Page 92 of Robin and Marian
He didn’t answer this time, and as the minutes stretched out, a horrible scenario played through her mind. Guy was a hunter. What if he’d stalked them all out one by one—first Little John, then Scarlett, and then…? Why wasn’t Robin answering her back? Guy’s estate loomed taller before her. She was afraid of what she’d find there, but more afraid of not being able to get there in time to stop it. Her leather slippers padded up the walkway and she flung open the door.
It was silent inside. The strange voodoo doll stared at her—its black, glittering eyes glistened in the darkness. The lights at the back of the house were off, and she stepped gingerly over the threshold. “Robin?” she whispered.
There was no answer, but she was afraid to call much louder. What if Guy was here too? She went up the stairs to his study. Robin would probably be searching for the keycard there. Rounding the bend, she stopped short. A tiny shadow flitted through the hallway, and she froze as it stopped short and circled around to run at her. She couldn’t scream, even when she recognized the mussed up, light brown hair. The most sound that would leave her throat was a strangled gurgle until she caught her breath. “Midge!” she finally got out.
Midge took her hand in his tiny one and slipped something in it. Her fingers wrapped convulsively around what he’d given her and she turned it over. It was the keycard. Relief flooded through the pit of fear that had already gutted into her stomach. “You found it?”
“Of course I did!” He looked very proud of that fact. “I followed Guy around for the rest of the day until he sat in his chair and then I jumped on him and showed him my frog from the lagoon.”
He’d stolen Robin’s wallet that way. Marian caught the small boy in her arms to hug him. “You’re officially a member of Robin’s band of thieves!” she cried. Maybe it wasn’t good to encourage him, but she was too happy to care. He let out a pleased grunt then wriggled away. “Where’s Robin?” she asked.
Midge shook his head, and since Robin wasn’t answering his texts, she took the small boy’s hand to search the premises. She felt braver with him near, as though having him to protect somehow rendered her invincible. They tip-toed through the darkness and checked out the main rooms before venturing down the hallway where the bedrooms were. Outside of Guy’s room, they heard what sounded like the grating of metal, and an answering grunt. It could be Robin… but she wasn’t sure. Exchanging glances with Midge, she placed a tentative hand on Guy’s door and pushed it open.
Tuck knelt on the ground in front of the chair where Robin sat, trying to break the tracker from Robin’s ankle. Marian sagged in relief and stumbled the rest of the way into the room, holding up the keycard. “Look what Midge found!”
The men let out surprised shouts, though Robin’s was tenser. He was drawn and pale—his loose, dark jeans and black shirt making the tired bruises under his eyes more pronounced. His jaw was shadowed in a day’s growth of stubble and he dragged his fingers through his messy hair. “Tuck, go with Midge and open that safe. I’ll try to get this off.”
Tuck scoffed at him. “You’regoing to do it?” He looked up at the sky. “We’ll need another miracle, God!”
“Just go!” Robin had lost what was left of his patience.
Tuck brushed past Marian on his way out the door with Midge. “He’s in a mood,” he muttered under his breath. She knew why. Marian took Tuck’s place on the ground to work on that ankle tether herself. She didn’t have much hope of getting it off.
Robin’s nerves felt worn through. Scarlett hadn’t answered any of his texts or calls and he felt so crazed, he could barely think. Marian worked on the tracker on his ankle, her fingers slipping and catching the hair on his legs. Tuck had explained the basic idea on how to get it off, but so far, none of them couldactuallyget it off. He winced and searched for where he’d thrown his phone. It was on Guy’s bed.
“Marian, can you?” He pointed.
She retrieved it while scolding him. “You might want to take it off silent. You’ve got missed texts. A lot from me.”
And from Richard and Tuck and… Alan? None of them were from Scarlett. Not from Little John either. Clenching his teeth, Robin called Alan back. “Where is she?” he growled.
“I don’t know. I’m looking for her!” He sounded frenzied. For some reason that made Robin angry. He tried to think what might’ve happened to her, keeping his mind from the worst. “Do you know where she could’ve gone? Somewhere she likes to go? Did she say anything about what she was doing tonight?” Likely not tohim.
Marian’s phone rang and she threw it to her ear with a cry, “Scarlett!”
He wasn’t prepared for the relief that washed through him. “That’s Scarlett?” he asked.
“Where is she? Where is she?” Alan was beside himself on the other line. Robin tried to hear over him.
“Oh?” Marian asked. “Why didn’t you answer your phone? Wait, I can’t hear you. Say that again?”
Robin wanted to grab the phone, but instead he waited impatiently. He partly didn’t believe that Scarlett was calling of her own free will; his mind had been so tangled up in worst case scenarios. “Where’s Little John?” Marian asked and listened to Scarlett’s harried answers then looked over at Robin from her phone. “She’s at the Blooming Tree. She’s upset.”
“She’s safe,” Robin told Alan. He wasn’t about to tell him where, but Alan had overheard because he said something about going to meet her and hung up.
“Scarlett said she panicked,” Marian said. “Alan wanted to see her and Little John tried to stop her; he said Alan wasn’t good for her and to just leave him, and she… she slapped him. She wasn’t thinking clearly and… and everything was happening at once and she’s scared and angry and can’t stop crying. She just had to be alone.”
Robin rolled his eyes. Little John was right about Alan. Why couldn’t his sister see that?
The door burst open and for a moment he thought it was Guy. That might be slightly awkward to be caught with the girl his cousin was supposed to meet up with.Not the worst thing.Midge and Tuck came through bearing stacks of papers. “I have no idea what’s important here or not,” Tuck said.
They’d done it. Robin reached for the stack and flipped through them, recognizing some of the contracts, but a few had incriminating evidence against Guy too. “We’ll take it all.”
Tuck got cross when he saw the ankle tracker. “You didn’t get that off?”
Robin couldn’t take anymore. “Let’s just go! Scarlett’s at the Blooming Tree. I want to get there before Alan does.”
“Sheriff’s not going to be happy,” Tuck lectured.
