Page 129 of What Doesn't Kill Her

Birdie looked at the clock. “Not quite.” She walked toward the door.

“It’s probably Max again,” Kellen said. “He was not happy about the can’t-see-the-bride rule.”

Before Birdie got there, the door slammed opened. Verona stormed in and waved a crumpled paper at Kellen. “Your child is pushing my buttons.”

Kellen didn’t grin, but she wanted to. “My child, huh?”

“I told her to stay in the room. I said I’d be back in ten minutes. I warned her not to do anything to mess up her dress.”

“You left a seven-year-old alone in a hotel room dressed and ready for a wedding?” Birdie put her hand over her heart as if to contain its beating.

Verona swung on her. “Yes! Yes! I’m a bad grandmother! But Rae saw Max sneaking down the corridor toward your room. She yelled at him and I chased him back to his room. The man has no respect fortradition.” She emphasized the wordtradition. Kellen’s comment about superstition must have stung.

“Surely that didn’t take ten minutes,” Birdie said.

Exactly what Kellen had been thinking, and unease curled through her belly.

“You weren’t really gone ten whole minutes?” Birdie prepared to abandon her role as bridesmaid and take up her duties as bodyguard.

“Maybe a little longer. It’s his fault!” Verona continued to rant, “As soon as I turned my back, he was out again. I caught him and marched him right down to the kitchen where all the good old-fashioned Italian relatives were and told them to keep an eye on him!”

“So where’s Rae?” Kellen demanded.

“I don’t know!” Verona was clearly furious. “I got back to the room and she was nowhere to be found.”

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Birdie pulled out her phone. “I’m calling Temo and Adrian. Giving them a heads-up we have a possible abduction.”

Kellen gestured slightly, wanting Birdie to be silent. Verona didn’t know about the ongoing threats to Kellen, and Rae could so easily be led astray...by someone familiar. Someone she trusted. And that someone, whoever he was (or maybe she), could use Rae as bait to catch and kill Kellen.

What would happen to Rae then?

She would be killed, too, eliminated as a witness.

“Abduction?” Verona looked between Birdie and Kellen in alarm and then dismissal. “Don’t be silly. Anyone who abducted Rae would bring her back fast enough.”

“Temo’s phone is going to voice mail.” Birdie dialed again. “So’s Adrian’s. This cannot be good!”

“Where’s Nils Brooks?” Kellen asked Verona.

“I don’t know. He was hanging around outside our room, looking pained. I gave him a glass of water and a couple of aspirin. Now he’s disappeared. Rae left a drawing on the desk.” Verona snapped the paper at Kellen.

Kellen took it.

Birdie tapped at her phone. “Brooks isn’t answering. They’ve all gone missing.”

“I think it’s supposed to tell us what she’s doing. There’s something about Mommy and the head. But her handwriting is disgraceful. The schools simply don’t emphasize penmanship anymore. I’ve worked with her, but she has no interest in learning how to... I love her. She’s my granddaughter. But she needs two parents and—”

Maybe Kellen made a noise. Maybe Verona saw something in her face. Her tone changed from irritation to horror.“What’s wrong?”

Kellen stared at the drawing, stared so hard her eyeballs hurt. Rae had drawn herself—LightningBug—going to find the Triple Goddess. Kellen knew it was the Triple Goddess because it was a floating head with yellow lightning bolts for eyes. A man walked behind her; the crude drawing gave no hint of his identity, but Rae had drawn a bulbous five-fingered hand on one side, and that hand held a black crook that was pointed at Rae.

A gun. Kellen was almost positive it was a pistol.

The crayon writing was sloppier than normal, as if she’d been in a hurry. Or scared. Brave little Rae...had she been scared?

“Rae didn’t leave on her own,” Kellen said. “Someone forced her to.”

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