Page 75 of Say Yes to the Death

He disappeared into the back room, clearly too uncomfortable to keep occupying space with her.

“Do you want me to tell Luke not to come this weekend?” Nicole asked softly, touching Claire’s arms with unnaturally cold fingertips. “It’s kind of crazy to expect him to come all the way from California for a field day anyway.”

Great. The field day. She had almost forgotten. In keeping with their grand tradition of over-the-top dates and action-packed adventures, Nicole and Kyle had decided to have a “bonding exercise” for the bridal party. And what better way to bond than try to kill each other at sports? Claire’s broad jump could use some work, but she was fairly confident in her flag football skills.

She sighed. It was all for Nicole’s love story. She wouldn’t be responsible for making it anything less than perfect.

“No, he’s the best man. He should be there. I appreciate the offer, though.” She pulled Nicole in for a tight hug.

Nicole walked off with another frame as Claire checked her phone. Four more missed calls and two voicemails from Luke, and one missed call and voicemail from an unknown number. A knot grew in Claire’s stomach.Had her stalker progressed to threatening her via phone calls?

She spun around to face the gallery storefront, peering out the windows. None of the passersby appeared to be taking an inordinate interest in the gallery, but she hid behind an Asian-themed folding screen as she played the voicemail.

“Claire, it’s Jack. Just wanted you to have a number to reach me by when you change your mind. Think about it.”

She exhaled noisily. At least it was her deadbeat dad and not her stalker. She had to take good news where she could get it these days.

Her finger hovered over the delete buttons next to Luke’s voicemails, but she thought better of it and tucked her phone into her pocket.

“Are you okay? I haven’t seen you make such a serious concentration face since that Spanish final sophomore year.” Nicole peeked around the corner of the folding screen.

Claire jumped. For a moment, she considered telling her about Jack’s visit, about the organization, about everything. But it wasn’t fair to burden her. “Yes, sorry. Just double checking a few things for Tyler’s proposal. It’s going to be great.” She forced a smile.

Nicole sighed and sat down in a black director’s chair. “You’re sure this doesn’t have anything to do with Luke?”

For once, it did not.

“You mean the person who is dead to me? I’m sure.”

Nicole bit her lip, seemingly choosing her next words carefully. “You know you’ll have to talk to him eventually. He’ll be there on Saturday.” It wasn’t a question.

Claire whistled for Rosie. “I can’t talk about this right now. I have a class with Sawyer. See you later?”

“Of course. Let me know how class goes.” Nicole drew Claire into another tight hug. “Love you.”

The summer sun burned oppressively outside the gallery. Claire tied her hair up into a ponytail, half wishing she was still speaking to Luke just so she could use his pool. But there were other pools that didn’t come with a douchebag clause. She slipped her headphones into her ears to block out the street noise and tugged Rosie along. Rosie trotted along beside her, chasing a bug.

“Heel,” she said, wrapping the nylon leash around her wrist.

Rosie ignored her and barked threats at a Pomeranian across the street.

Claire sighed and continued walking, half-dragging the easily distracted dog behind her. Sanctum Security headquarters was only three blocks away, but that didn’t stop Rosie from sniffing four streetlights, chasing two squirrels, and attempting to steal a cheeseburger from a toddler.

Fighting Rosie’s chaotic walking pattern, Claire checked her appointments. Mindy had forwarded a confirmation email from their fireworks technician. As long as Tyler—or Ericka, for that matter—didn’t turn out to be a serial killer, the proposal would be stunning. She switched from email to the West Haven News homepage and scanned for mentions of missing women. None had been reported. Maybe Jack was completely wrong about the network of killers. She wasn’t putting anyone in jeopardy by refusing to go see Barney. Was she?

As she approached the front doors of Sanctum Security, she found Sawyer already leaning against them.

“Fourteen,” he said.

She could barely hear him over her headphones. She popped them out and tucked them back into their case. “Sorry, fourteen what?”

“That’s the number of mistakes you made in your three-block walk from Nicole’s gallery.”

Mistakes? Claire made a face, and her inner perfectionist shuddered. “What do you mean? What kind of mistakes?” She glanced down. Her shoes matched today, so it wasn’t that.

“Come inside. Rosie can come too.” He pulled the glass doors open.

Claire strong-armed Rosie into the office, still reeling from Sawyer’s accusation. Sanctum was the exact opposite of Sawyer’s house. Everything was stainless steel and glass. The receptionist had a pixie haircut and a neck tattoo of a lotus flower.

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