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“Okay, but you guys need to work through this.” Vivian stabbed her finger at each man. “Plans and contingency plans. Not just Plan A. I want a B, C, maybe even D. Figure out everything that can go wrong—dogs and superheroes—and figure out how to pivot. Yuri is next week. Next week!”
“We’ve got the expertise in this room, Viv,” Jay said. “We’ve got this.”
“Sometimes I hate that you like thriller movies so much,” Vivian said to Jay. “I think you make everything too complicated.”
“Like what?”
“Like a dart to the neck,” Ben said.
“It would have worked.” Jay sat up straighter.
“But it didn’t,” Wade said.
Jay slid back into a slouch. “It came very close to working. Who would think some security guy would happen around the bend and take off after the car?” He turned to Vivian. “It was close, you have to admit, Viv. If we had pulled that off on film, it would have been cinematic gold. Why are you shaking?”
“Because this is so dangerous. It keeps getting bigger. All we need is money for Yuri.”
“We’ll each be a billionaire. Keep the dollar signs in your eyes, peanut. Think about the life of luxury.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Piper
Friday
Piper was still in her bed, dressed in flannel pajamas despite the early summer weather. She didn’t want to move, though her bladder was protesting.
Her phone rang, and Piper swiped it open for Chanti.
“Are you up?”
“Awake. Not up.”
“How are you feeling this morning?” Chanti asked. “I was thinking things through, and I was wondering if you weren’t warming up yesterday because of the Runker-Bailey Syndrome?”
“Exactly.” Piper looked out her window. The sun was shining. It looked like it would be a pretty day.
“Did you sleep last night?”
“Same as usual.”
“Since someone has your keys, I’m letting you know that it’s me coming in your front door.” The door opened and shut, and there was Chanti. “I called a locksmith. They’ll be here this afternoon and rekey the doors.”
“Thank you.”
Chanti dropped her keys on the dressing table. “Are you getting up?”
Piper rolled off the bed. “I’m going to go take a hot bath.”
“Okay, I’m raiding your freezer.”
“If you’re looking for ice cream. I don’t have any. But if you had some over at your place. I sure would appreciate that and a soup spoon.”
“I wanted your walnuts. But ice cream sounds better. You go soak.” Chanti picked her keys back up. “I’ll come back in a half hour. I have butter pecan and lavender.”
“Lavender, thank you.” Piper forced herself onto her feet. As she turned on her side lamp, she looked down at the dream journal Chanti had given her. The pages from last night were covered in chicken scratch.
All night, Piper kept thinking that she knew something that would solve the mystery of the van on the bridge. The answer had been sitting there, right outside of her understanding—and that had left her tossing and turning, in and out of sleep.
