Page 74 of The Bodyguard
“Let’s not assault the sheriff, shall we love? We promised this party was going to go smoothly.”
Bea narrowed her eyes at her older sister. “Did you know Sabrina was being stalked by some creeper?”
“Yes, but she only just told me how serious it was. After she changed her number again I wanted an explanation.”
“Nobody tells me anything,” Bea repeated.
“Not for nothing, but it was reported on TMZ,” I pointed out.
“Fan of tabloid TV, are you?” Bea asked. “Personally I never watch the stuff.”
“Well, Bea, maybe if you called your sisters—bothyour sisters—more, that wouldn’t be the case,” Ronnie said in that way mothers do to elicit guilt. I knew, because I had a mother who didn’t think I called enough.
“Can we focus on the real asshole here?” Bea asked. “That’s him. The guy who has been breaking our sister’s heart for, like, her entire life.”
“Please,” I urged them both. “I get it. You want to stake me to an anthill, and I will let you, but please let me just find Brin. I need see her to know she’s all right.”
Ronnie sighed. “She was in the ballroom last time I saw her.”
I raced in that direction and tried to see through the throng of people. It wasn’t like she would be hard to spot. She’d be the prettiest woman in the room.
“What’s going on?” This came from an attractive blonde who was wearing a very conservative dress for a party like this.
“Madison,” Ronnie said to the woman. “Have you seen Sabrina?”
“Sure,” she said and took a sip of her champagne.
“Where?” I barked it loud enough that the woman flinched. Then she raised her eyebrows to suggest she wasn’t the type of woman who liked to be barked at. “Please.”
“She was over there talking to the drummer. Apparently they went to high school together.”
I looked in the direction she was pointing, but didn’t see anything. Then I raced up to where the band was set up. There was no drummer. It looked like they were getting ready to start again. I caught the attention of the lead singer and he came to the edge of the stage.
“What’s going on? We’re getting ready to start our second set.”
“Where is your drummer?”
“Man, it was messed up. He had a tire blowout on his way here.”
That didn’t make any sense. “So you’ve been without a drummer this whole time?”
“No, this kid, Danny, ran into us in town and said he could fill in. We took a shot, but he obviously flaked. Probably just wanted to crash the fancy digs. It’s cool. We can do this without a drummer.”
Every hair on my neck stood on edge. Danny. Stood in for the drummer. Sabrina was talking to the drummer. Someone she’d gone to high school with…
It couldn’t be a coincidence.
I started tearing through every room. I knew I was making a scene but I didn’t care. If it was Danny Wade, if he had been the one stalking Sabrina this whole time, then his only purpose in getting into the party would be to get her and get her out. There was no way he would have been able to get her out through the front door without them being seen. It only made sense he would take her around back.
I made my way to the kitchen, which was filled with staff hustling and bustling as they loaded trays of food.
“Did anyone see a young man and a woman in here? She’s tall, dark hair, gorgeous. He would have been thin. Young. About this height.” I raised my hand to what was my shoulder. Danny hadn’t been that big, and Brin was tall, but he still probably outweighed her by about fifty pounds.
One of the waiters nodded and I rushed to him. “What did you see?”
“Just that this guy was leading this hot chick out the back door. She looked wasted and she was kind of draped on him. He said she needed some air. I thought ,man, that guy is seriously lucky to have scored her…”
I didn’t wait for any further information. I took off out the back door and looked around. I knew there was an access road that ran along the back of the property. A small narrow road, but wide enough to fit a car because, as Hank got older, he hadn’t liked to check out his cattle operation on horseback.
