Falling into the Horror Boss's Lap novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Missing Persons

Alden Latrobe was waiting in Donovan's front hall with a cup of Noreen's tea.

He looked completely at home.

Two uniformed officers stood by the stairs, and a plainclothes detective with a tired face held a clipboard against his chest.

The detective's eyes went from Donovan to me and then to the paint on my fingers.

"Ms. Ferrand," he said. "You've been reported missing."

"I'm standing in front of you."

"A report says you were taken from the Meridian Theatre by Mr. Stroud against your will."

"By whom?"

"By me," Alden said.

He set the cup down on a table that cost more than my car.

"Billie, sweetheart, I'm not angry. Dalton's frantic. You've had a terrible season. Your father's passing, the stress of the wedding."

"My father's passing," I said.

"Grief does strange things." He gave the detective a rueful smile, one decent man to another. "She's been confused for weeks. Tonight she threw her ring at me in front of the whole city and ran up to a man none of us would dare approach."

Lacey stood on the second landing in her bomber jacket, the bat hidden behind her leg, and she muttered, "I'm going to kill him."

"Wait for the end of the scene," I murmured back.

I turned to the detective.

I made myself look at him and only him.

"Nobody took me anywhere. I came here on my own two feet. I'm here of my own free will, and I'm not confused."

"Ms. Ferrand," the detective said, gently, "that is exactly what a person says when they're afraid of someone."

"Then ask me what I'm afraid of."

"All right. What?"

I opened my mouth to say the pier stairs.

I stopped.

I had no recording, no witness, no proof.

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