Chapter 10
Berkley opened her eyes, groaned slightly as she sat up. And almost had a panic attack.
She looked around the laundry room she was lying in—had been dumped in? What the hell was going on… Oh no. No, no, no… It was happening again. And she knew this laundry room well, unfortunately.
It was her ex-husband’s. A set of his scrubs hung from the bar over the washing machine and dryer, a few empty hangers next to it.
As she struggled to her feet, she touched the side of her neck, winced. Had someone done something to her? Drugged her?
Through a haze, she took stock of herself. In her pajamas from last night.
And she remembered getting home after her business dinner with Nick Storm.
She’d showered, washed her face, gotten into her pajamas and then fallen asleep watching one of her comfort shows. A comedy about a chaotic family in the Midwest.
And yet here she was, with no memory of how she’d gotten here.
She looked around the room, didn’t see her phone anywhere. She didn’t even have shoes on.
Clearly someone was screwing with her. Trying to set her up.
And the why didn’t even matter at this point.
Even as terror congealed in her gut, she forced herself to think. First she slipped on an oversized pair of sneakers, then eased open the door that led to Henry’s living room.
Inside, his home was quiet. He hadn’t changed much since they’d split up, no surprise.
He’d barely let her make any changes when she’d moved in and had always made it clear that it was “his place.” Ugh, whatever, she needed to find him.
Because if someone really had dumped her here with the same intentions as at Reed’s place…
She was tempted to call out, but a little voice stopped her. She didn’t want to believe that Henry was behind this, but just in case, she stayed quiet.
She floated through the house on quiet feet, glad his shoes didn’t squeak. At his bedroom door, she paused, then steeled herself as she nudged the partially open door fully open with her foot.
The hinge made the faintest creaking, the sound overpronounced in the unnaturally quiet house. She could see a lump under the fluffy cream-colored covers, went to step inside, but froze.
Sirens sounded in the distance. Faint, but getting closer.
Oh god, it really was happening again. She couldn’t see if Henry was in the bed and couldn’t risk checking. Even so, her instinct told her that someone had murdered him. And maybe they wanted it to look like she’d done it. Why else would she be here?
A sob caught in her throat, but now wasn’t the time to panic or freak out. She had to act. To move.
To get the hell out of here!
She raced back to the laundry room. As adrenaline surged through her, she grabbed a dark hoodie from the laundry basket and slipped it on.
She pulled the hood over her head and tightened the string around her face.
Then she snagged Henry’s gloves tossed on top of the shoe rack.
Gloves she’d bought him almost four years ago.
They’d been divorced for two years, she was surprised he still had them. Not that it mattered now.
She had to get out of here.
Before the cops arrived.
Or anyone saw her.
She knew she was going to have to tell her sister everything, but she couldn’t do it this way.
Couldn’t get charged by the cops for something she hadn’t done.
Because then she’d be locked up and they’d have already made their decision about her.
And a jury would absolutely convict her.
She would be painted as a jealous or spurned ex-wife.
The man was a god around here so there was no way she’d get a fair trial.
She knew how the world worked. People in this town judged her simply for having the audacity to divorce Henry.
And maybe she was wrong. Maybe…he wasn’t really dead and there was another explanation for her being here. Maybe the person in his bed had only been sleeping.
Keeping her head down, she slipped out of the laundry room into the attached garage. Her heart rate jacked up as the alarm went off.
Wait, so she’d been in his house with the alarm set?
What. The. Hell.
Unable to hear the police siren anymore over the noise, she hurried out the side door into his backyard.
Since she knew where his cameras were, she kept her head angled down and jumped the fence. Her heart was in her throat as she raced across the neighbor’s backyard, the constant thud, thud, thud a staccato tattoo telling her to run like hell.
And never look back.
The sun wasn’t up yet, but it had to be close given the way the sky was lightening into faint oranges and purples. Which meant there would be people out soon.
Knowing that she had to get somewhere safe—to hide—before someone saw her running around in pajamas, she headed to the closest place she knew of.
Twenty minutes later, Micah opened his front door for her, frowning as he took in her attire. And the fear on her face as she gasped for breath.
“I woke up in Henry’s place. In his laundry room,” she blurted. “Someone must have drugged me at home and dragged me there.” She touched the side of her neck as she spoke.
Tugging her inside, he shut the door behind her and leaned down to inspect her neck. “Someone stuck you with something.” He looked absolutely murderous.
She froze at a sound somewhere in the back of his house, but he waved it off.
“It’s fine. I’ve got someone over.”
“Oh.” She shook herself, not caring at the moment.
“Tell me everything.”
She quickly recapped how she’d woken up in the laundry room, saw what looked like a body in Henry’s bed, then raced over here. Then said, “We need to tell Krystal.”
Micah was silent for a long moment, but slowly nodded. “Fine, but it’ll be on your terms. Change out of these clothes. I’m holding on to all of them—and I’ll burn them if necessary. I’ve got clothes you can wear and then we’re going to get your blood tested.”
“How—”
“I’ve got a friend who owes me a bunch of favors. You need your blood tested now while we can still detect…whatever might be in your system.”
Moving on autopilot, she followed him into his guest room and changed into the clothes he left behind.
She couldn’t imagine who had done this to her, was trying to set her up for not one, but two murders.
None of this made any sense, but she forced her mind to calm because she was starting to spiral.
When she came out, they headed straight to the local hospital. She was surprised when a nurse she recognized met them in one of the quieter lobbies.
The man simply nodded at Micah, then motioned for them to follow him deeper into the hospital.
She let the two of them talk to each other as the man drew her blood with surprising ease. His bedside manner was incredibly gentle, and for that she was grateful.
So much so that stupid tears started leaking out of her eyes as he put a Band-Aid on her arm.
“It’s going to be okay,” he murmured, holding her hand gently. “If you need more testing than this…we can ensure privacy. And a female nurse.”
She blinked away the tears when she realized what he thought. “No. I don’t…” She cleared her throat. “That’s not why I’m crying. I’m just grateful you’re being so kind.”
He patted her hand again. “I’ll get this worked up off the books and we’ll figure out what’s going on.”
Her brother had told him that they suspected she’d been drugged, but not any other details. So of course he assumed she’d been assaulted. Or potentially so anyway. If she didn’t still have her tampon in, she’d have assumed the same thing.
Her brother stepped out into the hallway with him, and even though she tried to eavesdrop, all she could hear was murmuring.
When Micah came back in, she stood. “I’m ready to leave.” She needed to talk to Krystal, even if she was dreading it.
She might not want to deal with the cops, but she trusted her sister.
Micah nodded. “Fine, but we’re going to your place first. You’re showering and changing into something comfortable.
And I’m contacting a lawyer. You’re going to voluntarily go to the police station to talk to Krystal—with your lawyer present.
And don’t argue,” he snapped when she went to open her mouth.
“I’m not. I just wanted to say thank you.” She rushed at him for a hug, taking him off guard as he stumbled back.
He made an oomph sound, but held her tight. “We’re going to figure this out, I promise.”
“And you’re going to tell me who was at your place this morning,” she murmured into his chest, mostly because she needed to talk about anything other than what was happening.
He let out a startled laugh and stepped back. “Seriously? Now?”
“Come on, I need something to distract me,” she said as they headed back to the parking garage.
“Yeah well it’s not going to be with this.”
“Oooh, so this is maybe serious?” And she had a feeling she knew exactly who’d been at his place. Her brother might have an incredible poker face most of the time, but he let it slip on occasion.
“This is none of your business.”
“Fine.” She sighed as another wave of emotion swept over her. “I still can’t believe this is happening,” she whispered as he drove them back to her place.
“I know. And we’re going to get to the bottom of this. You’ve got cameras and a security system—”
“I know I set it last night!” She did it without thought every evening as part of her nightly ritual. “And if I had my damn phone, I could check the log to make sure.”
“Your phone is at your place. I checked the location sharing app on mine.”
Oh, right.
“You’re going to need to take off your location sharing from anyone who’s not family—and probably Krystal for right now.”
“I can’t do that.” It would hurt their sister, who’d done nothing but look out for all of them since they were kids.
“You have to. And you’re going to be changing your security system PIN and any password I can think of that’s necessary. You’re too free with that shit.”
He wasn’t wrong. Her friends, her cleaning service, and a few others off the top of her head all had her security code. She was busy with work and sometimes people needed to drop stuff off so…she gave them a temporary passcode. And then never deleted it from her dashboard.
“You’re not even arguing?”
“Don’t be smug,” she muttered.
Then the bottom fell out of her world as he pulled down her street to see two patrol cars sitting in her driveway, lights flashing.
“Oh my god,” she breathed out.
“Duck,” Micah ordered.
Without pause, she slumped in her seat as he kept driving. “Oh my god, oh my god. Was Krystal there?”
“Yep. And she definitely saw me. But she’s not following us.”
“Okay, let’s head to the station now and show up before I’m arrested. I’ll call a lawyer. I know a couple from some jobs.” And they were so damn expensive, but right about now wasn’t the time to be frugal. Not when her freedom was in jeopardy.
“I’ve got someone in mind,” her brother said.
“Someone who owes you a favor?”
“Sort of.” His tone was grim, and she wasn’t sure how to take it, but she trusted him.
“I know some good lawyers. You don’t have to do this.”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”
“Fair enough,” she murmured, leaning back against the headrest as the weight of everything settled on her.
When Krystal’s name flashed on the dash of Micah’s SUV as an incoming call, they both froze for a moment.
But Micah hit the answer button.
Before he could even say hello, Krystal whispered, “If you happen to know where Berkley is, she’s wanted for questioning in the murder of her ex-husband. Tell her to come to the station but only with a lawyer and not to say a word without said lawyer.”
The line went dead.
“You think she knows I’m with you?”
“Yeah.” His grim tone mirrored exactly how she was feeling.