Page 45 of The Familiar Stranger

“We won’t do anything crazy,” I said.

Maddie shot me an exaggerated wide-eyed look and mouthed,We won’t?

I nudged her arm, and she shook her head at me, covering her mouth with her hand to stop herself from laughing.

Cade mumbled a few words under his breath, then said, “All right, then. I’ll meet you back at the condo. Just keep in touch with me a lot more than you’re doin’ now and let me know you’re ETA as soon as you figure it out.”

“I will,” I said, vowing to be better about keeping him informed as to myshenanigans, as he would say.

I took the phone off speaker and asked him about his trip. He told me all about it—not just the food, accommodations, and breathtaking scenery, but also some of the nutty antics between him and the boys. We ended the call laughing, which was just how I needed it to be.

But as soon as the call was over, doubt seeped in as I thought about his slashed tires.

I wondered if there was a note.

I should have thought to ask.

Cade might not have even seen it yet or there might not be one at all, but I needed to know.

I shot him a quick text:Curious, did the tire slasher leave a note or anything?

While I waited for him to respond, Maddie said, “Everything okay? You got quiet, and you have that look on your face, the one you get when you’re about to wig out.”

Sometimes I would swear Maddie had a direct connection to the inside of my head. I took a deep breath in. As I released it, I showed her my text.

“Oh,” she said. “But that would make no sense. The guy’s here, not all the way up there.”

“True,” I said with a shrug. “But weirder things have happened.”

My phone buzzed with Cade’s response:Sure was a note. Tucked up under the windshield wiper.

“No way,” Maddie said.

I resisted the urge to send a flurry of texts and instead sent just one:What did it say?

Everything in me wanted to call him, except I knew my tone would give away all the calm coolness I’d displayed on our previous call.

Cade wrote:Guess I parked in someone’s spot, and the guy got fired up over it.

Slashing someone’s tires over a parking spot seemed a little over the top, but there was a nutjob at every corner. The good news was it didn’t sound like “our guy” had left the message.

But I had to make sure.

Send me a picture of the note.

By some miracle, he didn’t question my request and sent me a shot. A full sheet of wide-ruled notebook paper, chicken-scratch handwriting in pencil that said:Hope the message is clear, douchebag. Stay out of my space.

“Okay, so what happened to Cade is unrelated to what’s happening here,” I said, showing the image to Maddie. “Let’s get some rest. My heart has been through enough for one day.”

I set the phone on the nightstand and turned out the light, falling asleep to the rhythm of Maddie’s soft snores.

At about one in the morning, my phone rang again.

This time, it was Andi’s father.

CHAPTER31

“Sloane, I’m sorry to?—”

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