Crushed trash cans and shattered flower pots litter the pavement. Dirty pools of water form under the debris as the sun climbs higher into the sky and melts the thick layer of frost coating the items.

Maxie gapes at the mess. “How did this happen?”

Heat Flare’s mouth flattens into a grim line. “This is the Frost Queen’s work. Her calling card, so to speak. It’s her way of letting you know that you’ve caught her attention and that she knows where you live. She wants to scare you.”

Maxie looks at a large frozen pile of ceramic shards that had been the cutest statue of a cartoon cat. “She succeeded.”

“So.” Heat Flare crosses his arms over his broad chest and stares at her so hard, she fully expects his Caribbean blue eyes to bore holes into her flesh. “Still think your friend, the Manipulator—” He spits out the name of Dillion’s alter ego like just the sound of it leaves a vile taste in his mouth, “—has the situation under control?”

Deputy Seth Brown walks around the BMW, notepad in hand, studying the scratches.

“Somebody had a serious mad on when they did this,” he says, his nasal, northern Wisconsin accent slightly slurred as a result of the enormous wad of gum he has jammed into his mouth. Gum that he’s been chewing in a valiant effort to give up his two pack a day habit. He jots something down in his notebook and gives me the side eye. “Happen to know who’d be this mad at you?”

I gape at him. “Why do you assume that this is about me?” I point to Ryan, who’s standing a few feet away, his cell phone plastered to his ear as he and Margo arrange for a replacement rental car to be sent here. “It’s his car.”

“True enough,” Seth agrees. “And that’s exactly why I’d normally say that this was about him, but since the words are clearly meant for a woman, and you spent the night here with him in the hotel, I figure you’re the target.”

“But why?” I protest. “People like me.”

Ryan covers the mouthpiece of his cell phone with one hand. His blue eyes meet mine. “Suzie was pretty peeved at you last night.”

“Suzie Collins?” Seth scribbles a comment on his notepad. “Her wedding was here last night, wasn’t it?”

“The reception was,” I reluctantly confirm. I try to form a mental picture of Suzie walking around Ryan’s car, key in hand, and carving the filthy words into the car’s sleek paint job. “But she’s mostly bark and no bite. At best, she’d walk around the car with the keys out and scratch it, but I can’t see her putting in the effort to write actual words into it, and certainly not more than one.”

“What’s she upset about?”

“Who knows?” I try to smooth a wrinkle out of my skirt. “I helped her with her wedding, and nothing I seem to do is quite up to her standards. And last night she wasn’t happy that I decided to leave the reception early with Ryan.”

“Why’d you leave?”

I don’t respond. I just fix him with a flat stare and wait for him to put the pieces together. Given the state of my dress and the fact that Ryan and I are both standing here, it shouldn’t be too difficult.

After a few seconds, Seth clears his throat. “Oh, I see.”

He at least has the good grace to look embarrassed that he asked in the first place.

“Besides, there were a lot of people here with Suzie. Even when she left, I can’t imagine she didn’t have an entourage plus Eli with her.”

“I should probably talk to her,” Seth decides.

“She’s on her honeymoon,” I say.

“Oh.” Seth writes down another note. “Know when she’ll be back?”

“Not for three weeks. You can try calling her. She normally has her cell phone close at hand.”

Seth shakes his head. “If she’s out of the country, she won’t be doing any damage here. I’ll just make sure that I talk to her as soon as she and her husband get back. And I’ll let the insurance company know that she’s a person of interest.”

Ryan disconnects the call and drops his phone into his pocket as he walks over to us. “Did Lucy tell you about the note she found the night before last?” he asks Seth.

“What note?”

I quickly fill Seth in on the note I found in my pocket.

“Show it to him, Luce.” Ryan nudges me with his elbow.

I shoot him an exasperated glare. He’s cute and seems like a genuinely nice guy, but since he’s blown into my life, things have been intensely complicated.

“I threw it away.”

Ryan drags a hand through is hair. “Why?”

“Because I thought it was trash. I’m still not convinced it’s not.”

Seth closes his notebook and tucks it into his pocket. “I’ll do what I can for this case. The good news is that this place does have security cameras. The hotel manager is already in touch with the security company and having them send the footage over to the station. Once I get back there, I’ll review what the cameras caught last night. There’s a solid chance that once we take a look at those, we’ll find the perpetrator and the pair of you can put this entire episode behind you. In the meantime, can I offer you a lift someplace?”

Ryan nods toward the hotel’s parking lot entrance just as a sleek Mercedes pulls into the lot. “That looks like my ride right now.”

Seth turns and studies the tall, elegant blonde sitting behind the wheel and lets out a low whistle. “Wow!”

Laughing, Ryan claps a hand to his back. “If you’re interested, she’s single. I can put in a good word for you.”

“That’s real nice of you to offer.” Seth tugs at his collar and sucks in his slight beer gut. “But unfortunately, if I took you up on it, my fiancée would skin me alive...” He shoots Ryan a rueful grin.

While Seth makes one more loop around the BMW, Ryan opens the Mercedes’s passenger side door and helps me inside, before taking a seat in the back. He slides to the middle, leans over the console, and kisses Jenna’s cheek.

“Thanks for agreeing to pick us up,” he tells her.

“It’s all part of being Margo’s new assistant. This is a sight better than some of the other things she’s asked me to do. You wouldn’t believe…”

Her eyes lock onto the BMW. “Your poor car!”

“Nothing that can’t be fixed with just a little body work,” Ryan says easily as he buckles himself in.

Jenna points the car toward the exit. “Where do you want me to drop you off?”

“Lucy’s place.” Ryan rattles off the address, which he’s apparently memorized. I don’t know whether to be impressed, or alarmed.

Jenna nods and programs the address into the Mercedes’ navigation system.

“You’re Margo’s assistant?” I ask.

Jenna nods. “It’s a new career move. Until a few months ago, I was an actor and my sister was my agent.”

I knew she looked familiar. “You were in Space Spooks.” The science fiction show ran for two seasons and featured a team of human detectives sent to another planet to investigate homicides. Despite the weird premise, the show had been oddly compelling. Jenna had played a minor, recurring role.

“That was me,” she says easily. “I did that and a few movies, including a few with Ryan, though I was never quite as successful as he was. Since my acting career didn’t seem to be going anywhere, and it seemed to be having a negative impact on some aspects of my personal life, I decided that maybe I should become an agent. Margo’s teaching me the ins and outs of that side of the business. The plan is that I’ll work as her assistant for a year or two and then start taking on clients and become her partner.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” I tell her.

“Hopefully it works out the way I want.” Jenna’s eyes flick to the rearview mirror. “Ryan, before I forget – Margo said she found a reputable security firm in Green Bay and that she set things up so that Lucy will have a bodyguard watching over her twenty-four seven. The guy who’s taking the first shift should be at her place in about an hour.”

“Excellent,” Ryan says.

I have to be hearing things. “What’s that?”

“I asked Margo to set up protection for you,” Ryan explains.

“Why?”

“Because in the short time I’ve known you, you’ve received a threatening note and my car was keyed.” His voice has developed an argumentative edge that has me shrinking into myself. “Hiring a bodyguard seems like a reasonable move, don’t you think?”

I hate the idea of having somebody watching my every move. It seems so creepy, and I want to tell him so, but when I open my mouth, prepared to give him a piece of my mind, the image of Lance’s body, broken and bloody, flashes through my mind and I shut down.

As I turn to stare out the windshield, I can’t shake the idea that Ryan deliberately used my abhorrence of confrontations in order to get his way.