Page 30 of The Familiar Stranger

“We won’t,” Maddie assured her. “We just need some time to think,” then to Mike, she added, “Can you keep this under wraps for another couple of hours at least?”

He nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

“Andi, you stay right here with your dad,” I said. “No arguments. If you’re where we can’t reach you, it’ll cause worry for all of us. I promise we’re not going to leave you out.”

I was surprised when she ran over and threw her arms around the two of us. “Y’all helped me and my friends when there seemed to be no hope. I’ll do whatever you say.”

We hustled to my car. “To the Marshall House,” I said. “We figured out one mystery while staying there. Time for another.”

Maddie slid behind the wheel. “On it.”

We were there in no time, at the same hotel we’d stayed during our first visit to Savannah, when Andi had been kidnapped. We even got our old room when we checked in, which was unexpected. Talk about serendipity. To be back at the place it had all started.

As we lugged our bags through the door, Maddie shot me a wink. “That’s the universe working for you.”

She’d read my mind.

Now I needed the universe to lead me to the person wreaking havoc on my mind, body, and soul.

CHAPTER23

I got bored tossing and turning that night, watching the clock until it was time for the atrium to open for breakfast. I nudged Maddie awake, and we plodded downstairs for coffee, juice, and a hearty meal. I knew it would be a busy day, and I wasn’t sure when we’d have time to eat again.

The first thing I did when we stepped back into the room was to call Henry.

When he answered, I said, “Henry, how are you?”

My old New Oreleans buddy and I took a handful of seconds for greetings before I asked him about the status of his girlfriend’s case.

“It’s the craziest thing, Sloane, I tell ya. They would still be focusing on a robbery gone wrong, except for … uh, hang on.”

And then he put me on hold.

I tried not to dwell on the knife to the throat Kim had received, a horrible personal assault, similar to what had happened with Grady, only he’d been repeatedly stabbed in the chest.

But then we had Harmony, alive and well, other than suffering a heavy blow to the head—nothing to sneeze at, to be sure. She’d experienced a concussion from the attack, along with some minor cuts and bruises … and no doubt some mental battles to work through as well.

While I waited for Henry to come back on the line, I signaled to Maddie, who was rummaging through her suitcase.

“What’s up?” she asked.

I covered my phone with my hand. “Hey, we should give Almond a call to check on her and Harmony. I want to make sure they haven’t had any other problems or found out anything new about Harmony’s attack. If they ask about any new developments on our end, I say we don’t mention anything. For now.”

Maddie gave me a thumbs-up. “I gotcha covered.”

She swooped her phone off the bed, where it lay next to her purse, and walked toward the other side of the room.

Henry came back on the line. “Cripes, sorry. That was funeral home. Seems there’s another delay of some sort. I’ll have to go over there. Sloane, I sure do wish you were here.”

“I do too, my friend. I do too. Won’t be long, but we’re in Savannah right now.”

“Savannah? Weren’t you going to the mountains?”

“And we did, yes. But—” I debated about how much I wanted to say. “There’s been a bit of a family emergency, and we were waylaid.”

“Hmm-hm. Everything going to be okay?”

He was testing me.

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