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Flipping it over, he saw there was more writing on the other side. Only instead of it being scrawled in ink, it was embossed in black on the white card stock.
It was a business card, and when his panicked gaze roved over the embossed letters, his sinking suspicion went from bad to worse as he read the name and address:
Dr. Lucas De Angelis
emergency physician
St. Paul’s Hospital of Dayton
Lucas De Angelis…his predecessor’s ex husband, the former doctor of Hamlet—and Maria’s beloved older brother.
What the hell was his business card doing here? Though he visited a few times of year, Lucas lived five hours away from Hamlet with his wife, Tessa. The last time they were in town, it was last spring, back in May when Sly’s ex decided to cause a little trouble between Sly and Maria. Roni went to great lengths to make it seem like Sly was cheating on Maria with her, and though they’d been in a relationship when they were in high school, he was completely loyal to Maria.
She didn’t really doubt him, though she vented to Tessa via e-mail, using the computer in the neighboring county’s library. Of course, Lucas came charging in, forever a white knight for his baby sister. He ripped Sly a new one, reminding him that Maria was a wonderful woman who deserved to be treated that way.
Sly obviously agreed. After kicking Roni out of Hamlet—oh, sorry,Veronique—he finally had the kick in the pants he needed to stop carrying the engagement ring around in his pocket, instead slipping it onto Maria’s finger where it belonged as she did him the greatest honor by saying she would marry him.
He knew he’d have to face off against Lucas again before the wedding. The fact that he hadn’t already made him feel better in Maria’s ‘yes’ since he knew that, if she had any doubts at all, Lucas would be back in Hamlet in no time.
As far as Sly knew, Lucas’s flashy red car hadn’t been around. And, yet… he was his business card.
His business card—with an unsettling rhyme that referenced buying paint.
Paint that was laid out on the coffee table.
“Maria? Sweetheart? You home?”
Disappearing down the hall, going left so that he was heading toward the kitchen, he strained his ears, hoping she would answer.
When she didn’t, he popped his head into the kitchen, cursing under his breath when it was empty.
Spinning on his heel, he started down the hall again.
Ophelia was a two-story Victorian-era home that had been built on and built on until there were enough rooms to turn it into Maria’s beloved bed and breakfast. Storming down the halls, cupping his mouth, he called her name again.
He passed the Rose Room, the Lavender Room, the Sunflower Room… no answer.
Fear had him taking the stairs two at a time. “Maria!”
She wasn’t upstairs, either. It was eerily quiet, drowned out by the thudding of his heart beating wildly against his ribcage.
Once Sly cleared the top floor, he ran back down the stairs. He jogged through the hall, stopping when he made it back to the kitchen. Now that he knew for sure that she was missing from Ophelia, the emptiness of Maria’s favorite room weighed on him.
Pray you find me before I am through…
His hand slapped for the communicator at his hip. Sly twisted the knob, forcing himself to stay calm.
The Hamlet radios were difficult to learn at first. Each resident had their own assigned code on the open line, while there were separate radio channels that could reach a town council member, the mayor’s office that also doubled as the animal shelter, the sheriff department, even the Hamlet Inn. As sheriff, Sly had his own line; as the sheriff’s fiancée, he had long ago memorized Maria’s.
They had an agreement. Though Sly never wanted to be as overprotective as her older brother, Maria promised that she would bring her communicator with her whenever she left Ophelia. It wouldn’t work if she went past the gulley; for some reason, that was as far as the radios worked, and while Sly wondered about that, he just went along with it. If she was within the village’s borders… and the radio was on… he should be able to reach her.
If she wasn’t, then Sly would have to go to plan B. Just in case, both of them had cheap prepaid phones they used if they needed to reach someone outside of Hamlet. None of them worked inside of the village, but if Sly drove to the outskirts of town and called her, he would be able to verify that she was still out shopping.
First, though, he’d try to buzz her.
Lifting his radio to his mouth, hoping, praying, waiting for her to answer, every unanswered chime on his side had him jangling his leg nervously. He still held the business card in his other hand, crinkling it without meaning to.
No answer. There was no answer.
