“Not since last year, I don’t think it’s that…” My sentence trailed off. I didn’t know how to give voice to what I’d seen. If I spoke the words, then it was real, and the pictures…that felt like the greatest violation of all.

Ford gave my shoulder another squeeze. “What?”

I swallowed, my throat seeming to stick. “I have this scrapbook…”

“Okay.”

“I started making it a few months after Violet died. It’s all of my favorite memories with her. There are photos and drawings and collages. It became this living art piece.” Tears began to fill my eyes. I’d poured so much into that book. Joy, pain, and everything in between. Every time I’d missed my sister, I’d worked on a page. Now, when I needed to remember her, I pulled it from the drawer and spent anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours laughing and crying as I went down memory lane.

Ford trailed a hand up and down my back. “That sounds beautiful.”

“It was.” His body stiffened at my use of the past tense. “Whoever broke in tore out every photo.” My tears spilled over now, and my voice shook. “There was a note in the back that said I didn’t deserve her, that I never had.”

Ford spat out a curse, his gaze darting around the parking lot, then the beach. “We’ll find out who did this, Bell.”

Even if the police could find the person, I wasn’t sure my apartment would ever feel like home again.

24

FORD

The EMT looked up from examining Bell’s face. “There are no broken bones that I can feel, or signs of a concussion. But I’d guess you’re going to have one hell of a shiner.”

I bristled at the man’s tone. “It’s not funny.”

The man’s eyes flared. “I’m not suggesting that it is.”

“Everyone, calm down.” Bell slid off the gurney. “It’ll be funny when I tell everyone I went a few rounds with Rocky Balboa.”

“No, it won’t,” I growled. I knew I wasn’t helping, but I was on a knife’s edge and about to lose it. One look at the inside of Bell’s apartment had done that. The rage that amount of destruction would take…whoever the culprit was, they were angry enough to kill. I gave my head a little shake and forced my hands to unclench.

“Hey,” the EMT started, “don’t I know you?”

My gaze flicked to him. “I don’t think so.”

“Yeah, I do. I was a few years behind you in school, but the guys on my fire rescue crew still talk about it. That was one hell of an accident. It was a miracle you two walked away.”