Page 75 of Guess Again
“I’m up north with my hands full. But I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Ethan hung up the phone and looked at Pete and Maddie. “Something’s come up that I’ve got to take care of. Pete, can I take your car?”
“Something I need to know about?” Pete asked.
“I’m not sure yet.”
Pete reached into his pocket and tossed his keys to Ethan.
“Need any help?” Maddie asked.
“Not until I know more. I’ll call you when I’m done. Pete, keep an eye on her for me?”
“Maddie doesn’t need a gimp DCI agent to protect her. She’s got around-the-clock protection from Milwaukee PD. But the DCI is adding agents to her detail until we find Francis. The governor even offered a few DPU agents if she wanted them.”
Maddie put her hand on Pete’s shoulder. “I’d still take Pete any day of the week. But I already talked to my boys,” Maddie said. “They’re not letting me out of their sights until we have Francis back in custody.”
“When you’re finished here,” Ethan said to Maddie. “Stop down at my place. I want you to stay with me tonight.”
CHAPTER 77
Beaver Dam, Wisconsin Monday, August 4, 2025
LINDSAY PULLED UP TO THE GATES OFPRESCOTTESTATES.THE SECURITYbooth was empty at this time of night, and the gates were locked. She pressed the button on the intercom system, knowing that it buzzed inside Blake’s cottage. This was not the first time she’d been here late at night.
“Yeah,” Blake’s voice squawked from the speaker.
“Hey, it’s me.”
There was a short pause before the gates rattled open. Lindsay pulled past the cast iron and into Prescott Estates. She followed the winding road until she saw the shitty little cottage where Blake Cordis had been exiled to a decade earlier. It was bittersweet to see him there.
Blake opened the front door as she pulled up. The humidity of the night assaulted her skin as Lindsay climbed from her car.
“Hi,” Lindsay said in her best seductive voice.
“Hey,” Blake responded.
“Can I come in?”
Blake shrugged. “I’m not going to make you stand outside in this sauna we have for a summer. And we wouldn’t make it five minutes with the size of the mosquitos out here.”
Lindsay followed him inside, noting a hint of aftershave as she walked past him. The man had, ever since she first laid eyes on him in high school, spun her world in circles. And the scent of his aftershave, even this many years later, had never left her mind.
“Something to drink?” Blake asked as he closed the door.
“Sure.”
“I’ve got beer or whiskey.”
Lindsay shrugged. “Whiskey it is.”
She sat on the couch. Blake poured two Proper No. Twelve whiskeys and handed her one.
“Cheers,” he said, clinking her glass.
Lindsay smiled and took a sip.
“So what’s up?” Blake asked as he sat on the end chair next to her.
