“Malice?”
“Also known as Harper—a bigger pain in the ass than you. When you talk to your sister, you might want to ask her what happened to Otto Radley.” Her jaw tightened. “Get out. Now!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Sawyer’s hands shook as she unlatched the lock from Lena’s apartment door, hoping, praying she wouldn’t feel the pain of a steel blade slicing through flesh and muscle before she could escape. Relief flooded through her as she pushed the door open and ran outside. She didn’t scream for help or even think about calling the police. There was only one thought in her mind.
Harper.
What had her sister gotten herself into?
Her legs wobbled as she made her way down endless stairs. She held on to the railing for support and then ran for her car, jumped inside, and started the engine. Her hands trembled as she tightened her grip around the steering wheel and drove away. Her thoughts were a jumble, circling around in her head, knocking into other thoughts and making it impossible to think clearly.
Her head throbbed. Her heart pounded against her ribs.
I told your sister I was going to kill you if you showed up, and I meant it. If you want answers, talk to Malice.
Malice?
Also known as Harper. When you talk to your sister, you might want to ask her what happened to Otto Radley.
Nothing Lena Harris had said made any sense.
Harper had been acting strange for a while now. It was time for the two of them to have a chat.
It wasn’t long before Sawyer pulled up in front of Harper’s house. She shut off the car, then jumped out and headed for the door. She’d always knocked before, but not today. She needed answers.
When she opened the door, she found herself face to face with Nate.
“Sawyer,” he said, surprised. “What happened to you?”
If she looked anything like she felt, it had to be pretty bad. “It’s a long story,” she told him. “What are you doing home in the middle of the day?”
“Got off early.” He grimaced. “Is that blood? Come inside. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Once she was inside, he examined her closer. “You’ve been banged up good.” He shut the door and led her into the bathroom down the hall, grabbed a couple of clean washrags, and handed them to her. “Here. Clean that blood off so we can see how bad those wounds are. I’ll grab some ointment and bandages.”
By the time Nate returned, she had found seven cuts, some deeper than others. Some of the cuts on her face and arms were from the glass vase after it broke. She had multiple bruises all over her body from falling and thrashing around on the ground. Four claw marks traveling from her face to her collarbone were from Lena’s fingernails.
Nate took a closer look at the cut on her arm. “It’s deep, but I think a couple of those Steri-Strips will do the trick. Unless you’d rather I take you to the hospital?”
“No. I’m good. Is Harper home?”
He shook his head. “Fix yourself up, then we’ll talk. I’ll be in the kitchen when you’re done.”
It didn’t take her long to clean up. Nate was where he said he’d be. “Do you know where Harper is?”
“No idea. Your guess is as good as mine.”
He had bread, lunch meats, pickles, and mustard lined up on the island.
“Hungry?” Nate asked.
“No, thanks.”
As he made a sandwich for himself, he used his chin to gesture her way. “So what happened to you? Or would you rather keep it to yourself like your sister tends to do?”
Sawyer understood his frustration. He wasn’t the only one tired of Harper’s secretive ways. Bruised, battered, and pissed off, Sawyer was way past the stage of keeping secrets. If Harper was in any way involved with Lena Harris, then Nate needed to know about it because as far as Sawyer was concerned, his entire family could be in danger.
And yet she hadn’t called the police because something told her that her sister might be in more trouble than danger.
Slipping onto a stool overlooking the island where Nate worked, Sawyer started talking. She told him all about the Kia Soul that had been following her, how she’d tracked the car down, and how the driver had turned out to be a dark-haired, petite female. “Harmless, right?” she asked Nate. “Wrong. When I asked her why she was following me, she invited me into her apartment, then shut the door and lunged, said she wanted to kill me.”
Nate stopped what he was doing. “What the hell?”
“She was terrifying. I thought I was going to die right there in her apartment.”
Nate grabbed a towel, wiped his hands, and pulled out his phone. “Did you call the police yet?”
She shook her head. “We can’t call the police.”
“Why not?”
“Because the woman told me to talk to Harper if I wanted answers.”
Nate exhaled and simultaneously raked his fingers through his hair. He came around the counter and took a seat on the stool next to Sawyer. “Listen,” he said. “I don’t know what Harper is up to, but I know it can’t be good. On Sunday, somewhere around two in the morning, Harper got out of bed. Quiet as a mouse, she walked through the house, gathering her purse and the keys to her car. What she doesn’t know is that I followed her.”
Sawyer said nothing. Just listened.
“There weren’t too many cars on the road, so I had to stay far enough back not to be seen. She drove all the way to Power Inn Road and took a dirt driveway up to an abandoned warehouse. The only reason I know that much is because I returned the next day. The place was empty. I didn’t stay long.” He shook his head. “Why would she go to an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the night?”
“I don’t know,” Sawyer said.
“Every time I ask her what’s going on, she tells me more lies.”
“Like what?”
“Weeks ago, she told me she was writing a book and meeting with other aspiring authors to exchange pages. There is no book,” he said. “She told me she was taking classes at Sac State. I went to the main office at the university and discovered she had never registered. They had no record of any Harper Pohler or Harper Brooks.” He exhaled. “Whenever she’s on her computer, she shuts it down if I walk into the room.” He drew in an unsteady breath. “I was the last one to find out she was pregnant.”
Sawyer thought about Lena Harris and what she’d said about asking Harper about Otto Radley. She wasn’t sure why she kept that part to herself, but she did. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, me too. When Harper returned from her middle-of-the-night outing, I was standing right over there, waiting.” He pointed.
“What did she say?”
“Her lips were sealed. She wouldn’t tell me anything. I told her she had one week, and if she didn’t talk to me by then, tell me everything that was going on, then I was filing for divorce.”
Sawyer’s heart sank. “She loves you. This family means everything to her.” She had to find a way to help her. Harper had always been the most caring, loving person. She was a good mother and a good wife. Her sister had to have gotten involved in something dark, something so horribly bad that she just couldn’t seem to find a way out. Sawyer needed to go to the warehouse, their only clue.