“Then I’ll definitely take this as a compliment.” She scanned the empty middle-school theater. “Looks like we’ve closed down the place.”

“We have. I’ll be around for a few more minutes, turning off lights, locking doors, and ducking into my office to pick up a stack of reports I have to read tomorrow. You’re welcome to hang around if you’d like to walk out to the parking lot together.”

Wait another ten or fifteen minutes when she was dead on her feet?

No way.

This was a safe area of town, the parking lot had plenty of lights, and her car wasn’t far from the entrance.

Besides, while she didn’t have a Beretta stashed in her purse, as Grace did, she had her trusty pepper gel.

“Thanks, but I’m ready to call it a night. May I leave through the lobby?”

“Yes. The door will lock behind you.” The woman extended her hand. “Thank you again—and let me add my voice to the personal support expressed tonight by many of our members.”

“I appreciate that.” She returned the principal’s firm squeeze. “Enjoy your weekend.”

“You too.”

Eve trekked toward the lobby, digging through her purse for the small canister of gel. As she pushed through the door, she pulled it out and paused to peruse the area.

Two cars remained in the parking lot. No one was in sight, and the expanse of asphalt was well lit. This was also a low-crime, upper-middle-class section of town populated by professionals.

If she wasn’t spooked by the incidents of the past week, she wouldn’t even have bothered to dig through her bag for the gel.

Not that she’d ever share that with Cate. After her detective sister’s reminders to always expect the worst—and be prepared to deal with it—she’d be appalled by that admission.

But living in fear was the pits.

Given present circumstances, however, an extra dose of caution was prudent.

Tightening her grip on the container, she crossed the lot toward her Camry, one finger on her autolock button, the other poised on the flip top of the gel.

Ten feet from her car, she unlocked her door. In a handful of seconds she’d be safely inside her vehicle.

Picking up her pace, she gave the lot another sweep.

All clear.

At the door of her car, she glanced into the backseat—another rule Cate had pounded into her sisters’ heads. One she always followed.

No one was hiding inside, waiting to pounce.

Without lingering, she slid behind the wheel . . . locked the doors . . . and exhaled.

She was safe.

All that worry, all those precautions, had been for nothing.

No complaints, though. It was smarter to overprepare for trouble than be caught—

Eve froze.

Stopped breathing.

The folded sheet of paper on her dashboard hadn’t been there when she’d left her car almost three hours ago.