“I’m going to need you to walk me through everything.”

“Come inside,” Shay offered. “I’ll make us some coffee.”

She moved to the small kitchen, seeming to do a little better now that she had a task. Before long, she was pouring three cups and handing them out. We settled in the small sitting area, Shay and I on the couch, and Parker in the overstuffed chair.

He took a sip of his drink. “Thanks for this, Shay.”

“Of course.”

He turned his focus back to me. “You discovered the body?”

Shay’s hand went to my thigh, an unconscious search for comfort. “No, I did.”

We walked through the events of the past few hours with Parker jotting down notes in his phone as we talked. “And neither of you saw any signs of someone still lurking around? No boat, no nothing?”

“Nothing—” My words cut off as I stood immediately. “The cameras. I have one set up at the dock, and it’s equipped with night vision.” I led them up the stairs to my office. Logging into my computer, I opened the security software Griffin had helped me install. Before long, I was rewinding through the dock camera’s footage.

The video was black and white, which limited things, but any information was better than nothing. Soon, the static image of the dock changed. The body appeared. Then another figure dressed all in black.

“Damn it,” Parker muttered. “He must know you have cameras.”

Whoever this was, knew a whole lot of things they shouldn’t. The figure, wearing a ski mask, crouched over the body, arranging the woman in his perverse art form. My muscles locked as I watched him move, invading my space and darkening the sanctuary I’d built for myself, the one Shay had held onto for years. “That gives us a clue, doesn’t it? Not many people know I put security in here.”

Parker met my gaze. “I know you’re new to a small community, but you’d be surprised how quickly word gets around. From the order for the cameras you put in at the hardware store, to whoever did the install, probably half of Anchor knows what you’ve got cooking over here.”

I muttered a curse under my breath. “Small-town gossip.”

Shay laid a hand on my shoulder. “There’re good and bad things about living here, just like everywhere. But I think the good heavily outweighs the bad.”

I glanced up at her, my gaze full of everything I didn’t want to say with Parker present. She was right, and I needed that reminder. This asshole wasn’t going to steal the beauty we’d built here. The life that was so much richer than anything I’d had before.