You Can Leave Your Hat On (Dressed to Kill #3)

Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

“ W hat did you do? Where did you go? What did you see?” Murielle was full of questions.

“Well, let’s see, first we went to a horse farm!”

“A horse farm? With real horses?” the little girl asked in a near-whisper, her eyes wide.

“Yes, ma’am. A real horse farm with real horses. We saw a new baby horse. They’re called foals, and when they’re a boy horse, they’re called a colt.”

“Oooo, what was his name?”

“Winged Fury. His mom is named Winged Peace. His dad’s name is Pickle Thief.”

“Pickle Thief?” Murielle asked, laughing. “That’s a funny name for a horse!”

“Yeah, it is! And then we went to the other barn and I met other horses. Ms.Carly took my picture with a horse named Asher’s Delight. They call him Ash for short.”

“Was his nose soft?”

Maisey nodded. “Very soft.”

“I want to meet a real horse and be its friend and rub its nose. Can I go there sometime maybe?”

“Actually, she gave me an invitation to come back sometime, so I’m sure we could do that.”

“Can we go tomorrow? Please?” Murielle whined.

“I don’t think so. Sunday is probably pretty busy for them.”

“But Sunday is a day of rest!” Murielle announced, echoing everything her grandparents had taught her.

“Not for folks on a horse farm! But we’ll go, I promise. Now, finish your dinner,” Maisey said and pointed at the plate, “and I’ll tell you about everything else we did.”

By the time Maisey had exhausted her recount of the day’s activities, Murielle’s plate was clean. “May I be excused to watch TV?” the little girl asked.

Aaron nodded. “Sure. Just remember to stay on your channel.” Aaron had subscribed to a streaming service that was just for kids ten and under, and that was all Murielle was allowed to watch.

“I will, Daddy. Thank you. Thank you, Mommy.”

“You’re welcome, bug. Love you,” Maisey called after her.

“Love you too.” The little girl skipped down the hallway and disappeared into her room.

“Sounds like you had a very good day,” Aaron said as he helped Maisey clear the table, but something about his tone set her on edge.

“It was a very good day. Great fun, great friends, great food. I loved the horse farm. Everything was wonderful.”

There was silence for a full minute before Aaron said, “Then why do I get the feeling there’s something you’re not telling me.”

Well, shit. How the hell does he… Oh. Carly. I’ll have to remember to thank her for that , Maisey groused internally. “You’ve talked to Carly, haven’t you?”

She turned just in time to see his face, and he wasn’t lying when he said, “No. I haven’t talked to Carly. Did you girls have a falling out or something?”

“No, no. Nothing like that.”

“Then what?”

“Who says anything happened?”

Aaron stopped, turned to lean back against the countertop, and folded his arms across his chest. “Maisey Maureen, I know you as well as anybody ever has, and I know when you’re not telling me something. And you’re not telling me something. Spill it.”

The look on his face told her there was no point in fighting it. He was right, he knew it, and he wouldn’t give in until she’d told him. “Okay, fine, but let’s get this cleaned up so we can sit down and talk, okay?”

“Okay. But I won’t forget.”

Maisey sighed. “Don’t worry. Neither will I.”

They worked along in silence, scraping the plates, putting away the leftovers, and loading the dishwasher. When they were finished, Aaron glanced over at his wife. “Glass of wine?”

“Yes, please.” I probably actually need a bottle of whiskey , she told herself. She’d for sure need one after she finished telling him. He was going to be mad. Of that she was sure.

By the time Maisey was settled on the sofa, Aaron had appeared with a glass of wine in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other. Maisey took the glass, downed a big swig, and set it on the coffee table. She waited until Aaron had gotten a swallow of his beer down and set the bottle by her glass. He turned to her and asked, “What happened?”

“Just what I told Murielle. We went to the farm, then the restaurant, and then I came home.”

“Okay, but there’s a detail somewhere. What happened at the restaurant?”

Get it over with, idiot , she told herself. “It’s what happened as we were leaving the restaurant.”

“Okay.” And he said nothing else.

Maisey wanted the ground to open up. “Okay, so you know how big that hat was?”

“Yeah.”

“It was in the way, so I hung it on the hat rack in the foyer while we ate. And then when we left, I picked it up and went to get into the van. And when we got back to the hotel for me to pick up my car, I didn’t have enough hands to carry everything, so I put it on. Figured that would be easier than carrying it.”

“Okay.”

“One problem.” He waited, one eyebrow hiked up, and she felt trapped. It took her a second before she whispered, “It wasn’t my hat.”

“What do you mean, it wasn’t your hat? You took someone else’s hat?”

“It looked almost exactly like mine, but the band was a little different. It wasn’t my hat.”

Aaron just stared at her, and somewhere deep inside, Maisey heard a voice say, Wait for it… wait for it… it’s coming … “So it wasn’t your… No. Oh, no. No, no, no. Not again. Maisey, please tell me…”

“I wish I could, but I can’t.”

Aaron hopped up off the sofa and started to pace. “Maisey! Oh, my god. Seriously? A hat? You can’t go to a tea at a restaurant without bringing home bad juju?”

“I can’t help it! It was an honest mistake! The girls thought it was my hat too!”

“Did you go back and try to find the owner?” he bellowed.

“No! I didn’t want to come face-to-face with a murderer!”

“Did you even call?”

“No! Whoever has my hat probably doesn’t even realize it’s not theirs. And they probably got this one at some consignment store like I did with my coat, and they’re not the murderer, and they’d think I was a lunatic for asking about it. I’m sorry, babe, really, I am. I don’t want this either.”

“Where’s the number for the restaurant?” Without getting up, Maisey pointed to the gift bag sitting by the door.

Aaron cleared the room in three strides, prowled through the bag’s contents, and pulled out the brochure, then held it up. “This it?” Maisey nodded, and she watched as Aaron pulled out his phone. “Yes, hello. My name is Deputy SheriffAaron Friedman. My wife was there earlier today with some friends and she picked up the wrong hat by mistake on her way out. Have you had anybody… Red. Wide-brimmed. Otherwise… Sure. I’ll hold.” He didn’t even turn to look at Maisey as he waited, and she felt sad and alone. He was angry, but it wasn’t her fault. None of it had been done on purpose. Hell, neither had the first two. She was jolted from her thoughts when she heard him say, “Oh? Okay. Well, if they do come in looking for it, could you please give them my name and number and ask them to call me? We’ll swap out with them. It’s…”

As he rattled off his name and number, Maisey shut down. Why did it keep happening to her? Why didn’t these dead people find somebody else to reveal themselves to? She didn’t really want that responsibility, and she certainly didn’t want the danger it had led her into. Engrossed in her thoughts, she finally looked up to find Aaron standing there, looking down at her. “Okay. They’ll call me if somebody shows up looking for the hat.”

Maisey didn’t know what to say, so she just whispered, “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” In a few seconds, he sat back down on the sofa beside her, took another draw off his bottle, and sighed. “I suppose you’re going to want to pursue this.”

“Somebody died, Aaron. That’s important. I feel like if I can help, I―”

“You have to. I get it. But you don’t even know where it took place.”

“I know. I don’t know where to start. There’s only one way to find out.”

Aaron side-eyed her. “Yeah. I know.”

“But not tonight, please? I’m exhausted.”

Aaron nodded. “Yeah, you are. You need to get some sleep. And babe?”

Maisey couldn’t even look up at him. “Yeah?’

“I love you. No matter what, we’ll put this to bed. Everything will be okay.”

There was no holding back. Maisey sobbed, and she was relieved when Aaron’s arms wrapped tightly around her. “I didn’t mean for this to happen!”

“I know, baby. I know. None of this is your fault, and I know it. It’s just frustrating, that’s all. I hate what it does to you, but I know you don’t invite it. It’ll be okay. We’ll make it through. And from now on, if it can be taken off your body in public, put your name in it, okay?”

Maisey let out a little chuckle through her sobs. “Yeah. Got it. Don’t worry. It’ll never happen again.”

“Never say never. Never’s a long time.”

Aaron was right. If there was anything Maisey had learned, it was to never say never.

Sunday was long and hard, and in none of the good ways. There was plenty of laundry, and Aaron mowed the grass. Maisey scrubbed the bathrooms, cleaned out the refrigerator, and mopped the kitchen floor. When all of that was done, they went to the store, bought some groceries for the next week, and stopped for burgers so no one had to cook.

It took thirty minutes to help Murielle pick out clothes for school the next day, primarily because she kept saying, “I just wore that. I don’t want to wear it again.”

“No, you wore it week before last,” Maisey told her.

“No. I wore it two days ago.” She hadn’t, but Maisey knew there was no point in arguing with her. She was a kid and, as such, had zero perception of time. “I want a new skirt. One of those flowy things with pockets.” Maisey had no idea what she was talking about. “And a shirt with kittens on it.” Well, glad you’re not terribly specific , Maisey told herself as she thought about what that ensemble would look like. Dreadful.

“Well, we can’t do anything about that tonight. You’ll just have to wear something else tomorrow.”

“But when I get out of school, can we go get them? The kitten shirt and the poofy skirt?”

“I don’t know, but we’ll try, okay? What about this?” Maisey held up a top that was pink and blue striped.

Murielle huffed. “Well, okay. And these pants.” She reached into the closet and pulled out a pair of orange pants.

“Oh, I don’t think so. How about these?” Maisey found a pair of denim capris in the closet and held them up with the shirt. “This is nice.”

“Basic,” Murielle declared the outfit with a frown. Where the hell does she come up with this stuff , Maisey asked herself. Finally, the little girl nodded. “Okay. For now. But I’ve got to step up my fashion game.”

“Who told you that?” Maisey asked, dumbfounded.

“Margreeth.”

Oh, “suck a dick” girl? Maisey wanted to ask, but she didn’t want to bring up that phrase. If she did, Murielle would want to know what it meant, and then… The thought made Maisey shudder. Instead, she countered with, “Since when is Margreeth the fashion icon of second grade?”

“When she told everybody she’s going to be a model when she grows up.”

“Ah. I see. And how is this going to happen?”

“She says she’s gonna be discovered. So I guess that means it’ll happen.”

Wow. Wish it were that simple so I could be the queen of England , Maisey wanted to say, but she didn’t. “Well, good luck to her in all of her endeavors.”

“What’s a deavor?”

“Nothing. Just something silly that adults say. Now, let’s get ready for bed, okay? It’s about time.”

“Okay.” Murielle grabbed the cute little pajama bag lying against her pillows and started pulling them out. “Why do we wear pajamas?”

“I’m not really sure. But aren’t you glad you do? That’s why you have a pajama bag that looks like a giraffe.”

“Yep. I’m glad.” Maisey helped the little girl pull off her tee and get her pajama top on. “Mommy, am I ever going to get a brother or sister?”

Did she hear us talking? Maisey wondered as she scrambled for an answer. “Someday when the time is right, maybe you’ll get a little brother or sister.” For all anyone knew, Maisey couldn’t have kids. She didn’t know. And if she told Murielle that one day there would be a sibling… Well, she didn’t want to lie to the child. They hoped, but they couldn’t promise. That was up to Mother Nature.

“I hope so. It’s hard being the only kid.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. We’ll see. Now, time for bed. Go brush your teeth and hair and I’ll go get your daddy.”

“Okay, Mommy.” Murielle scampered off, and Maisey watched her go, her heart filled with love for the little girl. Murielle might be the only child she ever had, and that would be fine. But it would be great to have a little one.

Prayers said, kisses shared, and the light turned out, Maisey headed for the living room with the sound of Aaron’s footsteps right behind her. Once she’d taken a seat, he sat down beside her. “So, we doing this thing tonight?”

Maisey nodded. “I feel like I need to. I need an idea of who she is, where they were, who the person with her is. I’ve got nothing at this point.”

“Right. So are we doing what we’ve always done? Deck?” Maisey nodded. “Okay. Get the hat and let’s go.”

Three minutes later, Maisey was seated on the outdoor furniture’s ottoman and Aaron behind her on the settee. “Ready?” she asked.

“Ready.”

“Okay. Here goes.” After a quick glance at it, Maisey set the hat on her head and pressed it down.

Darkness engulfed her, but there was a light source from somewhere. She wasn’t sure what that was. Something hard and cold pressed against her back, behind her waist and also behind her shoulders, like… bars? But horizontal. Even though she could feel the fear, Maisey tried to keep her wits about her. “Oh, god, please, no! I don’t know where he is! I swear, I don’t!” More of another voice, and then the one in her head spoke again. “I swear, if I knew, I’d tell you!” More of the unintelligible voice before the one in her head said, “It won’t. He doesn’t love me anymore, so if you think this will get him here, you’re wrong! Please! Please don’t! I…”

“Tell me where he is!”

“I told you, I don’t know where he is!”

“I can’t take a chance on you telling him I’m here and looking for him,” a menacing voice growled.

“I’m not going to tell him anything! I don’t know where he is! Just let me go. I don’t know you. I don’t know who you are or where you’re from.”

“Yes, you do.”

“I don’t! I’m no threat to you! If you’ll just―”

“One last chance. Where is he?”

“I told you, I don’t know! I… No! Please! Please don’t! Please…”

As she felt herself falling, the visions and sounds faded from Maisey’s consciousness, and she found herself leaned back against Aaron, staring up at the sky. “Babe, you back?”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m back. Sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for. Learn anything?”

“Yeah.” Maisey sat up and stretched her neck back and forth. “Whoever he is, he’s looking for someone. And she doesn’t know where he is.”

“The person being looked for?”

“Yeah. She keeps telling him she doesn’t know, but he says she has to be gotten rid of because he can’t take a chance on the person he’s looking for knowing he’s there and looking. Which she tells him won’t matter, because she doesn’t know where that person is and they’re not together anymore. But he doesn’t believe her.”

“No sign of who she is or where they are?”

“No. Weird light source. And there was something pressing into her back.”

“Like a pole or something?”

“No. Like horizontal bars. Or beams. I’m not sure.”

“Anything else? Like temperature? Or wind?”

Maisey thought about it for a second. “Yeah. There was a breeze. A stiff one.”

“Hmmm.” She could see the gears turning in Aaron’s mind. “But it was dark, right?”

“Yeah. You know what the old folks say. ‘Evil does its work in darkness.’ That sure seems to be true.” Maisey sat for a minute, thinking. There were no other details she could recall. Aaron asked her something, and she turned. “I’m sorry. What?”

“I said, another hoodie?”

She thought about it for a second. “Actually, no. This time it was a ball cap.”

“Well, that’s a new twist.”

“Yeah. It is, isn’t it?” It was the only new twist, but it was something. Maybe with another couple of tries, she’d have more. But right that minute, all that mattered was sleep.

Fun as it was, it had been an exhausting weekend. Too bad the end wasn’t as great as the beginning.

“I’m going to the Garrisons’ house. Probably be back by two thirty,” Maisey said as she picked up all of her paperwork and stuffed it into her messenger bag.

“Okay. If Blair asks, I’ll tell her where you are,” Christa told Maisey and waved her out the door. Christa had been their case manager coordinator for as long as Maisey had been there, but as a boss, Blair was fairly new as the office manager. Still, she and Blair got along, and as long as she got her work done, Blair didn’t seem to care what Maisey did.

She set out for the Garrisons’ house, but not before she stopped at a fast-food place and gobbled down a child’s-size sandwich and a small drink. Back in the car, she turned on the stereo and cranked it up. Nineties rock. She loved it. The sun was out, it was pleasant and not too hot, and the morning had gone well. She’d managed to get a young mother enrolled in a program that would help pay for childcare while she worked, and found an adult learning program for a father coping with a grown disabled daughter. The drive to the Garrison house wasn’t long, and she sang along with the songs as she drove.

Dinner was in question, and she was thinking about what kind of meat to have when she suddenly slammed on the car’s brakes in the middle of the road. The car behind her skidded too, and the sound of the horn blaring brought her to her senses. As they pulled around her, the passenger popped her a bird and yelled something, but Maisey didn’t really pay attention. Her focus was elsewhere.

It was as though she couldn’t go forward. There was nothing in the road; there was nothing wrong with her car. But Maisey was frozen. She glanced around, frantic to figure it out. There was no one behind her and no traffic coming toward her. But dead ahead was the bridge over the Laurel River. As soon as that thought registered, a sense of nausea overwhelmed her. What the hell was going on? She tried to pull off to the side of the road, but the car wouldn’t go forward, so she slipped it into reverse, backed up for about fifty feet, and pulled off. That worked fine.

Once she was parked, Maisey got out and looked around. There was nothing unusual there. A car whizzed by, and it didn’t even slow, just powered on down the highway, so she walked in that direction. But when she got to the same spot as the car had been, she stopped. Her feet just wouldn’t let her move forward. “What the hell is going on?” she asked herself aloud. There was no explanation. None. It didn’t make sense. When she got back in the car, she pulled forward, but the same thing happened―the car stopped cold. That was the moment when she realized her foot was on the brake, but try as she might, she couldn’t move it onto the accelerator.

Maisey sat there behind the wheel, staring ahead. What was it that was stopping her? She backed down the highway again and onto the shoulder, then sat there, looking around. There had to be a clue there somewhere. Several cars passed her as she sat there, and they seemed to have no problem at all. Whatever it was had to do with her . But what was it? And how the hell was she going to explain it to her supervisor?

The ringing of her phone startled her, and she pulled it out. “Hey, babe.”

Aaron’s voice was chipper. “Hey, honey! Having a good day?”

“Actually, no. I’m not.”

It was quiet for a few seconds before Aaron said, “I had this weird impression that something’s going on. What’s up?” Maisey took a couple of minutes to explain what had happened.

“Where are you now?”

“I’m sitting in my car, pointed toward the Laurel River bridge over on Keavy Road.”

“I’ll be right there.”

She was thankful for his interest and willingness to help, but she felt awful about him giving up part of his afternoon for her. “Oh, honey, you don’t have to―”

“Nonsense. We’ve talked about increasing patrols out that way. I’ll be there in just a minute. You sit tight, beautiful.” And he hung up.

Maisey was mystified. What the hell was happening? She got out of the car twice more and tried to walk down the highway, but both times, the same thing happened, so she went back to the car and sat there, thinking. The car was warm, she was comfortable, and her eyelids drooped. Sleep had almost found her when she felt something on the car and checked her rearview to see Aaron’s cruiser behind her. That handsome, familiar face filled her window. “Hey, babe!”

“Hi.”

“Get in the cruiser and I’ll take you to your appointment.”

“Okay.” Maisey let him open the door and help her out, then grabbed her bag and her messenger bag and walked back to his cruiser.

Once she was in and her seatbelt was buckled, he looked at her and smiled. “Ready?”

Maisey nodded. “Yep. Ready.” Aaron pulled out onto the highway, passed Maisey’s car, and kept going.

As soon as they passed the point where she’d felt forced to stop, a wave of anxiety and nausea broke over Maisey. “Oh, god.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I feel sick.”

“Sick? Like …”

“Like physically ill! Like I’m going to puke! Oh, god, Aaron, this is horrible!” Her eyes were watering and she could taste bile in her mouth.

“Let me get you to the other side! Hang on!” Aaron stepped down on the gas and the cruiser shot ahead. Once it rolled out past the other side of the bridge, he glanced over at Maisey. “You okay?”

Maisey sat there for a second and took stock. “Uh, yeah. I’m… better. I feel better. Honestly, I do.” There was still a nasty metallic taste in her mouth, and sweat beads still stood on her forehead, but she did feel better. “I’m okay.”

Aaron kept driving. “Tell me where I’m going. I’ll take you to your appointment and then drive you back to your car.”

“You don’t have to―”

“I do. Stop it. Let me do this. It’ll be fine. Tell me where I’m going, Maisey, or I’ll drive around in circles all afternoon.”

Ten minutes later, they were at the client’s house. Before she climbed out of the cruiser to go to the door, she leaned over and kissed Aaron on the cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered to him.

“You’re very welcome. I’ll be right here when you finish. Love you, baby.”

“Love you too.” Maisey headed to the client’s door, then spun and gave him a little wave before ringing the doorbell.

She was only there about forty minutes and, sure enough, when she came out, Aaron was sitting right there. “Thanks for doing this. You didn’t have to,” she said as soon as she’d strapped herself into the car.

“Yes I did. Otherwise, you would’ve sat there on the side of the road, unable to go anywhere. At least this way you got your appointment finished.”

“True.” Maisey pulled the paperwork out of her messenger bag and as Aaron drove, she worked on the forms. There were at least three she had to fill out, so she busied herself with the questions asked and coming up with the answers that would explain what she’d seen and what they’d talked about.

Halfway through the second form, it felt like someone had slapped the papers from her hand, and they went flying. That horrible nauseous feeling passed over her again, and she gripped the door handle. “Oh, god, no. Ugh. I feel…” Words wouldn’t come. And just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, Aaron stopped right in the middle of the bridge. “Oh, god, Aaron, keep driving! Oh, uhhh, I feel―”

“Get out,” he ordered.

“What?”

“Get out. Let’s see if we can figure this out.” He closed his car door, came around the back end of the cruiser, and opened her door. “Come on. I’ll help you.”

“Oh, god, Aaron, I’m gonna throw up! Oh, please,” Maisey whined with her hand over her mouth.

“Here. Stand right here and take a deep breath.” He spun her until she was standing with her back against the railings.

“Oh my god!” Maisey shrieked so loudly that she startled even herself.

Aaron jumped a little. “What?”

“This sensation!”

“Being sick?”

“No! The railings of the bridge! That’s what was up against the woman’s back! It was either this bridge or one similar to it.”

Aaron stood there for a minute. “I’ll look at some pictures of the other bridges in the area and we’ll see which ones have railings like this one. But I’m confused about something.”

“As though I’m not?”

The smile he flashed at her was gentle. “I get it. But look, the hat… You accidentally picked that up in Lexington. And here we are on this bridge. Do you think it’s possible that the woman was from here?”

Maisey thought for a second, and then a sense of peace fell over her. “I told you, I’m not looking for this. These things are seeking me out. So yes. I think it’s likely. Highly likely, matter of fact.”

“Good. So tonight you can put the hat on again and we’ll see what happens. And Maisey?”

A sadness fell over her as she looked up at him. “Yeah?”

Aaron took her hands, and her heart lightened. “I love you. We’ll get to the bottom of this. Hopefully, this will never happen again.”

“But if it does?”

“If it does, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll still be right here. I’m your partner in crime. Um, crime solving. I’m your partner in crime solving . We can do this, Maise. I know we can.”

Maisey leaned in and pressed her forehead to his chest, their hands still clasped. “I can do anything as long as I know you’re in my corner.”

“Then prepare for your world to be crowded, babe, because we’re in this corner together.”

That was all Maisey needed to know.

Murielle had fought tooth and nail to stay up. There was some show on that her friends watched, and she insisted she had to see it too so she’d know what was going on and could talk about it with them. But Aaron had looked at some of the episodes and decided it wasn’t a good idea. “I really don’t think I want a TV show teaching my daughter about birth control,” he said when he realized one of the episodes was about a small girl finding her sister’s pills.

“I don’t want a TV show teaching my second-grade daughter about birth control. If a TV show teaches my sixth-grade daughter about birth control, I haven’t done my job well,” Maisey added.

“Agreed. No show for Murielle. If her friends don’t like her because of that, she needs new friends.” Maisey wanted to agree, but Aaron didn’t understand the world kids lived in. If push came to shove, she’d sit down with Murielle and watch it―with Aaron’s approval, of course. She wouldn’t let her child become a social pariah because of their bugaboos, but she still thought he was right.

They waited until Murielle had been down for at least two hours before Maisey picked up the hat and they headed out the back door. Once they were on the deck, she sat down on the ottoman and looked at the hat. It was funny… The thing was very ordinary-looking. Just a big red felt hat with a super-wide brim and a ribbon for a band. Nothing elaborate. Nothing noteworthy. Sort of plain except for its color and size. “Okay, you ready?” Aaron asked when he’d taken a seat behind her.

“I think so.” Maisey took a deep breath, held out the hat, then lifted it, held it above her head, let it drop, and pressed down on the crown.

Instead of the total darkness she’d experienced before, it was still dark, but there was light here and there. There was still some kind of light source, and Maisey tried to take note of the surroundings, even though she was looking through the woman’s eyes. The hard and cold sensation against her back was still there, but she could smell something too―water. Maybe it was a bridge. “Oh, god, please, no! I don’t know where he is! I swear, I don’t!”

“I think you need to tell me the truth. Where’s he holed up?”

“I swear, if I knew, I’d tell you!”

“Maybe knowing I have you will make him a little more amiable to showing his filthy face,” the male voice growled out.

“It won’t. He doesn’t love me anymore, so if you think this will get him here, you’re wrong! Please! Please don’t! I…”

“Tell me where he is!”

“I told you, I don’t know where he is!”

“I can’t take a chance on you telling him I’m here and looking for him.”

“I’m not going to tell him anything! I don’t know where he is! Just let me go. I don’t know you. I don’t know who you are or where you’re from.”

“Yes, you do.”

“I don’t! I’m no threat to you! If you’ll just―”

“One last chance. Where is he?”

“I told you, I don’t know! I… No! Please! Please don’t! Please…”

“You could’ve been more helpful, Hazel.” The sensation of falling started, then ended abruptly. That was a curiosity.

A voice cut through the haze. “Maisey? You with me?”

“Uh, yeah.” Maisey sat there, stunned. Why did the falling sensation stop so fast? Was she really on a bridge? Then she remembered the very last thing the man had said. “Oh, fuck.”

“What?”

Maisey jerked upright and spun to look at Aaron. “Her name. It was Hazel.”

Aaron gripped her upper arms and grinned. “Thatta girl! That did it! We have a name! And with a name, we can find her.”

“Where do we start?”

“We start with the sheriff’s department to see if there were any missing persons reports filed or bodies recovered with that name. And we go from there.”

“Sounds good.” As excited as Maisey was at the prospect, she was scared too. Every time they found a victim, they found a suspect.

And the suspect always found her.

The next day yielded nothing. That was what Aaron found―nothing. Not a whiff of anybody who was missing. No one suspected to have been a victim of foul play. “I don’t understand. Somebody has to have missed her,” Maisey said quietly, thinking about how sad it was that no one seemed to.

Aaron shrugged. “I’ve got two more aces in the hole, and those are the ones I’ll play in the morning.”

“What are they?”

“Checking in Laurel and McCreary counties. Might be something in one of those. If she went over the side of the bridge where we were today, her body might’ve drifted down there.”

“That’s a long way, and a lot of twists and turns,” Maisey pointed out.

“One thing we’ve learned is that the time of year and temperatures play a role in things like that. We have no idea exactly when this took place or what conditions were at the time.”

“Okay, yeah, right. That’s true.” A little spark of hope kicked up in Maisey’s brain. Maybe that would yield something. Maybe not, but maybe.

“There’s just one thing I don’t understand. The hat. How did it wind up in somebody else’s hands if it went into the river with her?”

“Maybe it didn’t. Maybe it fell off. I mean, I never experienced her actually hitting the water, just falling, and then suddenly, it was over.”

“Okay. So on the way down it fell off,” Aaron said.

“Or the wind blew it off before she went down and it landed on the bridge,” Maisey offered.

Aaron nodded. “That sounds plausible. Do us a favor. Call the restaurant again tomorrow and see if anybody returned your hat and asked about their own.”

Maisey nodded. “Okay.” At least it was something she could do to feel like she was actively working on finding the woman and the killer, and it beat sitting on the road, trying to cross a bridge and being unable to.

“It’s been a weird, unsettling day. Let’s go to bed,” Aaron suggested, and Maisey nodded without a word. She’d had three clients cancel on her that day, and she’d found herself sitting at a desk in the office, staring at the walls. And she hated that. When she wasn’t busy, the day went much, much slower and she was even more tired in the evening than she would’ve been if she’d run and run all day.

As they were getting ready for bed, Maisey let out a giggle. Aaron spun to look at her. “What’s so funny?”

“Did you know Cherilyn and Shaw are trying to get pregnant?”

“No! Seriously?” Maisey nodded and giggled again. “Well, I’ll be damned. Wonder what they’re doing right now?” he said with a laugh.

“I have no idea, but I know what I want to be doing right now.” Maisey rose up on her knees and knee-walked to the edge of the bed, stopping right in front of where Aaron stood. “And it has nothing to do with them and everything to do with you.”

“I like the sound of that!”

Thirty minutes later, Aaron kissed her deeply and Maisey sighed into him. Making love with that man was everything to her. There were no two people in the world who belonged together more than they did, of that she was sure. He pulled back and stared into her eyes. “Think we need more practice? Because I have to say, I thought I did pretty good.”

“You did excellent, sexy guy. And yeah, we need more practice, but maybe not tonight.”

“Yeah. We’ll start again with the search tomorrow and maybe I can come up with something more than just Hazel.” Aaron rolled to his back and Maisey settled into his left side, her cheek resting on his pec. “In the meantime, why don’t you try posting on some community social media pages, see if you can find out whose hat you have.”

“Good thinking. I’ll do that. And babe?”

“Yeah, cutie?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Maisey Maureen. You’re the answer to all my prayers.”

Maisey wanted to ask him why he’d pray for craziness and chaos, but she didn’t. She just sighed and thought about the next day. There had to be more information out there.

Now to find it.