Page 20 of Trouble Walked In

“Text me the details,” Renic said, and hung up.

He pulled his weekender bag from the backseat and went into the lobby of the roach motel. He made it through the painful process of renting the room from a possibly stoned twenty-something with a nose ring and a tattoo on the side of his neck and arrived at Room 101, a small but relatively clean room next to where he’d parked. He still hadn’t received a message from Morgan.

He sent her a text.What’s the holdup?

When she didn’t answer immediately, he fished around in his bag for the toiletry kit and went to shave. His face was covered in cream when the phone finally dinged.

Check in tmrw, 4:00 pm, Fred Webber. Mtg Sun - Wed. Took all rms. $14k + food. Dep $7k pd.

Renic patted his face dry while he absorbed that information, raising his eyes at the dollar figure. It would have been triple or quadruple that in the city. He replied to Morgan with a thumbs-up emoji, then,Nate?

Delighted.

The dripping sarcasm and disapproval were evident by her use of an actual word and not a thumbs-up emoji.

Lizzie?

It took longer than he thought it should for Morgan to respond with another one-word answer.

Excited.

It was the right call, then. Lizzie needed the money. He needed access. It was a win-win.

What he needed now was someone on the inside to bring him up to speed. He dialed Jordanna.

“Hey,” Jordanna answered. “You sure know how to make an entrance.”

“Yeah, that didn’t go like I planned.” Renic rubbed the back of his neck. “How can I fix it, Jordy? What do I need to know?”

“The short answer is, I have no idea.” Jordanna sucked in a breath and then blew it out. He had a feeling she was hiding out somewhere to smoke a cigarette. “Lizzie’s pretty miffed that you listened in on their conversation. Della doesn’t seem to care about that, but she’s frustrated people won’t leave her alone. She’s made her choice, and she thinks we should all just live with it.”

“Any idea what happened to make her run?”

“None. I was at that party, and nothing unusual happened. Whatever’s going on is in her head. Sorry kid, but the truth of it is I don’t think Della herself knows why she did it. The only one who might have a clue is Lizzie.”

“Great.” Renic peered out the curtains at the drab parkinglot. “Getting her to share insight with me is going to be loads of fun.”

“You might stand a better chance if you grovel first.” Jordanna huffed a laugh. “Or maybe start working on a Plan B.”

“Already on it.” Renic dropped the curtain and turned around to face the even more depressing room. “What are your plans? You sticking around?”

“I can stay a few days if you want.”

“That’d be great. You can play good cop to my bad, maybe.”

“I’m not a cop, Renic. I’m a mama bear. But I get your point. I’ll try to provide some of that wisdom they think I have while you work the front end. Keep in mind I need to leave by Sunday. Got a thing over in Philly I need to deal with before the tour launches.Ifit launches.”

“It will.” He managed to sound a lot more confident than he felt. “Thanks, Jordy.”

“Sure thing,” Jordanna said. “See ya.”

Renic tossed the phone onto the nightstand and pulled out his laptop. Surprisingly, the rundown motel had excellent Wi-Fi. He found several files from the day’s studio session, as well as Davis’s cut on Keith's new song, waiting for approval. He read the email from Davis first, then clicked the included link to bring up the file. “The One That Got Away” began to play.

The lines of her back burned into my brain,

the way she looked when she walked away.

The fury in her face, the hell in her eyes,

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