Page 58 of Rip Ryder's Second Chance

“Did Derry send the photos to Noelle? He wanted her to leave town, didn’t he?”

“Derry didn’t tell me that. He only said that Noelle’s ex was dangerous. That he’d make her run away again,” Buddy said unknowingly. “I wanted to convince him to leave her alone.”

Rip realized there were many things that Buddy didn’t know. Derry probably didn’t share a lot with Buddy, only the things that worked to Derry’s advantage. Obviously, he was manipulating and conniving enough to send all arrows of guilt pointed straight toward Buddy.

Chapter 20

“Where is he, Parker?” Rip asked the worried woman who sat on the edge of the sofa in her living room.

“I told you. I don’t know.” She tilted her chin stubbornly.

“And we don’t believe you. He’s your husband. Wouldn’t most wives know where their husband is at this time of night?”

She cupped her stomach as if to protect her unborn child. Rip felt sorry for her, and her children, but Derry was a danger not only to Noelle but to anyone he saw as a threat.

“When I went to bed, he was up watching a movie. I told him to not stay up too late. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I don’t appreciate you both accusing me of lying.”

Rip rubbed the tension from his forehead. “Have you checked your phone? Has Derry tried to call you? Text you?”

“I don’t know because I had been sleeping when you two came barreling in here looking for Derry.” She pushed up from the sofa and slowly made her way across the room to the desk.

Rip watched her scroll through her phone.

“This is odd,” she said.

“What’s odd?” Bend asked.

She turned, pausing in her scrolling. “My phone shows that a text message was sent to the phone tree a little after three A.M... I didn’t send the group a message.”

“Can I see the phone?” Rip asked.

Without hesitation, she handed the cell over and Rip read the two correspondences aloud. “I’ll be there to pick you up and can’t thank you enough. Then Noelle responds saying, “I’ll be in front of the ER waiting”. It appears that the prior conversation was deleted.” Rip blew out a breath. “You didn’t tell Noelle you were going to pick her up?”

“No. I was asleep.” Parker looked troubled.

By Parker’s flabbergasted expression, Rip believed her.

“Let me see the phone.” Bend took it, scrolling through messages.

Rip dug into his pocket and took out his phone, quickly checking for messages. He’d had no service most of the night and he still had no bars. Taking the phone out onto the porch, he finally managed to pull up his messages. There was one from Noelle a few hours ago. His heart dropped into his stomach as he read the eerie message.

He tried calling her but it went straight to voicemail. He tried a second time, and got the same response. He sent a text message, “Where are you?” and hit ‘send’. It delivered but he wasn’t sure if she’d respond.

Going back into the house, after reading the message, every bit of patience was gone. He handed his phone to Bend so he could get him up to speed, then Rip faced Parker. “Derry lured Noelle somehow. If I had to guess, I’d say he pretended to be you. Maybe made her think you needed help.”

She blinked. “Why would he do that?”

“Why don’t you tell me? You know something.”

“There has to be a logical explanation to this.” Concern etched worried lines around her eyes.

“Noelle isn’t answering and she sent me a message.” Rip passed his phone to Parker.

After she read the message that clearly stated Derry was picking Noelle up and bringing her to the house to watch the kids because Parker was in labor, her confidence slipped. “I’ll call him. There must be an explanation.” She went to the landline phone and attempted to try and call Derry. “I got his voicemail.”

“He has Noelle and we need to find them before he does something very stupid.” Rip forced the words out of his constricted throat. Each second that passed the more he realized Noelle was in danger.

“Where could he be, Parker?” Bend asked.

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