Melissa hugged her as she walked by. “I’m sorry this happened to you. I’m worried about your safety.”

“Right now we don’t know if it’s some jerk who got all bound up because a woman dared to have an opinion in public or if it’s the real killer. The first is way more likely.”

Royal uncoiled himself from where he’d been pretending to lounge. “She’s staying here at least until she finds a new place that’s far safer. I know her landlord, the guy likes money, but he won’t hold her to that lease. Not after this.”

“That means I have to drive in each day. Ugh. I hate that part. But it’s really not that far, and it’s better than waking up to find a weirdo having broken into my apartment standing over me.”

“Not a fan of this type of joke,” Royal murmured, and she leaned forward to kiss him.

“Sorry.”

“Good. Hopefully that will work in my favor when I explain how I’m going to drive you to work and pick you up every day.”

“We’ll talk about that later.” Puhleeze. She didn’t need an escort to work for goodness sake! But when he got all protective, it made her tingly so she’d let it go for a while longer.

“You mean you’ll indulge me but eventually think I’ll take no for an answer.” He grinned at her, totally on to her game.

“Until the sex is done at least,” she said in his ear.

“Go ahead on if you think you can withstand all my persuasive ways.”

She laughed, hugging him.

They hung out for another hour or two before Melissa and Clint headed out.

Royal turned to Caroline. “Glad they came over. I like them.”

“I do too.” Melissa was the first real friend she’d made since moving to Petal and they’d become pretty close. “She’s smart and funny.”

“And a bit of an outsider too.”

Caroline nodded. “Yes. She knows what I’m talking about in ways no one else does.”

“I’m sorry you feel so alone.”

She took his face in her hands, glad they were both sitting so he wasn’t towering over her. “I have you.”

He smiled. “Yeah, you do. But having other friends is important. I’d like to hope you also feel that way in the future about my group of friends.”

“I like your friends. I mean, we had a rough start, but they’re all fine now. And I get it. Their loyalty was to Anne first. In some ways it’s nice to see the way you all come together the way you do.”

“Nicer when you’re part of the us-versus-the-world stuff though.”

“Agreed.”

He pulled her into his lap. “Now, I believe I have some persuasion to work on.”

Shane held up the disc containing the possible worthy tips and the scary calls from the tip line. “I listened to them all. Of the two tips that caught your attention, I think one has merit. I’ll have one of my people check in with the county to see if there was a road crew out doing any work around the diner. I’d hope it was addressed then, but.” He shrugged and tried not to appear angry, failing. The sins of the old chief were heavy on his shoulders, Caroline knew.

“The other one I definitely don’t think. That dairy drive-through on the corner had been torn down two years before the murder.”

She nodded. One usable tip in the few days after the radio interview wasn’t bad. Sixteen years after the murder too. She had to hang on to this new way of dealing with the case and hope that she’d find a way to process the lack of control.

“As for the threat. You’ve got a male who references your radio interview and that he knows where you live. Since you had a break-in following that radio interview and the destruction was quite personal, I don’t think it’s a stretch to wonder if the two things aren’t related or if this is more than one person. These tip lines aren’t much help, but I’ve got someone on it. Right now I don’t know much, but I know enough that I don’t like it, Caroline.”

“I don’t like it either. My renter’s insurance will write me a decent check. They’re replacing my clothes and shoes. But so much was ruined. Books and photographs. A stranger was in my home. I don’t like that one bit! He touched my things. Read my notes. Stole a picture of me and one of my mother. ’Cause that’s not creepy at all.”

Shane reached out and patted her hand. “I know this is awful. I’m sorry. I can promise you we’ll do all we can.”

“I appreciate it. I’ll get in touch if we hear anything else. I’m at Royal’s for the time being. On the days I don’t have to leave town, he even says he’ll drive me. Insists. Says. Suggests.” She snorted. “I’m going on television next Wednesday. So it may bring a lot of attention or nothing at all. You know how this goes sometimes.”

“You’re going to need to be extra careful once you do that. This guy who’s behind the threats and break-in isn’t going to be happy about you taking this stuff out to a wider audience. And if he’s the real killer, he’s already killed at least one woman and let another person go to death row. That’s what we know. What we don’t know is far likely worse, and so he’s going to be eager to shut you up. Keep aware of your surroundings. If anything looks or feels weird, I want you to call me.”

She nodded. “All right.”

Justin walked her out. “You hungry? I haven’t had lunch and I’m starving.”