Page 114 of Whispers and Wildfire

“No, it’s fine. I don’t mind.” Melanie’s voice changed, her tone low and sultry. “Foolish princess. You think you can defy me?” She held up a fist. “I am queen of these lands, and you will learn your place or face my wrath.”

“That was so good,” Harper exclaimed. “Oh my gosh, I have tingles.”

“She’s a lot of fun to portray,” she said, returning to her natural tone. “Especially when she’s threatening to destroy people. And no, we haven’t started recording yet. I’m hoping they’ll send the script soon, though.”

I gazed at her, a little bit in awe.

“What?” she asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I basically had a crush on your character and didn’t know it was you.”

“You did not.”

“I did. She’s an evil queen, but she’s hot.”

She laughed. “I don’t know what that says about you, but okay.”

I smiled and leaned in for a quick kiss.

Garrett took his phone out of his pocket, and his brow furrowed. “Sorry, love. I should take this.”

“That’s okay,” Harper said. “Go ahead.”

Garrett got up and stepped outside to take his call.

I put my arm around Melanie again and took a drink of my beer. No wonder that voice had captivated me. It had been her.

Granted, if I’d known at the time, I would have found areason to hate it. But it said something that her voice—even in character—had penetrated my defenses.

A few minutes later, Garrett came back and took his seat next to Harper.

“Is everything okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, just a buddy of mine from the Echo Creek PD.”

“You’re not working another cold case, are you?” I asked.

“No, but we’ve got two cases of women being abducted. One was down in Echo Creek, the other here. We’ve been pooling our resources since the details match. It’s gotta be the same guy.”

“Abducted?” Melanie asked. “What happened? Were they found?”

“Both found after a few days,” Garrett said. “But neither were in great shape. They’d been assaulted pretty brutally. And that’s after being drugged and coming to, chained to a wall.”

“What the fuck?” I asked. “Chained to a wall?”

“Sugar cookies,” Harper breathed, like it was a curse word. “You didn’t tell me they’d been chained up.”

Garrett nodded. “It’s kind of perplexing, to be honest. No evidence of sexual assault. Which is good, obviously, but odd. Usually when a guy shoves a woman in the trunk of his car, that’s what he’s planning.”

Melanie stiffened in her seat.

“So what’s this guy doing?” I asked. “Abducting women just to chain them up?”

“We don’t know. We don’t know why he’s assaulting them but leaving them alive, or why he’s letting them go. It’s not a typical pattern.”

“That’s so awful,” Harper said. “Do you know where the Tilikum victim is now?”

Garrett’s mouth lifted in a slight grin. “You want to send her cookies, don’t you?”

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