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Three hours later, he realized that Amy hadn’t called him back, which was not like her at all. He tried calling her again, but it still went straight to voicemail. This time he dialed the restaurant.

“Thank you for calling Midnight. How can I help you?”

“Marcus, is that you?” Ryker asked.

“Yeah, who’s this?”

“Ryker McQueen, Amy Linden’s fiancé.”

“Well, hot damn! You two made it official?! That’s great news!”

“Yeah. Well. Thank you. I was just wondering if you could track Amy down and see if you could have her call me.”

“Aw, f—I mean, oh goodness. Didn’t she call you?” he whispered. “She’s down at the station pressing charges. Her mama came and took one of those free e-scooters and smashed it through one of our windows. Got glass everywhere. Even in people’s food. It’s been a hot mess. Amy was a trooper. I couldn’t believe that crazy lady was her mama.”

“When was this, Marcus?”

“Maybe about four hours ago? Maybe five.”

Ryker was up and in his bedroom in a flash. He grabbed an overnight bag and filled it up with what he’d need to stay at Amy’s place for a couple of nights.

“Can you do me a favor and transfer me back to Lawrence?”

“Sure. Oh, and by the way, congratulations on the whole getting engaged thing.”

“Thanks, Marcus.”

While he sat on hold listening to decent jazz music, he grabbed his tablet off the charger in the kitchen as well as his wallet. He started pulling up some flight times.

“This you, Ryker?” Lawrence asked.

“Yep. How bad was it?”

“It was bad. I figured Amy had called you and you were already on your way. Get your ass up here. Amy needs you.”

“I’m booking my flight now.”

“Good.”

The line went dead.

Ryker booked his flight.

He’d texted Lawrence while he was waiting for his flight to unload and found out what precinct Amy was at. He arranged for an Uber at the same time. As soon as he got into the Uber he called Amy’s phone again, and this time she answered.

“Hi, Ryker.” She sounded exhausted.

“Hi, Amy. How are you, Honey?”

“I’m fine. Did you like the flowers?”

Huh? Oh yeah.

“They were beautiful, Sweetheart. But tell me about you. Are you still at the police station?”

She hiccupped. “How did you know I was at the police station?”

“Marcus is a gossip,” he teased.