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“We confessed to loving one another, and having never stopped,” I told her as I nuzzled her neck. She shivered slightly, but pushed at me with her dainty hands.
“I meant about George. We—”
“I’m going to make some calls this morning. I really do think you’re making too much out of this. Isn’t it possible that—”
“No, you don’t know this man like I do. He stole my inheritance and killed your parents to hide that truth. There’s so much he’s capable of.” She seemed so vehement about it, and I thought back to the warnings she had tried to give me since she’d arrived in Chicago. She’d let me disrespect her, yet still stayed to try to get me to listen to her. “You have to believe me.”
“I do believe you,” I finally admitted, then scrubbed my hand down my face. “I need to shower, then we can discuss next steps.”
I untangled myself from the sheets and got out of bed. I was only partially disappointed when she didn’t join me in the shower, but it was probably for the best that she didn’t.
What I had once thought had been a lie to get close to me for some ulterior purpose was actually her fear. She was terrified of her uncle, and scared of what he might do to me. We hadn’t even talked in over nine years, but she’d still risked her life to warn me. If that wasn’t love, I didn’t know what was.
As I stood under the scalding spray, I kept thinking about that and realized my blatant disregard for those fears of hers weren’t love. Even if I thought she was over-exaggerating, I owed it to her to at least check in to her claims. If they proved to be unfounded, I could give her some peace of mind.
“I came here to warn you that your life is in danger. I should’ve left well enough alone and just let you fucking die.” Her words from that night echoed in my head. They seemed to follow me, and if they were right, they’d one day be etched onto my headstone.
I pushed them back into my mind and began to think of how to uncover the truth. I dried off and dressed up, then I grabbed my cellphone off the dresser and placed a call. When the male voice on the other end answered.
“Hey, Cliff. Remember when you called to tell me that you’d cleaned out my father’s desk and collected all of his personal belongings. I know it’s been a few months, but would you still happen to have those?”
I made plans to meet up with him in a few days, thankful it was the weekend so I could take a few extra days off of work and wouldn’t have to bother with having any meetings rescheduled.
I left my room and was surprised to find that Harper had already showered herself, and she was in some of the same clothes she’d been in when Jayson attacked her. There was blood and dirt caked on the pants, and thankfully she had opted to keep one of my T-shirts instead of the torn and bloodied one I’d found her in.
“Why are you looking at me like that?’ she finally asked.
I cleared my throat before responding. “I’ve reached out to Cliff, a friend of my father, and the one who has all of his personal effects from Washington, D.C.”
“He still has them?” she asked, and I nodded.
“He does, and I told him we’ll be there on Saturday to pick them up.”
“Thank God. Whatever your father knew has to be included in that stuff. It has to be what Jayson claimed you have. We find it, then George and Jayson go down.”
“I hope so,” I admitted truthfully, then walked over to where she stood in front of the window. I wrapped my arms around her, then nuzzled her neck. “I just don’t want you to be disappointed if we find nothing more than a few photographs, baseball cards, and crabbing memorabilia.”
“I promise, but also know that I’ll resist the urge to tell you that I told you so when I do find something. There has to be something there. If not...” Her voice trailed off, then she turned. “I need to go back to my hotel to get my laptop.”
“Do you have some clothes there, too?”
“No, I can stop by a department store and find something. I—”
“Leave it all to me,” I told her, knowing exactly who could help us. “I’ll get the flights booked.”
“No,” she suddenly told me, and I furrowed my brow.
“You don’t expect us to drive, do you?” The blizzard that had passed through here had traveled across the country, leaving many areas under snow. Hell, we were still under winter weather advisories ourselves, so a long grueling car ride wasn’t what I wanted to do.
“We can’t drive, either. They could’ve tampered with your cars—”
“My cars are in a private garage only accessible to me. I can assure you—”
“No cars or planes,” she told me, and I remembered her stubborn nature. It hadn’t lessened over time and had only gotten stronger.
“What do you suggest then? A train ride?”
“Yes,” she told me, and I let out a growl.
