Page 41 of Reclaiming Chaos
Chapter 22
Ridge
My eyes slid open in the quiet room when I heard the front door close. My sister Clara had called on my way to make the arrest and warned me not to stop her from going. I rolled onto my back and stared up at the white ceiling. If Clara had been right about Carlee leaving, my sister had to be right about everything else.
It was the only reason I didn’t try to stop Carlee from walking out the door. The only reason I’d let her walk out of my life. Many men would be thankful for not having to deal with the awkward morning after. But with her gone, it felt like something was missing. A hole in my chest left unfilled.
I tossed my arm onto her side of the bed. The sheets had started to turn cool. I lolled my head toward the clock, four in the morning. She’d waited longer than I would have guessed.
I sat up and wiped the sleep from my eyes. I had work to do.
I crossed the room and picked up the note she’d left.
Ridge,
I’m sorry, but I’m the only one who can stop him. The only one who knows what he’s going to do next. Thank you for last night, for reminding me what I’m fighting for.
Xoxo,
Carlee
A shower and a cup of coffee later, I was in the car and headed toward the park with the hidden entrance just beyond the woods. I parked farther away and sipped my coffee, waiting for what I expected would happen next.
There were only a few moms sitting at the playground. A couple of kids on the slide. Two joggers on the sidewalk around the park.
I pulled Carlee’s premonition book out of the glove box and read through the rest of it and tore out pages while I waited. Not on any particular topic but several, just to throw off Russell when he got the book back.
Most pages had been previous predictions, and some had yet to pass. There were predictions about the upcoming party. Two drunk men would fight. A woman would scream, and the lights would go off. It sounded like a murder mystery with the added benefit of liquor.
I didn’t have to wait long for the stranger to show up. I folded the torn-out pages and stuffed them into the glove box and tossed the book of partial predictions on the passenger seat. No matter what angle Carlee was trying to work in secret, I had my own agenda. One that she’d never see coming. Well, at least I hoped not.
A car pulled in, and a man got out. Average height, dark wavy hair, wearing jeans and a football sweatshirt. He would have looked like any average-joe father; only he was missing kids.
He leaned against the car with the phone pressed against his ear.
Another car pulled in, and the man slid the phone into his pocket. The door opened, and a woman stepped out. The dark hat she wore and the sunglasses covering her eyes didn’t make Amy any less unrecognizable. Her wild red hair had been braided down her back. Carlee’s supervisor smiled as she approached the waiting man.
She clutched a manilla envelope in her hands.
“Well, now. What do we have here?” I asked in the quiet of the car.
Amy pointed her index finger at the man’s chest, which he knocked away. She stepped into his personal space. Her face was tense with anger before she shoved the envelope against his chest and hurried back to her car.
She got into her car and flipped the man off with both middle fingers then she started the engine and pulled out.
“I can only imagine what he said to get her so pissed.” I chuckled.
The man got back into his car and pulled away. I wasn’t quick to follow, making sure to leave plenty of space between our vehicles so I’d go unnoticed.
I wrote down his license plate to look up later. He led me across town and pulled into a drive with a guard and an iron gate. He smiled at the guard and drove through. I parked and watched it close behind him. The name on the iron gate told me enough. This was where Russell called home.
No time like the present to make a splash. I pulled up to the guard gate.
The security guard walked out with a skeptical look. “Can I help you?”
I flashed my badge and gave him a smile. “Could you tell Mr. Russell that Agent Bennett is here?”
“One moment,” he said, disappearing inside the guardhouse. Within seconds the gate’s wheels squeaked as it opened again.
