"How's she doing?" Maverick asked as soon as he answered the phone. We were all worried about Valerie and how she was handling everything.
"It's hard to say. Either way, she wants Vanessa to come out of this as the good guy, and I'm not sure if that's going to be the case or not."
I hated to say that, but it didn't look good based on the evidence we had. It didn't matter what I or Valerie wanted. It all came down to facts.
"We don't know if the dead rats were meant for her or sent by her. Or for all we know, it might not have anything to do with her at all."
Nearly a month ago, two dead rats had been delivered to our place of business by mistake but were actually meant for Sophisticated Sheen. Valerie swears she has no enemies, andI'm likely to believe her based on the fact that everyone in town speaks highly of her.
It was around the time that Vanessa disappeared and started to act weird we all started to think maybe it had something to do with her. Even Valerie had asked me to look deeper into Vanessa, but now it would appear she was changing her tune.
"Something is definitely going on with her. No one goes into hiding for three weeks without some kind of reason, and from what Valerie had said, Vanessa had begged her to just let things go."
Maverick sighed. "I know. I just hate blaming someone before we know all the facts, and it's not like you found anything when you did a deep search."
Nope. Vanessa's record was squeaky clean, but her sister's wasn't, so maybe she was doing things to protect her.
"I'm headed over there now. I'm guessing it's bound to be another long night of sitting there doing nothing."
"Let me know if you need me to take over at some point? You've been running on fumes, and that can't be good for you. I need you in tip-top shape."
I was running on fumes. I hadn't had a decent night’s sleep in weeks, and some days I was ready to fall on my face, but there was something about Vanessa that kept me going. I wanted to be the one to figure her out. No one else.
It's because you find her attractive.
I pushed the nagging thought out of my head. It was absolutely not because I found Vanessa attractive.
"I'll keep that in mind," I told Maverick, who merely laughed.
"No, you won't, but thanks for trying to humor me." Maverick ended the call with that.
I drove over to Vanessa's and prepared for what was likely to be another boring night of surveillance.
Little did I know that sometime after midnight I would watch as Vanessa snuck out of her house.
CHAPTER TWO
Vanessa
I glanced out the window for what felt like the tenth time in the past hour and found the same car sitting by the curb. I wasn't sure who exactly was sitting in it this time, but I had a feeling I knew where they worked.
Willow Creek Security.
Those men didn't give up, despite me ignoring the calls from my previous employer and the insistent knocking at my door.
Yes, I was well aware how bad that sounded, and a normal person probably would've requested a restraining order at this point, but I knew they just cared about me.
Too bad their caring was interfering with my life and the things I was forced to do.
With a heavy sigh, I looked at the clock on the microwave and realized if I had any hope of making the meeting on time, I needed to get going. I would just have to sneak out and pray that whoever was in the car wouldn't notice me.
Heading to my bedroom, I slipped on some dark clothing. It was ridiculous to think I would be sneaking out of my own home,but what choice did I have? I couldn't miss this meeting. It was too important.
I turned off the lights and hoped whoever was outside would think I was going to bed.
When it was clear that if I didn't leave I would never make it on time, I slipped out the back door and made my way through the yard until I hit the alley. Checking to make sure no one was paying attention to me, I made my way back toward the front of the house like a thief in the night.
Fortunately the way I needed to go was the opposite of where the car was parked, so with one last look to make sure I hadn't alerted whoever was watching me of my presence, I slipped into the darkness.
