Page 83 of Rules

She pointed toward my office. "On your desk."

Through the glass door, I could see an elaborate arrangement of deep red roses in a black ceramic vase. The contrast against my otherwise clean utilitarian desk was jarring.

"What are those?" I asked. "Who are they from?"

"I don't know, I could be wrong, but I believe they're called flowers." Holly answered. "Ruth delivered them, she said it was an odd order. They were insistent on wanting exactly eleven roses. Not a dozen. Just eleven." Holly continued, "There's a card."

I pushed open my office door, moving cautiously toward the arrangement as if it might explode. The roses were perfect, deep crimson, fully bloomed, their scent filling the room. I hesitated before reaching for the small black envelope sticking out of the arrangement. Inside was a card made of heavy stock, and written in elegant silver script:

I know you missed me.

I stared at the handwriting, the precise curves of each letter, the informality of the message.

"Holly," I called. She appeared in the doorway and I handed her the card. "Any idea who would have sent these?"

"Well, isn't that an odd thing to say."

"I have no idea who I should be missing." I walked around the arrangement. "And why eleven roses?"

"Maybe you know exactly who sent them. And maybe the eleven is because your journey hasn't started yet."

I know I looked at Holly like she'd sprouted a unicorn horn out of the middle of her forehead but I couldn't help myself. I had no idea who the flowers were from, who I was missing, nor a word Holly was saying.

"One more time in English," I said.

Rolling her eyes at me, Holly continued. "Maybe the one who delivered them is the one who you are missing?" She looked at my blank face and clapped her hands together. "Ruth, maybe Ruth misses you and hopes you miss her too."

"You've been reading those damn romance novels again, haven't you?" I took a seat in my desk chair. "Why wouldn't she just come out and say something, or sign the card?"

"So says the master communicator." Holly shook her head and left my office.

I was staring at the flowers trying to decide if they were really from Ruth when Law's name flashed on the screen of my phone.

"You get roses too?" he said before I got hello out.

There was a beat of silence. "How did you know?"

"Got a vase of eleven on my desk just now. My card says, 'I know you missed me.'"

"Shit," my voice was tense. "That's why she had two."

"Seems like it, one for each of us," Law said.

I swore again, this time under my breath. "I'm heading to Blossoms now. I need to know if Ruth saw who placed the order."

"Already thought of that. When the pretty flower shop owner delivered mine, I asked her some questions. She said she didn't know who placed the order."

"I'm going anyway." I stood before something Law said registered. "Wait, what do you mean, the pretty flower shop owner?"

"Listen, I told you if you didn't want her maybe I would ask her out."

I could tell Law was teasing but something primal was fighting its way to the surface. "Don't. Just. Don't." I said before I hung up.

I broke every speed limit between the station and Ruth's shop, my mind racing with scenarios, each worse than the last. Michael could have been there, watching her, planning to use her somehow. If he'd been in her shop, touched her counter, breathed the same air as her...

Blossoms was quiet when I arrived, only a couple of elderly customers browsing the refrigerated display. Ruth looked up from the register, her smile freezing when she saw me. Joey came from behind the counter and wiggled his way over to me.

"Sheriff?" she asked cautiously, eyes darting to the customers at her cooler.

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