If We Never Met (Whisper Lake #5) - Barbara Freethy Page 0,93

in a number. "It's going to voicemail," she said a moment later. "Mr. Langley, this is Lizzie Cole. There's been an incident at the inn with your room. Please call me as soon as you can. It's urgent."

As she finished her message, he walked around, careful not to disturb anything. The woman hadn't just used a knife or scissors on the recliner; she'd cut up Mark's clothes and slashed the sheets and pillows. There was a personal vindictiveness to everything he saw, a burning hatred, and it was very unsettling.

"I should have stopped her," he muttered. "I didn't know what she'd done."

"How could you know? And why would you stop her? She could have just been visiting Mark."

"Mark's car was scratched yesterday. He said it was probably kids, but I think it was her. I know they had an argument several days ago."

"What about?"

"No idea."

"Keira has been suspicious about him from the beginning. I thought she was being overprotective of her mom. She's been taking care of her for so long, she worries about everything, but her instinct might have been right."

"I think it was." He needed to give Keira a heads-up about what had happened here. But before he could pull out his phone, Adam arrived.

Since both he and Lizzie had seen the red-haired woman, they came up with a good description between them. When he was done answering Adam's questions, he headed downstairs, jumped into his car, and went looking for Keira. He wasn't going to leave yet another text message or voicemail. He was going to find her and talk to her.

Her car wasn't at her shop, and there were no lights on in the building, so he went to her house. Adam would probably be close behind him, just in case Langley was with Ruth Blake, but he didn't want to waste another minute before he filled Keira in. He couldn't help thinking that he now had a very good reason for getting in touch with her. Unfortunately, he was bringing nothing but more bad news.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Keira sighed when she opened the door to find Dante on the porch. She'd just gotten home and had hoped not to have a conversation with him tonight. "I know I owe you a text. It's been really busy. I'm not ignoring you."

"Yes, you are," he said bluntly. "And you do owe me a text, but that's not why I'm here."

She looked at him in surprise. "Why are you here then?"

"Mark's room was vandalized at the inn. It was completely trashed, with threatening words written on the wall: YOU WILL PAY. Mark's clothes were shredded. It's bad, Keira."

Her eyes widened, her stomach churning at his words. "That's crazy. You think it was Mandy?"

"I know it was. I saw her leave his room. Where's your mom?"

"She's not here. She left me a text saying she and Mark went for a drive."

"You should call her, ask her to come home now, but don't tell her why."

She frowned and waved him into the house. Then she walked over to the table in the entry to get her phone. "I don't know that she'll come home if I don't say why."

"You can't tip her off."

"Why not?"

"Because we don't know what's happening, and if she's with Mark, it would just be better if he didn't know what was going on until the police are talking to him."

"The police are involved?"

"Yes. Lizzie called Adam. She also called Mark, but he didn't answer. I know Adam is going to look for Mark, but if your mother is with him, and you can get him to bring her home, then we can get her here before we get into anything else."

"You're scaring me a little."

"Sorry. I don't think your mom is in danger. The crazy woman is clearly after Mark."

"And we need to know why," she said with new determination in her voice. She called her mom. For a moment, she thought it was going to voicemail, but then her mom's voice came across the line.

"Hi, Keira. What's up?" her mom asked, a light note in her voice. Nothing sounded wrong. That was a good sign.

"I was wondering if you're almost home. I really need to talk to you."

"Is something wrong?"

"Not wrong, just concerning. I know you're out with Mark, but I have to speak to you. It's important."

"What's this about, honey?"

She searched wildly for a reason that might make sense. As her gaze lit on Dante's attractive face, she had her answer. "It's about Dante. He's leaving