At the sound of an approaching car, Leigh scampered behind a clump of bushes. The car slowed as it reached the bend, and Leigh tensed as the headlights flashed over her hiding spot. When the car was gone, she glanced back at the house. From this new vantage point, she had a partial view of the driveway.

Leigh’s heart skittered at the sight of Cooper’s car. She crept closer, peering through the branches, and spied the back end of something low and silver. Mason’s Porsche, probably.

Cursing to herself, Leigh picked her way back to her car. She reached inside for her phone and texted Brandon.

Vanessa on property. Going to see if I can spot her.

Leigh tucked the phone into the pocket of her blouse and glanced around. She couldn’t have picked worse shoes for this expedition. She popped her trunk and rummaged through the contents: file boxes, grocery bags, gardening tools. She located a pair of flip-flops and quickly slipped them on, then tossed her heels into the trunk. She wished, for the first time in her life, that she carried a pistol. But she didn’t. She didn’t even have a tube of pepper spray with her. She’d moved it from her car to her nightstand after the prowler yesterday.

Leigh glanced at the game fence again, then back at her trunk. On impulse, she grabbed a can of spray sunblock and a pair of gardening shears. She tucked the spray can into the waist of her skirt and quietly closed the trunk.

Her phone vibrated with a text from Brandon.

Wait for me. On my way.

Leigh’s heart thrummed as she stared at the message. She looked at Cooper’s little blue car. She needed to get the lay of the land so that when Brandon arrived, she could immediately tell him where to find Vanessa.

Leigh slipped the phone into her pocket again, then crept back toward the game fence, surveying the brush for a well-concealed spot. She squeezed behind a juniper bush and tentatively touched the metal shears to the wire mesh. Nothing. Satisfied that she wasn’t about to electrocute herself, she clipped a vertical line.

Snip. Snip. Snip.

With every bite of the shears, Leigh’s pulse quickened. She cut a horizontal line, then tossed the shears to the ground and peeled back the mesh. Crouching low, she ducked through.

A shiver of excitement went through her as she stood up. She was officially trespassing on Mason Lloyd’s property, and it was exhilarating. She crept behind a clump of trees and peered through the branches, studying the house. She zeroed in on a wall of windows near the deck. A big chimney rose from the roof there, and she figured it was the main room. Staying concealed behind the tree cover, she crept closer to the house, searching for any sign of people.