Chapter Twenty-Three
Meredith slipped out of the barn quietly, careful not to wake Wade.
Their passionate interlude had lasted several hours. Night had fallen. She snuck into the house and tiptoed to the office. Once there, she booted up the laptop.
She’d given Wade a lot of details about her past, and he was a smart man. If he searched for missing women from surrounding states, he’d find the article about her disappearance. He would uncover her real name.
But what would he do with the knowledge?
Would he file an official report, or take the law into his own hands?
Would he make it his mission to arrest Tripp, or would he let it go?
The bottom line was that she couldn’t afford to take the chance.
At some point, Tripp would catch up to her, and Wade would put himself between them.
She would never forgive herself if he got hurt trying to protect her.
Wade had mentioned her sister, who was now a college student at Oklahoma State University.
Amanda had probably reported her missing.
Meredith didn’t participate in any social media sites, for obvious reasons, but she knew that Amanda did.
Meredith typed the words AMANDA ROSE OSU into the search bar.
She found a page with a shocking message, posted this morning. Meredith couldn’t puzzle out the title, but she could read her own name and the word missing. There were several photos of her at various ages.
Worse, Tripp Gilley was mentioned.
In a panic, Meredith used the screen reader app to listen to the words at low volume. The title was Missing Rose.
Hello friends. I’m hosting an event to spread the word about my sister, Meredith, who’s been missing two years.
She wrote a letter about joining a religious cult, but she never arrived at their commune.
We haven’t heard from her since. I suspect her former boyfriend, country music star Tripp Gilley.
I think he knows something about her disappearance. Let’s work together to find her!
Beneath the message, Amanda had offered a link to the lyrics of “Poison Rose” as evidence of the connection to Tripp. She’d added details of the event, including an address. It was happening tomorrow at the university’s clock tower.
Meredith stared at the screen in horror.
Her sister had called out Tripp on social media.
Then she’d disclosed her exact location.
If Tripp got wind of this, he would send someone to her sister’s college to silence her.
Tripp had carefully cultivated an image of a man who’d been wronged by women, not the other way around.
He wouldn’t allow her sister or anyone else to damage his professional reputation.
Meredith needed to warn Amanda about the danger.
She didn’t know her sister’s phone number, so she spent the next several minutes trying to send a private message on the social media site, but the option was blocked.
She jumped to her feet in frustration. Then she remembered the landline for the farm, which she’d memorized.
Racing into the kitchen, she dialed it with a shaky hand.
“This number is disconnected or no longer in service.”
Meredith hung up the receiver. Her dad must have finally bought a cell phone and canceled his landline.
Modern technology strikes again. She couldn’t communicate with anyone in her family.
Her only other close relative, her grandmother, was dead.
She considered posting a comment on the social media page, but it was public and might be traceable.
Instead, she attempted to call the college directly.
Although she tried several different offices, including campus security, it was Sunday. Only answering machines picked up.
Her chest tightened with anxiety. She paced up and down the hallway. She didn’t know what to do next.
“I have to go there,” she said out loud. “I have to go to Oklahoma.”
Maybe she was overreacting, anticipating danger around every corner.
Tripp probably didn’t know about the post yet.
He was a busy man. He was performing at a concert on the East Coast, and his main residence was near Memphis.
If he sent someone to OSU to intimidate her sister, that person wouldn’t arrive immediately.
On the other hand, Tripp was powerful, vindictive, and resourceful. He would have alerts set up to notify him the instant her name was mentioned online, and a team of thugs ready to be deployed at the drop of a hat.
Damn it.
She calculated the distance to Oklahoma State University. It was about ten hours away. If she drove all night, she could arrive before the event started. But she had to leave now—without saying goodbye.
Wade would never forgive her.
She didn’t regret a single moment she’d spent with him.
She hoped they’d get another chance to be together, but she wouldn’t count on it.
She might not make it back to Lost Lake.
Visiting her sister’s college was a risk.
Tripp’s thugs could already be there, waiting for her, ready to follow her to a more secluded location.
She would have to exercise extreme caution with every move she made.
She entered her room with a heavy heart.
She’d already packed an overnight bag with clothes and essentials.
In the kitchen, she selected snack items, dog food, and water.
Then she retreated to the office, where she found pen and paper.
She wrote a note to Wade in painstaking script and placed it on her pillow.
Footsteps creaked in the hallway, and the faint aroma of pot smoke drifted through the air.
Wynona.
When Meredith turned around, the other woman was standing in the doorway. She had a roach clip on a jeweled chain, and Chico tucked under one arm. Instead of tragic and tortured, she looked ethereal and wise.
“I’m leaving,” Meredith said.
Wynona blinked in confusion. “Did you get in a fight with Wade?”
“No,” Meredith said. “It’s a family emergency. I have to go.”
“Where’s your family?”
“Kansas, mostly. I’ll only be gone a few days.”
Wynona narrowed her eyes at the vague answer. Meredith wondered if Chico was getting a contact high from the close proximity to her joint. She gestured for the Chihuahua, and Wynona handed him over.
“Are you taking the dogs?” Wynona asked.
Meredith had been wrestling with this decision. She’d bought a truck with the best intentions, but it wasn’t sensible to bring all three dogs. Daisy didn’t travel well. King needed space to roam. They would both be happier, and safer, here at the ranch. “I’ll take Chico.”
Wynona shrugged and inhaled another drag.
“Can you tell Wade goodbye for me?” Meredith asked.
She sputtered smoke. “Why don’t you tell him?”
“He’s asleep.”
“You couldn’t say anything while he was awake? You had to screw him senseless and sneak away?”
Meredith flushed at the criticism. “He was upset. You accused him of murder.”
Wynona took another drag, not denying it.
“You’re punishing him for someone else’s mistakes, Nona. He’s not his father. He didn’t hurt you.”
“You don’t know anything about it.”
“I know you’re breaking his heart.”
“That makes two of us.”
Meredith brushed by her and continued down the hall.
She noted the shotgun hanging in the gun rack once again.
The cake she’d baked to commemorate Billy’s birthday sat on the kitchen table, abandoned.
Wade’s bouquet had been tossed in the trash can.
Wynona followed her to the door and watched her exit.
Meredith paused in the open doorway. “I’m not running away from Wade,” she said, clearing her throat. “I’m coming back.”
“He won’t be here when you do,” Wynona said.
She turned and left with that pronouncement echoing in her ears, along with the sound of the door slamming. Wade didn’t come out to investigate the noise, to her relief. She put Daisy and King in the dog run for the night.
“Watch over Wynona, okay?” she said to King. “She’s a wreck.”
She wasn’t the only one.
King sat on his haunches, alert and ready.
He was an excellent guard dog, and he would protect the ranch.
Daisy would give indiscriminate affection.
She licked Meredith’s cheek, her tail wagging.
Meredith hugged both dogs goodbye. Then she hurried down the driveway with Chico.
Her ears strained for sounds of Wade emerging from the barn. Her backpack jostled with every step.
Even when she was half a mile down the road, she didn’t feel safe from discovery. It reminded her of the day she’d left Tripp. She’d planned a meticulous escape. She’d lived in fear for weeks afterward, expecting him to catch up with her.
She broke into a run and didn’t let up until she reached the truck.
Heart racing, she unlocked the door and deposited Chico on the front seat.
He sniffed the unfamiliar old-man smells while she took off her backpack and climbed behind the wheel.
She started the engine, maneuvered onto the road, and drove in stealthy darkness for a few miles.
When she reached the highway, she switched on the headlights and accelerated to the max.
It wasn’t a smooth ride, but the vehicle chugged along gamely.
The gearshift was stiff, the shocks squeaked over every bump, and upholstery springs poked her bottom.
Chico, unbothered by life’s worries, curled up and napped. His little paws twitched with doggy dreams.
She made it to Junction before midnight.
She stopped only for fuel and coffee. She rumbled past Mason, and Llano.
The largest cities on the route were Fort Worth and Oklahoma City, which she planned to bypass to avoid traffic.
Thoughts of Wade and Wynona plagued her, their words repeating in her mind.
I’m coming back.
He won’t be here when you do.
Wade’s voice was softer, gentler, and even more haunting: Promise me you won’t leave without saying goodbye.