Chapter Twenty-Nine Piper
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Piper
Piper’s feet pounded out a cadence of unanswerable questions as her shoes hit the pavement over and over again on the bike path along the George Washington Memorial Parkway.
Are we safe? Are we safe? Are we safe?
But the answers were as elusive now as they’d been three miles ago when she started her run.
She needed this. She hadn’t been sleeping, thanks to the news about Hawkeye Slaughter’s disappearance, her disturbing visit to Bruno Orlov’s house, the bloody notebook paper nailed to the tree, Caitlin’s desire to spend more time alone in her room and less time with the rest of the family.
And her mother-in-law had started emailing academic studies intimating that her granddaughters would have “suboptimal social and emotional outcomes” and wind up making DIY porn on OnlyFans if Piper pulled them out of school.
And then she’d awoken to the latest threat from Hawkeye Slaughter, posted on X at 3:00 a.m. The revolution is coming. First person up against the wall with a bullet in her head: Piper Mondello #FascistsMustDie
She glanced at her Apple Watch and slowed her pace as she jogged off the bike path, crossed over the stone bridge, and turned onto the wide street that fed into her neighborhood.
Time to cool down and head home. She’d asked Kiersten and Rosamund to keep an eye on the house while she was gone, but she wasn’t comfortable leaving the girls home alone when Brendan was out of town, even for a short run.
She slowed to a walk as she approached Haskel Avenue and the massive construction project underway on this street two blocks down from Beaverbrook Lane. A new sign had just gone up. She moved closer to take a look.
A year ago, this corner of Haskel had held a single home, a beautiful old brick mansion set back from the street on a four-acre lot.
Now the trees were gone, and the skeletal frames of six homes under construction stood on the lot.
With the trees uprooted and hauled away, the Potomac sparkled in the late-afternoon light behind the partially constructed homes.
She approached the sign and stopped to catch her breath.
Potomac Crest
4 Bedroom homes with river views, starting at $2.5 million
She frowned at the sign, conflicted. If these new homes were selling for $2.5 million, then surely her own home a couple of streets over had risen in value as well?
But if they sold their current home, she’d have to live in a shipping container because she and Brendan could never afford to buy another one in their current neighborhood, given these prices.
She squinted at the words running across the bottom.
This project brought to you by The Dynamo Development Corporation, Davis Homebuilders, and The Davis Real Estate Group.
Dynamo Development sounded vaguely familiar. And Davis Homebuilders and Davis Real Estate must be the Influencer’s husband, Trey Davis, and his father, Chip.
Interesting. They were doing this project, plus the two homes under construction on Beaverbrook. Business must be good.
She walked the rest of the way home to finish cooling down. As she turned onto Beaverbrook, she stumbled, almost tripping over a small pile of crumbling bricks that had fallen away from the curved sign announcing the entrance to the cul-de-sac.
She bent and moved the bricks away from the sidewalk, closer to the sign, so no one else would trip. The Beaverbrook on the Potomac sign had clearly seen better days. Maybe they could take up a neighborhood collection and hire someone to fix it.
As she approached her own house, she squinted at the front porch, where a package sat.
She sighed. How many times had she told the girls they had to ask before ordering fancy blow-dryers, sparkly headbands, and inflatable unicorns on ?
She jogged up her front steps and examined the package.
Emblazoned across the box she read the word Perishable, along with the logo for Pet Lovers’ Depot, and her name and address.
But their dog had died six months ago . . . they didn’t have any pets.
She carried the package into the kitchen and contemplated it for a long moment.
Taking a deep breath, she slid a knife under the flap and opened it.