Page 40 of Forbidden Whispers

“Aside from a few strange behaviors, like this,” Maggie said, waving a hand in Boon’s direction, “he does seem to be pretty well-behaved.” Then she sighed. “Along with our search to find Valentina, we need to find Boon’s owner as well.”

“Right,” Alex said, looking concerned. “I’m so sorry all this happened to you, Noah. We’ve been teasing you about your love life when you have a truly serious issue on your hands. Do you have any clues as to where Valentina may be?”

“Not yet,” Noah said. “But we’re still retracing my steps from Friday night. Apparently, after attempting to defend Valentina on the sunset cruise, I ended up in the hospital. We’re heading there now to see if we can get any leads from that.”

“Based on what you told me about yesterday, please be careful, bro.” All joking had left Jake’s face, and he looked at his brother with concern. “You don’t have Wade and Cassie here to back you up. So, if you need me for anything...”

Jake didn’t need to finish the sentence. Despite all his messing around, Noah knew that no matter what, his brother would always have his back.

“Don’t worry,” Noah said. “We’re being extra careful. And I’ll keep you posted.”

He and Maggie rose to leave, but they paused when Jaime said, “Hey! Before you take off, I want to invite you all to a beach party Jack and I are hosting this afternoon. We’re being spontaneous! The weather is just so gorgeous today; we want to enjoy it with friends by the lake. Just show up at the Village Park any time after two o’clock and bring a dish to pass. We’re grilling brats and burgers and we’d love to have you join us!”

Everyone at the table thanked Jaime and promised to come.

But Maggie shook her head. “I don’t know, Jaime. We really need to find Valentina.”

“Come on, Mags,” she pleaded. “You know Jack always says that taking breaks actually helps your brain work better. I think you and Noah could both use a little break from all your intense detective work.”

Maggie held up her hands in protest. “All right! Far be it from me to contradict your brainiac husband. We’ll stop by.”

Noah and Maggie left the rest of them all chatting together and, accompanied by Boon, they made their way back to the Porsche.

Once inside, Noah started the engine and glanced at Maggie who was studying him with an odd expression on her face.

“What?”

“FDFs, huh?

“Yeah, yeah, can we forget about that for now?”

“I suppose...for now.”

Chapter 12

The drive to the hospital was less than fifteen minutes. Neither of them spoke much during it. Noah seemed to be in his own head, which was fine because hers was still reeling from what she’d learned about Noah’s dating history.

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