Missing One Bride by Alice Sharpe

Author:Alice Sharpe [Sharpe, Alice]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-11-04T05:47:53+00:00

Thorn opened his wallet and greeted the credit cards, paper bills and photographs folded within like they were long-lost friends. Wait, photographs! He dug through a stack of them until he found the one he’d been searching for.

Natalie on a horse, hair disheveled beautifully, eyes blazing. He’d insisted she take a ride on Sprite, his gorgeous white Arabian mare, and she’d finally agreed. When he’d snapped the photo, he’d thought she looked excited. Now he saw that she was angry, spitting nails kind of angry. Thorn tore the picture into tiny little pieces of confetti and sprinkled them into the garbage can.

He’d borrowed an envelope from Vicky and immediately stuck twenty dollars inside along with a short note of thanks, then addressed it to Riggs, care of the Liberty, Oregon, Police Station.

That done, he spied his phone calling card and used it to call Information. Upon receiving the phone number, he placed a call to the Red Swan Hotel, where he asked if Gerald and Jasmine Blackwell were registered. The female operator answered in the affirmative.

Off the top of his head, he concocted a story about being Gerald’s brother. “I missed a plane connection,” he said, trying to sound properly distressed. “His birthday party is tonight and now I’m going to miss it.”

The operator sounded young and sympathetic. “Don’t you just hate it when the airlines don’t keep their schedules? What a shame about your brother and all.”

“I know, I’m just sick about it.”

“I’ll put your call through to his room—”

“No, no, don’t do that. It was a…a surprise party but now the surprise is I’ll be a day late. I guess what I need to know is, will Gerald and Jasmine still be there?”

“Let me check the reservation card,” the helpful operator said. She came back on the line after only a few seconds. “Oh, you’re in luck! Your brother will be with us for two more days.”

Bingo! “Thanks,” he told her. “You’ve been a huge help. And remember, don’t tell him I called.” He set the phone down on the floor and sighed deeply. There was nothing more he could do now, and the thought of inaction, which he would have expected to fill him with angst, didn’t faze him.

“I’m just too damn tired to care,” he mumbled to himself as he sat back in the chair. The room to which he and Alexandra had retreated was indeed over the garage. The bed was pushed up against the southern wall, flanked on one side by an old oak hope chest and on the other with a beat-up dresser. The only other furniture in the room was the big upholstered chair in which he currently sat.

He wondered if he’d be spending the night in the chair. All Alexandra had said was, “I get the first shower,” before skipping back down the stairs into the house.

The faint sound of a baby crying filtered up the interior stairwell. Thorn stood and walked to the window where he could look down at his car.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.