Of course, I had to go to the clubhouse and temporarily ruin it. Even with all of us digging into these cases now, we’re not finding anything new and I'm beginning to echo Streak’s sentiment when we found the photos on the wall.
This guy is good.
But after the craziness, whoever is doing this has only made the club’s bond stronger. Where we were bickering and arguing before, we are united and ready to face down whoever this is. We won't let him win and while we can't find any evidence to go on, we have come up with a plan of attack for the next time this guy strikes and each of our women are thoroughly protected. Blaze tasked Storm and Chance with calling all of the women we’ve helped in the past three years also to warn them of the threat and remind them that they could reach out to us at anytime so hopefully, we won’t have a new death to look into anytime soon. But it feels naive to have so much hope when we have nothing to go on.
Walking back out to the dining room, I sigh and take a sip of my beer before setting it down on the table. I turn to sit down but before I can, the phone rings on the wall behind me. I turn and pick it up.
“Hello?”
“Hi. This is Diane at the Hyatt Regency Lake Washington. I’m looking for Piper Landry.”
I scowl as I turn around. “I’m sorry. Where?”
“The Hyatt Regency in Seattle, sir. May I speak to Miss Landry, please?”
Why in the hell would a hotel in Seattle be calling Piper?
“She’s not here right now but this is her husband. Can I help you?”
“Oh, yes! We received your reservation this morning but there was a problem with the credit card your wife provided so we just need an updated payment method.”
“What?” I ask, my thoughts screeching to a halt as I run my fingers through my hair. “What reservation?”
“Um… it says here that you will be getting in tomorrow night and staying for six days… oh, wait… I guess it is just your wife on the reservation… were you planning on joining her? I can add your name here in the system.”
I shake my head and stumble to the table before sinking into a chair. My chest feels tight as I run my hand through my hair again. “And you said that reservation was made this morning?”
“Yes, sir.”
My knee bounces. “What time?”
“Um… looks like ten-twenty-six a.m.”
No.
No.
No.
This can’t be right…
That was just after I dropped Piper off at work for her first session so why would she be making hotel reservations? And why all the way in Seattle? Everyone we know is here in Baton Rouge and if we’re taking some kind of vacation, I have other places at the top of my list. I release a heavy sigh and drop my face into my hand as I shake my head, trying to make sense of all this. My heart feels like it’s going to explode and I can’t stop my damn leg from shaking.
What is happening?
Why the hell would Piper be going to Seattle?
“Sir?” the woman says on the other end of the phone and I glance up like I can somehow find the answers I need somewhere in this house. My gaze lands on our wedding picture and I shake my head again like I can somehow shake some damn answers into my head. Piper just put that photo up on the wall the other day along with a bunch of others. She said it made our house a real home.
“Yeah.”
“Do you have another credit card you would like to use or is there a better number I could reach your wife on?”
I shake my head. “No. Just cancel it.”
“Cancel the reservation?” she asks like I’m speaking fucking French over here and I nod, my heart hammering so hard, it’s a wonder one of my ribs hasn’t cracked.
“Yes. Cancel the reservation.”
Silence greets me for a moment. “Are you sure? We only have a couple of rooms left and if I cancel this now, I’m not sure you’ll be able to make another reservation.”
“Just cancel it!” I yell, my stomach twisting as the possibilities start ticking through my mind.
Is Piper leaving me?
Did I scare her last night?
Push her too far by asking her to renew our vows?
Is the fear getting to her?
Making her see things again?
She seemed so happy all day yesterday and in the truck, cuddled up by my side this morning but maybe once she got to work, the panic started to set in and she felt like she needed to run. Maybe she is slipping away from me. The time in my life that I spent without Piper flickers through my brain and I shudder as the memory of that hollow ache in my chest haunts me. My mind drifts to that little fucker James and the shit he said the other night as I hear the woman on the other end of the line start typing.
I’ll only stay away if Piper wants me to…
Is she with him? Has this all just been one big joke since the start?
I shake my head again.
No.
There is no way she is with that little piece of shit.
Right?
“No,” I whisper, pulling the phone away from my ear as I shake my head and try to reassure myself that Piper wouldn’t do this to me. “No, no, no. She wouldn’t…”
She just told me yesterday that she would never cheat on me. Could she really lie right to my face? Is she so cold that she would string me along and agree to marry me again when all along she was planning to run away with her ex?
I press the phone to my ear again as my stomach flips.
“Okay, sir. The reservation has been canceled,” Diane says, her tone guarded. It is fucking rude but I don’t even care. Doesn’t she realize that my whole life is falling apart right now?
“Thanks.”
I hang up without waiting for her reply and toss the phone across the table before dropping my head into my hands as my vision blurs.
Fuck.
What the hell is going on? I go over the last two days in excruciating detail, looking for any sign that Piper was freaking out about anything but nothing stands out. Have I been so lost in my own shit that I just missed it? Is she fed up with me and thought it would be easier to run than confront me? God, I wouldn’t fucking blame her with all this drama in our lives right now. What kind of crazy person would hang around with such a blatant threat to their lives?
Shoving the chair back, I stand up and stare into the living room, looking for a clue but there is nothing. It’s the same as when we left yesterday. Running my hand through my hair, I turn and march down the hallway to our bedroom before staring at the space but everything looks exactly the same as it did the last time I was in here two days ago. I turn back to the wall and place both of my hands on it before squeezing my eyes shut and blowing out a breath.
You know what…
It doesn't matter why Piper is running. I made her a promise last night and there is no way in hell I’m going to let her walk away from me again. Over my dead fucking body. She is my wife and I refuse to live another second of my life without her in it. Done it before and I’ll be damned if I let it happen again. Grabbing my phone out of my pocket, I pull up the GPS and release a sigh when it blinks, showing her location at the studio. With renewed determination, I walk back out to the dining room and grab my keys off of the table as I stare at the screen.
“Go ahead and run, baby,” I whisper as I walk out to my truck, my mission clear to me and a wave of calm washes over me. “I’ll be right behind you.”