As he started to get up, she said, “I’ll grab an Uber to my parents’ so I can pick up my dad’s car for him.”
“Keep me posted,” Stryker said.
As the driver headed to her parents’ house, Providence called her sister, but the call rolled to voicemail, so she sent a text. “Mom had seizure. In Reston hospital. Call me ASAP.”
She jumped out of the car, ran up the driveway, plugged in the garage door code, and hurried inside. The house was quiet. Her dad’s glasses weren’t on the kitchen table or in the family room. As she bolted upstairs toward the master bedroom, she heard an alarm clock beeping.Who sets an alarm for five in the afternoon?
The annoying sound was coming from the guest room, where Randy and Lizzie slept. Providence knocked, then stuck her head inside. “Hello, anyone here?”
Neither Randy nor Lizzie were there, so she turned off the alarm. The night table drawer was open and several small, brightly colored, bear-shaped containers caught her eye.
Curious, she pulled one out. It was a gummy bear vial of liquid nicotine marked “extra strong”.What the hell?She thought back to the family brunch when Lizzie had said vaping made Randy sick to his stomach. And the gift basket delivered to Dakota’s office.
Her heart picked up speed. She snapped a pic of the inside of the drawer, then dropped the vial into her handbag. As she turned to leave, she glanced inside their walk-in closet. A bath towel hung on the open door and a mask dangled from the inside doorknob.
It looked like the one the man had worn at the realtor event, the same one she’d just seen in the video with Kirsten.It can’t be.
But in her gut, she knew.
Fear hammered through her. Her mom and dad were living with cold-blooded killers.
She didn’t have to look far to find the second mask. It was on the closet shelf. After snapping more pictures, she strode into her dad’s home office. His reading glasses weren’t there, but she rummaged through his desk drawer for his boating paperwork. When she found the sailboat registration number, she groaned. Though she didn’t have confirmation, she felt confident she’d found the boat used to transport Matt’s body.
Hurrying into her parents’ bedroom, she found her dad’s glasses on the floor. Adrenaline pumped through her on her way downstairs. Just as she grabbed his car keys, the door from the garage flew open.
Randy startled when he saw her. Then, a twisted smile filled his face. “Hey, sis! I just had a fantastic showing. The house practically—”
“Mom was rushed to the ER.” She pushed past him and ran to her dad’s car. On the way to the hospital, she made a call.
“Detective Beeker, it’s Providence Reynolds. We need to talk.”
* * *
Leaning back in the executive chair in his office, Stryker chuffed out a laugh. “For a man who’s got some serious shit goin’ down, you seem—I dunno—happy.”
Dakota shifted on the sofa. “Happy? Hell, no, but I am crazy in love with your cousin.”
“I can’t believe it. She’s been in my life forever. This love affair could have started years ago, man.”
“It’s happening now and I’m good with that.”
Knock-knock.
“Yup,” Stryker said.
Kirsten opened the door and glanced from one man to the other. Though her smile faltered and her spine stiffened, she stepped in. When she started to close the door, Stryker said, “Leave it open.”
She sat in the guest chair.
“Tell me about the man you sold the hemp rope to,” Stryker said.
Kirsten swallowed. “I…um…I don’t know what you’re talking about. What rope?”
Stryker spun the computer screen around. “That’s you. That’s my rope. That’s some guy buying my rope, but he’s giving you the money. Your turn.”
Her cheeks flushed with color and she squirmed. “He flagged me down in the parking lot one afternoon. He told me the place he buys rope was out of stock and offered me a hundred bucks for some bundles.”
“What was his name?” Dakota asked.
