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"But--"

"Faith, please! This is ih he could tell hoorried she was

It wasn’t until after ht that Troy’s hunch proved to be correct He was sitting in the pitch-dark living rooe Not wasting a moment, he contacted his deputies and had them surround the area

"Troy?" Faith whispered froht sleeper or hadn’t been to sleep at all

"Go back to your roo his annoyance He enunciated each word as distinctly as he could, keeping his voice low

She didn’t respond

"Did you hear me?" he asked more loudly

"Fine, fine I’m on my way," she muttered "I never knew you were so bossy"

Maybe he was but Troy refused to take any chances with her safety He was the one paid to take risks, not Faith

A louder coave a shout Troy ran for the back door and opened it just in time to see a man dressed co past his physical pri after the rass Weaver, as directly behind hied him to his feet Troy slapped on the handcuffs he’d kept attached to his belt

Deputy Johnson shined a flashlight into their prisoner’s face and Troy instantly recognized the man who’d been the source of all this trouble He felt a sense of satisfaction

"Take him to the station," Troy said after Deputy Johnson had read the perpetrator his legal rights

The two deputies led hi way too old to be chasing felons, but he wasn’t about to let this one escape

He returned to the house, turning on the kitchen light "It’s safe for you to co her housecoat "Troy--oh,for him to answer, she opened a drawer, retrieved a towel and da close, she dabbed at hisHe hadn’t felt a thing

"You got him?" she asked

Troy nodded "Sure did"

Faith pulled out a chair and they both sat down Her hands were tre warnize him?"

"I did"

"Who is it?" she asked "And why does this person hate me so much?"

"His name is Mark Schaffer"

A puzzled look appeared on her face "Who? I’ve never heard of hiet me?"

"This isn’t about you, Faith I should’ve seen thatto do with you"

Faith stared at hiot all the answers myself, but I’ll tell you what I think happened and why"

"Please" Her eyes implored him to make sense of it all

"Schaffer was a friend of Dale and Pam S here, my office received a number of complaints about them I spoke to Schaffer personally on several occasions He’s involved with drugs and hangs out with a rough crowd"

"But…he eventually moved away"

"I don’t think it was by choice I can’t say for sure exactly how they did it, but I believe Cliff Harding and Jack Griffin persuaded the S Mark, to leave They hadn’t paid rent in hborhood Grace was afraid that if she evicted theure Cliff and Jack convinced theave her a half smile "You’ll have to ask Grace about that and, when you find out, don’t tell uess is that Mark, or one of his cronies, left a stash of drugs behind in their rush to vacate the pre for that Most likely drugs, but it could beelse of value I assueted that area"

"But he broke into the house first"

"Either he doesn’t remember exactly where he hid his stash or whatever it is--or he was hoping to get you to move so he’d have time to search after you left When you didn’t turn tail and run, he had to take his chances, which is why he returned to the house Then you got the alare"

"It’s over, then" The relief in her voice was evident

"I believe so Ironically, I think there’s a good possibility that whatever was hidden inadvertently got tossed out when Grace and Cliff had the house cleaned and repainted"

Troy stood up to leave The cut on his et to the station to deal with Schaffer

She walked him to the front door, but stopped him before he could open it

"You’re safe now," he assured her

"I know," she whispered, then gently caressed his face

He caught her hand and held it to his cheek Every instinct he had told hi her eyes, she leaned forward and pressed her mouth to his, careful not to touch the injury He could feel the swelling in his lip but it didn’t impede their kiss

Troy stepped back to keep hi her the way he had earlier