lit her eyes as she met his gaze. “This is a camera. Someone’s been watching me. They’ve been learning my routine. Listening to my conversations. Who knows what else.”

She dropped it on the ground and smashed it with her foot with more vengeance than was probably necessary.

He started to stop her, reached for her, but finally dropped his hand and scowled. “If what you said is true, you just ruined our chances of tracking down whoever left it here,” he muttered.

She frowned and stared at the hardware on the ground. “You’re right. I was hasty. I just couldn’t stomach someone being able to record any more of my life or this conversation, for that matter. I’m sorry.”

“How did you know?” He tried to put the pieces together, what he knew about Laney, what he knew about this kidnapping. Something wasn’t fitting, and that realization caused unease to stir in him. What exactly was going on here?

Laney held up the metal detector. “This is a long story.”

“I have time.” He crossed his arms. She wasn’t getting out of answering that easily.

“It was just a gut feeling. I can’t explain it.”

“Normal people don’t have ‘gut feelings’ that they’re being bugged.” Paranoid people—maybe. But paranoid people were hardly ever correct. Laney, somehow, was.

She squirmed. “I’ve always been overly cautious. My husband was a SEAL.”

“Keep going,” he insisted.

“There were threats against the families of SEALs. We did some defense classes. Any other information, you’ll have to talk to his commander.”

“And the cameras? I suppose they trained you on how to find those also?”

The same fire flashed in her gaze again. “You’re avoiding the real issue here. Someone has been surveilling me and now I’m being set up. That was the third camera I found.”

He crossed his arms, trying to remain cautious. His unease was quickly turning into alarm. Why would someone have planted these in her house? Or was this just a scheme by Laney to take the attention off herself?

He rubbed his chin, wishing that metal detector was a lie detector instead. “If what you’re saying is true, they went through a lot of trouble to make you look guilty.”

“You don’t have to tell me that. I think I’ve been a target all along. Who knows how long these have been here.”