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She let out a breath. Those invisible bugs were crawling up her arms again—something didn’t feel right about this. But surely her parents were taking good care of Duke. They probably ran into some friends or something at the rodeo and were up talking. Duke was no doubt snoozing on his mother’s lap this very minute.
Sydney was exhausted herself, and she had a competition tomorrow. Best get to bed.
She went to her own room, undressed, washed up, and fell into bed.
She’d check on her baby in the morning.
* * *
At the first light of dawn, Sydney woke, her heart pounding.
What was going on?
She couldn’t remember having a nightmare. Why was she so on edge?
Duke. She was worried about Duke. She pulled on a robe, walked across the hall, and knocked again on her parents’ door. Still no answer.
This was getting freaky.
She went back to her room and tried both of their cell numbers again. She got the same troubling message. Their numbers were no longer in service.
That nauseated feeling plagued her again.
Something was very wrong.
She called to the front desk and found her parents had still not checked out.
Then she called Sam. Just to say good morning, she said in as cheery a voice as she could muster. She didn’t want to alarm him. It was just a test to check the cellular service in the area, which was obviously working just fine.
Her heart sped. What the hell was going on?
She’d taken the rental car yesterday. Where were they?
Suddenly, she had a terrible thought. What if they were in their room and couldn’t get to the door? Oh no! What if something horrible had happened?
She nearly lost what little was left in her stomach as she pulled on some jeans and a shirt and raced down to the front desk.
“I need you to open my parents’ room,” she said.
“Ma’am?” The clerk looked at her with a concerned face.
“You’ve told me they haven’t checked out, but I don’t have a clue where they are. They didn’t answer last night and they’re not answering the door this morning. They’re not answering the phone.”
“Maybe they stayed out all night. Sometimes, adults do that.”
“Not adults with a five-year-old little boy. Please do this
for me. Humor me.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll have someone from security check it out.”
A few minutes later, Sydney followed a security official to the door of her parents’ room. He knocked firmly. “Mr. Buchanan? Mrs. Buchanan?”
“I told you they’re not answering.”
“All right, miss, simmer down. We’re going in.” He slid a card through the lock and opened the door.
Sydney rushed past him into the room.
