want from you?”
She blew out a shaky breath that rattled her frame. They’d broken into her apartment and ranch house. They’d tried to run her off the road. They’d abducted her brother. She wanted to know why. Even though she already knew why.
She pressed the redial button and hunched her shoulders while it rang. Once. Twice.
“Yes?”
The voice had a slight accent—a normal voice. He didn’t sound like Darth Vader at all.
J.D. reached over and pressed the speaker button on the side of the phone.
Noelle squeezed her eyes shut and mastered her shallow breath before speaking. “I got your message. What do you want from me? What do you want from my brother? Where is he? Why are you harassing us?”
The man clicked his tongue. “So many questions. We just want to talk, Noelle.”
Her name on his lips caused the knots to tighten in her belly. “You have a funny way of initiating a conversation. Why did you break into my apartment in D.C.? It was you, wasn’t it?”
“We were looking for something.”
“No kidding. You trashed my place. Is my brother okay? Can I talk to him?”
“Perhaps. Are the police listening in on this conversation?”
Her gaze shifted to J.D., and he shook his head.
“No. I’m alone.”
“That...ranch hand is not with you?”
Again, J.D. shook his head.
“He’s in the guesthouse.”
“Who is he?”
“My employee and an old friend, and I don’t think he’s going to stick around much longer, thanks to you. His truck was totaled when you forced us off the road. Why did you do that?”
“I told you, Noelle. We just want to talk to you.”
“Well, you’re talking to me now. Did you have something to do with my husband’s murder? If so, you have to know that I can’t identify you. I couldn’t give the police anything.”
“This has nothing to do with your husband. We want to ask you a few questions about your roommate, Abby Warren.”
“Abby?” Her voice squeaked, and J.D. flashed her a thumbs-up.
“Yes.”
“Ask away. The police told me she had some...uh...personal issues. I don’t know anything more than that.”
“Our questioning cannot be done over the telephone. We’d like to meet with you in person.”
“Are you kidding? You tried to kill me last night. Why would I want to meet you in person?”
“We had no intention of killing you, Noelle.”
“You could’ve fooled me. Now I want to talk to my brother. And how do I know you even have him? I have no way of contacting him to find out if it’s true or not.”
“We’ll send you a picture of him. And know this, Noelle. If you don’t agree to meet with us in person, alone, the consequences could be very grave for your brother.”
“Just ask me your damned questions. If you’re trying to get some dirt on Abby, I’ll tell you everything I know about her situation...over the phone.”
“We’ll be in touch to set up a meeting.” The phone went dead, and Noelle dropped it into her lap.
“You did great.” J.D.’s fingers skimmed her cheek.
“Not great enough that he believed me. He still must think I know something. Is that why he’s insisting we meet face-to-face?”
“That—and other reasons.”
She fisted her hands so that her nails dug into the flesh of her palms. “Will they try to torture the truth out of me?”
“They might shoot you up with truth serum.”
“Maybe that’s the way to go.” She pressed her fists against her stomach. “Let them give me truth serum. I know nothing about those plans.”
“But you do. You know they exist, which is another reason why I wanted to keep you in the dark.”
“And once they find out I know about the anti-drone plans, even if I don’t know their whereabouts, they’ll kill me.” She grabbed his arm. “Won’t they?”
“Noelle.”
She flung his arm away from her and jumped from the love seat. Order. She needed order.
She marched to the bookcase and inspected the row of old hardback books from her parents’ collection. The titles faced every which way. Some of the books were upside down. Some of the spines were turned inward.
“Noelle, are you okay?”
J.D.’s voice sounded distant, an echo from a million miles away.
She pulled the first book out and put it in the same direction as the next two. She snatched the fourth book and turned it around.
“Noelle?”
J.D.’s warm breath tickled the back of her neck, but the disordered books called to her, demanded her full attention.
The fifth book. The sixth book. Get in line. Face the same direction. Her mind gave the commands and her motions followed