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Maryse and Mildred stood in the hotel room, their ears pressed to the wall. In the next room, Agent Ross yelled at Stepford and the other agents, blaming them for everything from failure to find Raissa first to the US inflation rate. Maryse was fairly certain when he was done, her face would remain frozen in a permanent grin. Mildred had been standing with her hand over her mouth for the last five minutes, and Maryse knew that as soon as they were back downstairs, the hotel owner would laugh until she cried.
Helena, as usual, wasn’t helping matters. Because no one in the next room could hear her, she had no problem chortling so hard that she fell off the edge of the bed and rolled across the bedroom floor.
Finally, the door opened and they heard the agents hurrying past in the hallway. Maryse signaled to Helena, who stuck her head through the wall, then popped back in and shook her head.
“Ross is still in there,” she said. “He’s pulling out his cell phone.”
“Then get back in there,” Maryse whispered, “and find out what he’s saying.”
Maryse put her ear back to the wall as Helena walked through it, but all she could hear was the faint rumble of Ross’s voice. Finally, she gave up and sat on the bed to wait on Helena. Mildred held in place for another thirty seconds and then joined her.
“It sounds like Raissa gave him the bare minimum,” Mildred whispered.
“I don’t think she had much more to give. She doesn’t know who took her or why. She wouldn’t even know she’d been held at Bart’s camp if Jadyn and Colt hadn’t recognized it from her description.”
“I guess that’s true, but I’m still glad he had to wait for us before he could talk to her. I haven’t liked the man since he walked into my hotel and rented the rooms.”
“That’s because you have good taste.”
Mildred smiled. “I’m so happy Raissa is safe. Now, if Zach would wake up, everything could go back to normal.”
Maryse nodded. She was definitely thrilled about Raissa, but no matter how happy she got, Luc’s worries about her safety crept through the joy and reminded her that nothing would be normal for her until the man gunning for Luc was behind bars.
The door to the next room slammed shut and a second later, footsteps hurried past on the hallway and down the stairs. Helena popped back through the wall, her eyes wide.
“Ross was on the phone with his boss,” she said. “He said he’d inspected the car they pulled out of the pond, and it belonged to Raissa. They checked some number.”
“The VIN number,” Maryse said.
“Yeah, that’s it. Then Ross said he’d spoken to Raissa but she didn’t know her kidnappers. She’s going to look at some books—I guess with pictures of criminals—and work with a sketch artist. They’re sending him to the hospital.”
“That’s good,” Mildred said.
Helena nodded. “His boss screamed at him so loud that I could hear him like he was standing right next to me. He said that things were out of control and he better make them right. He said Ross’s future depended on it.”
“Good,” Maryse said. “Maybe he’ll be relegated to a desk from now on. God knows, he shouldn’t be allowed to work around the general public.”
“Maybe he needs a rabies shot,” Helena said and started laughing again. “Then Ross told his boss that if he did a better job choosing personnel he wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“Seriously? He’s blaming his staff? What a douche bag.”
“Totally,” Helena agreed.
“So Ross sent his men to search Bart’s camp…what does he plan on doing?”
“He told his boss he was going to sit on Bart until he got what he wanted.”
“Poor Bart,” Mildred said. “He can’t be one of guys Ross is looking for. Raissa didn’t recognize any of them, and she knows Bart well enough.”
“I’m sure Bart will have no trouble handling Agent Ross,” Maryse said. “In fact, I kinda wish I could be there to see it.”
“Are you going to call Jadyn and tell her what Ross is up to?” Helena asked.
Maryse nodded. “I’ll call in a minute.”
Mildred checked her watch and rose from the bed. “We best get moving. Visiting time starts in an hour.”
“You promised I could go this time,” Helena said.
Mildred sighed. “Lord help me. I did.”
“Hey,” Helena said, “maybe we should pick up a blackberry cobbler to bring to Raissa. I could sit in the back and hold it…maybe with some dinnerware just in case she wants to share?”