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“To save me from hell.”
Chapter Seven
Muriella
Stone pulledinto the underground garage at my apartment building, maneuvered the truck into one of Daniel’s parking spaces, and killed the engine. I’d been pretty quiet since we’d skimmed stones at the lake. Telling my story for the first time in a long time had not been easy. I was grateful that he didn’t ask me to explain more than I was ready to. We sat there silently for a few minutes until, I guess, he couldn’t stand it any longer.
“There wasn’t a space down here this morning. That’s why I was in the alley,” he explained, even though I hadn’t asked. Then he reached behind my seat, and a plastic bag of some sort crinkled. “For you.” He presented a bag of my favorite Mars candy bars, the miniature ones I loved. That got my interest.
“You’ve had this all day and are just now giving it to me?”
Stone smiled, well aware of my addiction. “If I’d given these to you first, you’d have sat in this truck all day. I’d have had to eat brisket alone with Jezebel and Cedar.”
“Never let anyone tell you that you aren’t a smart man.” I reached for the bag. He held onto it, and I couldn’t pry it out of his grip.
Once I gave up trying, he said, “I’ll walk you up.”
“That’s not necessary.” I reached for the door handle.
“If Ruby finds out we went to lunch and I didn’t see you to the door, she’ll tan my hide.”
“We wouldn’t want to upset your grandmother.” He let his guard down, and I grabbed the bag of candy from him. “It occurred to me we never finished discussing the origins of your family names,” I said in mock seriousness.
“Give me those back,” he demanded, swiping at the candy which I had stashed between me and the door, out of his reach. “And here I was pulling out all the stops.”
“Thank you for the ride. Some of my best memories are of my horse, Angel.”
“Just lunch wasn’t so bad?”
“No,” I admitted reluctantly.
A satisfied curve shaped his lips. “Would you do it again?”
Part of me wanted to jump for another opportunity, but I couldn’t let him know that. “Don’t push it.”
Stone was showingme a video of Sissy the cow at his grandmother’s window when the elevator opened on my private lobby. The front door to my apartment was wide open, and fear ripped through me. I immediately called for Vivian, and marched to the door. Stone caught me by the arm before I could cross the threshold.
“Let me go first.” He looked at his hand on my arm and let go.
I opened my mouth to protest, but his eyes warned me he wasn’t going to budge on the matter. “Fine,” I acquiesced, trying to remain calm.
He found me.Fear that my past had finally caught up pushed its way to the surface. At the thought of my father, my heart rate picked up speed. I steadied myself with a hand on the door frame and braced myself for the worst.
On a deep breath, I forced logic into my thoughts. It was more likely that the trouble from last night had resurfaced. I shivered thinking about being tied to that chair, a gun in my face. For the first time today, I was truly grateful Stone was with me.
The apartment was quiet, each room we checked empty, with no trace of Vivian or anyone else. Initially, we had only glanced in the study, but upon closer inspection I noticed an envelope lying on the glass surface of the desk. There had been two, one addressed to me and one to Vivian. Daniel had asked me to keep them in case something happened to him. Hers was gone.
“We need to go upstairs,” I said. We climbed up the flight of stairs to Daniel’s floor to find his front door wide open too. All was not right. Whatever was in his letter to Vivian had made her come rushing up here.
“Daniel,” I called, Stone on my heels as I crossed the foyer.
“In here,” he said, and I couldn’t help the twinge of affection I felt at the familiar response. Daniel had done that since I’d known him. This apartment was huge, and whenever I called for him, his answer was never specific, just always “in here,” whereverthatmight be. I’d gotten good at figuring it out by the volume of his voice, but he spent the majority of his time in the study, so it wasn’t too hard to guess.
He and Vivian were snuggled up on the dark leather sofa in front of the fire. My jubilation at their reunion was overshadowed with worry.
“What’s going on?” I asked, bursting into the room and sinking into a chair.
“Everything okay here?” Stone asked from the doorway.
