Page 29 of Forbidden Whispers

Maggie gasped as her purse was yanked from her shoulder.

“Turn around, both of you,” said the first voice.

Slowly, Noah and Maggie turned to face the two men they’d just been looking at photographs of. They looked even more menacing in real life. The man they’d nicknamed Dagger-head was lean and muscular. He exuded an intimidating sense of power that was unsettling. The stocky, shorter man had scabbed-over cuts on his face and a black eye that hadn’t been visible in the photographs. He was pawing through Maggie’s small purse. She could see the gleam of a gun at the waistband of his pants.

“Nothing.” He threw the entire purse aside.

“All right.” Dagger-head moved in closer and pressed the blade of the large knife he was holding up against Noah’s throat. His eyes bore into Noah’s, and his words fell like chips of ice. “Where is she?”

Chapter 9

Noah didn’t move his head, but his eyes slid to Maggie. The other man now had a tight grip on her upper arm. Her eyes were wide with shock, and she was staring at the knife.

“Answer me!” Dagger-head said.

“I—I don’t know.”

The man’s lips tightened, his eyes narrowing. “We know you were here with Valentina last night. And we saw you getting questioned at her place by the cops this morning. Now you’re driving her car. Did you kill her?”

“What? No!”

“Then where. Is. She?”

Noah’s mind was reeling. Who were these men? They’d apparently seen him and Maggie at Valentina’s earlier. And now they were here. Had they been following them all day? And what was this about the Porsche being Valentina’s car?

“He told you, we don’t know,” Maggie said. She now looked more angry than scared. She tried to shake off the other man’s grip to no avail. “And it’s not Valentina’s car. It’s Noah’s.

Dagger-head frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Go ahead,” Maggie said with a lift of her chin. “Check the registration.”

Noah wondered what Maggie could possibly be up to. How was this helping?

“Gimme the key,” Dagger-head said.

Noah handed it to him and he tossed it to the other man, never removing the knife from Noah’s throat. “Open it, Johnny.”

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