Lots of places to dump dead bodies. Like Zack’s.
Or Angel’s.
No, she was not dead. That wasn’t going to happen to Angel. I wouldn’t let it. Her biggest fear was of being abandoned, of dying alone. I would outsmart Mitch. But first, I had to get the necklace.
I took a left on a street that had a name, but I didn’t give a shit what the name was. I wove through the back way until I came to the Night Haven Motel.
I had two options. Vance had told me that Zoë drove a green Ford Focus. I could see if I could spot the car, hoping she had parked it in front of the motel, or I could go into the office and make them tell me which room Zoë was in.
Worst case—I’d pound on every door. Or call her and hope I could hear her cell phone ring through the door. That might work, too. I pulled into the parking lot and drove past the office. The motel was a two-story terra cotta building with bright teal doors.
I had found the dead body of my friend in one of those rooms.
I shoved that thought away. No more dead bodies. All I had to do was find Zoë. There were three white cars, two blue, a burgundy, and—
There it was—the green Ford Focus. Parked toward the end of the lot where the motel butted up against the freeway. It was the third unit from the end. The blackout curtains had a two-inch gap that showed a strip of light.
I had an idea. I looked over at Ali. “OK, girl, we’re gonna lie our way in. I want you to stay with me.” I was afraid to leave Ali in the car. What if Mitch showed up and killed her? That wasn’t so far-fetched, since Mitch seemed to be one step ahead of us at every turn. Vance had seen two cars, a green Ford Focus and a black Lincoln Navigator, at my house this morning. I was sure now that Mitch drove the Lincoln Navigator and that he had been at my house to put the tracking device on my car. He could have spotted Zoë and followed her to the motel, or he could have put a device on her car just for some kind of insurance. I was confident he hadn’t seen Zoë with the kit or he would have gotten it from her already.
But he could come to the motel to tie up loose ends. Especially if Zoë had seen him. Maybe he had even figured out that she had taken the necklace by then.
Fear yanked a noose around my guts.
No time to dick around. I reached past Ali and got my purse off the seat. “Come on,” I told my dog.
She followed me out. I could see she was favoring her right front shoulder. I needed to get her to a veterinarian to have her checked out.
No time.
I quietly shut the Jeep door but didn’t lock it. Ali followed me without complaint to the door of the room directly in front of the green Ford Focus. I pulled out my stun gun, then I dialed my phone and put it to my ear. “Sit, Ali.” She sat by me.
“Hello?”
“Zoë, it’s me, Sam.”
“Do you have R. V. Logan with you?”
Lying was easy, to save Angel. “Yes.”
“Put him on the phone. I want proof. I’m going to ask him a question about his book that only he would know, so this better not be a trick.”
Lunatic. Probably anyone who read his books could answer whatever question she came up with. “OK, but first can you do something for us? See, R. V. Logan doesn’t want anyone to see us. Can you open the door and look outside? Is anyone outside by you?” My heart banged in my chest.
The silence was suspicious. Finally Zoë said, “But he’s not here yet. Why don’t I look when you are closer?”
Now
she was being logical. “We’ll need you to look again when we get to whereever you are.” I kept turning away from the door to talk, hoping Zoë wouldn’t hear us from inside her room. “But can you just check now? I’ll put him on the phone while you do that.”
She sighed and said, “OK.”
Please let me have the right room! I dropped the phone into my purse to keep my hands free, turned on the stun gun, and watched the door.
While listening in case another door opened.
The door in front of me started opening. I flattened myself against the wall. The door pulled open five inches. Then seven inches. Then it swung open.
I stepped up.
Zoë’s dark eyes widened in surprise. “Wh—”
I put the stun gun to her temple and zapped her.
She slid to the ground.
I looked around and didn’t see anyone. Ali started sniffing Zoë, so I pushed her away and stepped over Zoë into the room. Bending over, I hooked my forearms under her shoulders and noticed that the undersides of my arms were bloody. From tripping over Angel’s purse into the street.
Not my biggest problem right now. I took a breath and dragged Zoë’s unconscious body into the room. Ali followed me in and sat down to watch.
I rushed around her and closed the door. Then I looked around the room.
There were at least two dozen candles burning. The flickering light gave me a headache.
Find the necklace!
I took a breath and ended up inhaling a lungful of rose-scented candle wax. I went to the table by the window and blew out three candles. Then I faced the room. A double bed with two nightstands, each with four candles. I blew those out. The dresser across from the foot of the bed had—hell, I didn’t even count the candles. I just started blowing them out and opening drawers to look for the sex-toy kit.
I got dizzy from blowing out air and inhaling rose-scented smoke.
I stood up and took a slow, steady breath. No sex-toy kit or diamond necklace in the dresser, and all the candles on top were out. I ran back to the nightstands and looked in those. No sex-toy kit.
I turned to the dressing area and bathroom.
More candles. Zoë had a serious obsession with candles. I headed for the dressing area. First, I blew out the candles ringing the sink, and then I started looking around for the sex-toy kit. No sign of it.
“It has to be here!” I rushed into the small bathroom. It was basically a shower and a toilet. The tub was filled with water and . . .
More candles. It was a wonder the smoke alarm didn’t go off. I leaned across the bathtub to blow out the candles. Then I stood up. Where the hell had she hidden the sex-toy kit?
I left the bathroom and went to the closet. It had mirrored sliding glass doors. I caught a glimpse of myself. My pink tank top was ripped from my falling in the street and streaked with dirt and blood. My hair was tangled, my face . . .
Forget it. I opened the closet. Ironing board and iron, a few clothes hanging up, and a suitcase. Maybe she had put the sex-toy kit in her suitcase. I grabbed the bright yellow midsize suitcase with wheels and yanked it out.
It was heavy.
Putting it on the floor, I dropped my purse off my shoulder and unzipped the suitcase. No sex-toy kit, but there had to be twenty or thirty romance novels in there. Why had Zoë been carrying those?
The romance conference. They gave away free books. Zoë hadn’t gone home, but had come right here to Lake Elsinore to hunt me down and find R. V. Logan.
Lunatic.
I closed up the suitcase and shoved it back into the closet. Where was the sex-toy kit? Tears of terror and frustration burned my eyes. What had she done with it? I had to find that necklace!
Where else could you hide something in a motel room? I looked around. The bed. Remembering my purse before I could trip over it, I picked it up off the floor, slung it over my shoulder, and ran to the bed. I grabbed hold of the gold bedspread and ripped it off.
There were two pillows, white sheets, and a brown blanket. I grabbed the first pillow.
It was just a pillow.
I threw it aside and grabbed the second one. It was heavier. It had a rectangular lump on the bottom. I couldn’t get my breath. Frantic, I reached inside the pillowcase and felt a velvet box. I had found the sex-toy kit! I pulled it out.
The blue-velvet box. The sample sex-toy kit. I opened it up. Everything was just as I had put it back that morning. I grabbed the big lavender vibrator and wrenched off the end for the battery compartment.
Nothing.
It was empty. A huge sob worked up my throat.
Ali barked, then growled.
Omigod, now what?
Dropping the vibrator, I looked over at Ali. She sat at Zoë’s shoulder, growling at her.
I dropped my gaze to Zoë. She was awake. She wore the same long, gauzy skirt that I had seen her wearing in Smash Coffee. But she had a hand deep into her skirt pocket.
Did she have a weapon in that pocket? A cell phone? Her hair was loose and soft around her pale face. I reached into my purse to get my stun gun, then yelled, “Freeze, Zoë!”
Her whole body went stiff.
With the stun gun in my hand, I walked around to stand at her hip and face her. She had changed her top from the sleeveless yellow muscle shirt to a white peasant blouse.
All the better to show off the diamond necklace glittering on her neck. She was wearing the stolen diamond necklace.
It had been right in front of my face when I had stunned her, and I had missed it. “Get your hand out of that pocket and take off that necklace.”
She pulled her hand out and fingered the necklace. “It’s mine. Where’s R. V. Logan? He likes diamonds, I know he does. In one of his books, the hero made love to the heroine when she was wearing only diamonds.”
This woman had serious issues. But I supposed all dedicated stalkers did. I glanced over at Ali. She was waiting for me to tell her what to do.
As if I knew what I was doing. Desperation for Angel pushed me on. “Zoë, take off that necklace. It’s stolen. If you don’t, I’ll just zap you and do it myself.”
“No.” She levered herself up on her elbows. “It sparkles in the candlelight. Hey!” She looked around. “What happened to all my candles?”
I stared back at her. “They were a fire hazard. Take off the necklace.”
She leaned back on her elbows to stare up at me. “Know what I think, Samantha? I think you have a crush on R. V. Logan and you want him for yourself.”
“I do not!” I yelled at her. Of all the stupid comments—
She moved so fast, it caught me completely by surprise. Dropping on her elbows, she rolled on her back and popped up to her feet. Then she spun around and caught me with a kick to my gut.
I dropped the stun gun and flew back onto the bed. Ali’s fierce growls pierced my shocked pain-fog. Sitting up, I saw that Ali had Zoë’s right wrist in her mouth. Her right hand was wrapped around the stun gun.
Zoë had locked gazes with Ali. I stood up and yanked the stun gun out of Zoë’s fingers. I turned on the stun gun. “Release her, Ali.”
Ali let Zoë’s wrist go.
Zoë stood up and charged me.
I caught her in the temple with the stun gun.
She froze in place, then slid to the floor.
God, this woman was a royal pain in the ass. Quickly, I dropped to my knees and rolled Zoë over to her stomach. She must have weighed more than me! And all of the weight was muscle. If I lived through the night, I’d be lucky to stand up again after that kick I took in my stomach. I hoped all my organs were still attached. I got the diamond necklace unhooked from around Zoë’s neck. I stood back up and shoved it in the front pocket of my black jeans.
“Come on, Ali.” I went to the door, but then looked back at Zoë.
Was she safe here? What if Mitch showed up? What if she woke up, called the police, and they arrested me before I could save Angel? I hurried back to Zoë. Hell. I looked around the room, then got an idea. I went back to the suitcase with all the books. Sure enough, there was a roll of strapping tape. Every savvy conference attendee knows that she can snag an empty box at a conference, and all she needs to do is bring a roll of strapping tape. Then she can box up her free books and send them home for the cheap book rate instead of trying to stuff them all in her suitcase.
In fact, I’d have bet the two dozen books in Zoë’s suitcase were the ones she couldn’t get into the box she had shipped home.
I ran back to Zoë. She still wasn’t moving. I gathered her wrists behind her back and wrapped the tape around them.
I was sweating and my stomach hurt. Hell, everything hurt. Breathing hard, I dragged Zoë to the door.
How was I going to get her to the Jeep and then inside the Jeep? She was taller than me and weighed at least as much as me. Shit.
This was a nightmare.
Maybe I had to take my chances and leave her there. I had to call Mitch and tell him I had the necklace.
Then he’d kill both Angel and me.
I was in over my head.
My phone rang. Where was my purse? I looked around, shoving my frizzy hair off my face. It might be Mitch. I had to answer! Ali went to the bed and barked. She picked up my purse by the strap and dragged it off the bed and over to me. The purse must have fallen off my shoulder when Zoë kicked me and I flew onto the bed.