Page 75 of Misrule
“Are you here? I got home and my alarm was off. I turned it on before I left. I know I did.”
“Are you sure? And, no, I’m not in your house. Where are you?”
“In the den.”
“Why?” he snapped. “If you think someone’s in there, get the fuck out.”
“You’re right,” she said, her footsteps pounding out of the room. “I would’ve called 911 but…”
As the door opened, Kendall’s voice faded away.
Closing his eyes, Knox leaned against the wall and drew in a deep breath. He had to calm down.
But, fuck, he needed to get out. Kendall might be outside. At a neighbor’s. In her car…Goddamn it! Why hadn’t the women socialized as he’d expected?
He had to take a chance on leaving. One thing he couldn’t do was be here when Johnnie arrived.
Holding onto the suitcase, Knox hurried to the door. Before he opened it, he looked out of the window on each side. Saw nothing.
His heart banged against his chest.
He held his breath. Opened the door painfully slow, just wide enough for him to slip into the afternoon cloudiness.
He didn’t see Kendall, but her Navigator sat in the driveway. She was around.
Knox stepped forward, swallowing hard, his breathing accelerated.
He made it off her property. Around the corner wasn’t far away.
One step. Two steps. Three steps…he walked with purpose, head down, one hand gripping the suitcase and the other hand stuffed in his pocket.
Had he closed the front door? Fuck. He didn’t think so.
Too late now. He refused to go back just for that. Finding the door open would confirm to Kendall that someone had been in her house. Knox only hoped Johnnie didn’t do a sweep of the premises…
Knox reached his car. Opening the trunk, he threw the suitcase in, then ran to the driver’s side and slid in. A moment later, he sped off.
Damn, that had been close! He still wasn’t free and clear. There was a high chance Kendall had seen him as he left from wherever she’d hidden herself.
Chapter Nineteen
Trying not to panic, Meggie disconnected a fifth call she’d placed to Christopher, all of which had gone straight to voicemail. She hadn’t heard from him since right after breakfast when he kissed her goodbye. Nothing unusual about that.
He’d seemed relaxed, at ease, without a care in the world. As a matter of fact, he hadn’t had a nightmare in three days. So why wouldn’t he answer any of her call? She understood one or two, butfive?
Panicked, nausea swirled through her. For a second, she felt so light-headed she thought she might faint.
“I have a question,” Bunny said, unaware of how Meggie felt.
She and Bunny sat in the second row of Roxy’s Escalade, heading to an unknown wedding shop, while Bailey once again drove and Roxy sat in the front seat.
Meggie was so glad to be gone from Joan Harrington’s house! She’d prefer being out in the open and going from shop to shop over spending another minute with that judgmental woman and Charlotte Redding. The two looked down on all of them and—
The sound of Roxy digging through her purse reached Meggie.
“What is it, Bunny?” Roxy asked in a distracted tone.
“Last night, Mark began talking about Mortician’s chaperoning,” Bunny confessed. “Of Roxy and Knox,” she clarified.
