Page 34 of You Can Leave Your Hat On

“To the grocery for this stuff,” she said, gesturing to the table. “And then when I left the store too. And I thought I saw it across the street just a little while ago.”

“Is it there now?” Aaron asked, so Maisey got up and headed to the window. She pulled the curtains back and peered out, but it was dark and hard to see. “Well?”

“If it’s out there, I don’t see it.” As she made her way back to the table, she asked, “Am I putting on the hat tonight?”

“That’s totally up to you, babe.”

“I want to. I want to see if I can get a look at his face, know for certain it’s him.”

“Okay. As soon as Murielle gets home from Richard and Jackie’s and we get her down, we’ll do it.” Maisey wanted to scream,What’s thiswebusiness?but she didn’t. He was being supportive, and that was more than most people in her situation could hope for.

It was a little past the usual time when Murielle got home?Richard had stopped for gas?and it took another thirty minutes to get her into bed. When she was finally tucked in, Maisey and Aaron sat and talked for almost an hour, giving her plenty of time to get soundly to sleep. While they sat, Aaron told Maisey to drink a glass of wine. “That might loosen you up a bit.” She had to admit that it wasn’t a bad idea.

She was getting a little drowsy when Aaron came back from checking on Murielle. “Okay. She’s sawing logs. I think we’re in the clear.”

“Good. I’ll get the hat and meet you on the deck.”

It made her smile to see that, instead of the usual vintage string lights, Aaron had lit a couple of candles. “You ready?”

“Yep. Let’s get this done.” Maisey plopped down on the ottoman, took a deep breath, and pulled on the hat.

Unlike before, the darkness wasn’t quite as threatening, and the man’s voice was just as clear as it had been the previous night. “I’m the laughingstock of the entire place! Did I deserve that? No, I did not!”

Hazel’s voice came next. “I had nothing to do with that!”

“Yeah, but you knew about it!”

“Not really. He did all of that himself. I didn’t help him at all.”

The man’s voice was pure fury. “You helped him spend it. My wife’s bugging the hell out of me for a new car and he took all my money and left me withnothing!”

“I’d give it back to you if I had it, but I don’t! And I don’t have access to his accounts!” Hazel announced loudly.

And there it was?his face. Illuminated by the low light, she could still make out his features as he growled, “Yeah, well, I think it’s time you tell me where he is!”

The metal bars were cold against her back, and Maisey knew what came next. “Oh! Oh, no! Please! What do you want from me?”

“I want to know where he is! Tell me now or I swear I’ll?”

Hazel’s panicked voice shrieked, “Oh, god, please, no! I don’t know where he is! I swear, I don’t!”

“You have to know where he is! You can’t make me believe that you haven’t talked to him!”

“I swear, if I knew, I’d tell you!”

“Maybe he’ll care if he finds out you’re missing.”

“It won’t make a difference.” Hazel was sobbing. “He doesn’t love me anymore, so if you think this will get him here, you’re wrong! Please! Please don’t! I…”

There it was again, the feeling of falling, but as she looked up, she could see that face peering down at her over the bridge railing. Then it stopped, just like always, and Aaron’s familiar voice whispered, “Babe, you okay?”

It took a few seconds for Maisey’s heartbeat to calm. When it did, all she had energy for was a breathless, “It was him.”

“Okay. Now I’ve got to catch him somehow at something. I don’t know what. But something. I’ll think on that. Maybe day after tomorrow I will have come up with something concrete.”

Two days. She’d have to wait for two days to possibly get an answer on where Alan Vanderboegh was.

Or maybe not.

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