Page 90 of Hiss and Make Up
“Um, you’re welcome,” Kurt said, as she pushed past him in the doorway.
“Is Dale here?”
She’d tried to call him on her way into town, but he wasn’t answering his phone. Her best guess was that Lynette Guidry had gone to work to clear out things before she left. But Sierra couldn’t find anything about her online. No law firm bio page. Nothing that would tell her where Lynette worked.
“He got a call and left early. He said he’d be back, but I haven’t heard from him since.”
Dale showed up early and left late every single day. He didn’t have a lot of friends, except the folks at the monthly bird watch outings. The only calls in his cell phone log were to his mother’s nursing home, his brother in Oklahoma, Kurt, Sierra, and the Chinese place that delivered to the station.
“Have youeverknown Dale to leave work early?”
Kurt frowned and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. “So?”
“Without telling anyone?”
He shook his head. “You’re blowing this out of proportion.”
“Wow, big word.” Sierra stuffed her keys in her pocket and put her phone on the desk so she could shuffle through Dale’s datebook and drawers. She made sure it was on silent and face down, in case she got another flurry of concerned texts from Marc. “Watch out, I might start thinking there’s actually a brain in that pincushion you call a head.”
“Whatever.” He pushed away from the wall. “You gonna lock up when you’re done?”
Sierra waved him off and continued to shuffle through the drawer, looking for anything that might have Dale’s address. If she could track down Dale, he might know where she could find Lynette. This would be a whole lot easier if he’d just answer his phone.
The door slammed shut behind Kurt, while Sierra examined an invoice for some personal items Dale had delivered to the station. Since he’d paid with his own credit card, she found his billing address near the top of the page.
“Bingo!”
Sierra ran out, flipping the lights off and locking the door behind her.
The moving guys had told her the owner left a note instructing them to load up the boxes in the garage. That left Lynette Guidry unaccounted for.
LynetteandDale.
The fire had her paranoid. Or maybe it was that threatening email. Or maybe it was the fact that someone had tried to blow her up.
She flew out of the park and headed to Dale's house. Sierra tried to convince herself she would find him there. Hopefully, he was at a lecture, busy chatting afterward.
That was it. Dale was safe. A little forgetful for once in his life, but he was safe.
Sierra would have a heck of a time explaining why she was about to show up at his house to check on him, but Dale was safe and that was all that mattered.
If only she believed that.
22
Marc found out he'd need a technician from the gas company to sign-off that there wasn’t a leak before they’d reconnect his power and the main gas line. They also recommended that he replace the stove before using it again, even though the obvious cause was that all four knobs were turned on high. The thingwasover ten years old, but Marc wasn’t worried about the stove.
Someone, possibly his own neighbor, had broken into his house. Someone had walked right in and turned on the gas. They could have killed him and Sierra.
Where the hell was Sierra?
Chloe’s top-down silver convertible pulled along the street.
“Thanks.” He met her at the passenger door. “I’d invite you in, but they’ve cut off the power, and, actually, I’m kind of in a hurry. Sierra’s sort of missing.” His words caught in his throat as he forced them out. “You didn’t have to drive out here. I was just wondering if you knew where your mom might be.”
He should probably make up some bogus reason why he was looking for Chloe’s mom, but his brain couldn’t manufacture anything that made sense.
“Get in.” She unlocked his door. “Hurry up.”
