Page 74 of Deserving Cora
She desperately wanted to grab hold of Pipe, but he’d warned her that he needed his hands free at all times…just in case. Cora didn’t want to think about what “just in case” entailed, but she could guess.
So she stayed glued to Pipe’s back as he stepped over the threshold behind CG. Owl was at her back, and she shivered as the door shut behind them with a loud clang. CG took the time to relock it, which was another thing that didn’t give Cora the warm fuzzies, before gesturing for them to follow him.
Looking around as they walked, Cora noted that the estate was pristine. There were no dust bunnies on the floor or in the air, there weren’t any knickknacks out of place. She was constantly putting crap on her counter, dropping bags on the floor when she got home, and she didn’t want to think about how many pairs of shoes were lying around her place. Her apartment was lived in. Well, before she’d sold everything.
This place was…hollow.
The thought of Lara being here made Cora want to weep. Her friend was full of sunshine. Despite being shy, she was a happy person, always thinking the best of people. Her apartment was even more chaotic than Cora’s, but it was full of love, and she’d always felt right at home there.
Their steps echoed on the tile floor as CG led them down a long hall. Cora noticed that Pipe’s head was on a swivel, just as it was anytime they were in any kind of situation he wasn’t familiar with. He was obviously taking note of their surroundings and the route they were taking.
Just when Cora thought CG was leading them to some back entrance and was going to shove them all out, he stopped. He opened a door and swung it open.
“If you wouldn’t mind waiting in here, I’ll go get Ms. Osler. It might take a few moments because she’ll need to change out of her sleeping clothes. There’s a small wet bar on the side of the room and the seats are comfortable. It’s the most restful room in the house. Figured you’d want privacy to speak to your friend.”
Pipe hesitated before he stepped into the room, and that small pause spoke volumes to Cora. But she followed close behind him, not wanting to be more than a few steps away, just in case. If shitdidhit the fan, she wanted to be where Pipe was.
The space they entered was some sort of media room. There were three rows of large leather recliners on gradually elevating platforms, like at a movie theater. The seats were facing a big screen, and there was a projector on the back wall. As CG said, there was a wet bar to the right of the door with well-stocked shelves of what looked like an impressive array of liquor.
“Ten minutes,” Owl told CG as he turned to face him.
“Pardon?” CG asked. He might be a bodyguard, but he had the mannerisms and tone of a privileged and snotty staff member down pat.
“You’ve got ten minutes to bring Lara here, before we call the cops.”
An angry look flashed across CG’s face, but he simply nodded. “Ten minutes,” he agreed, then began to shut the door behind him as he left.
It went against everything inside Cora to let the asshole shut that door, but she didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize their chance of getting to see Lara. Apparently, Pipe was on the same page.
“I don’t like this,” he said the second they were alone.
“Me either,” Owl agreed.
“Me three,” Cora joked uneasily.
“That seemed too easy,” Owl said. “Although he definitely didn’t want us to call the cops. Did you see his face when I mentioned having the police doing a welfare check on Lara?”
“Oh, yeah, there are some secrets in this house for sure,” Pipe agreed. “I’m beginning to wonder ifMichaelsis all right. I mean, we haven’t seen him yet.”
“No, but the women at the Blue Moon said he was there the night before last,” Owl argued.
“That was before we showed up,” Pipe said with a shrug.
“You think maybe Michaels isn’t the bad guy here?” Owl asked.
Cora’s head swung from one man to the other, like she was watching a tennis match.
“No. He’s in this up to his eyeballs. He’s not innocent in the least, but I do think it’s odd that we haven’t seen hide nor hair of him yet.”
“So what do we do now?” Cora ventured to ask when no one had spoken for several seconds.
“We wait,” Pipe said firmly. “And no, we aren’t drinking any bloody thing from that wet bar. We have no idea if they’ve drugged the alcohol. Or the ice.”
“Wait—you can drug ice?” Cora asked.
“Absolutely,” Owl said with a nod. “I know of a case where terrorists were able to take over a plane by drugging all the passengers through the ice in their drinks. Thankfully, there was an astute chemist onboard who realized what was happening, and she informed the Navy SEAL sitting next to her.”
“Holy crap! Were they okay?”
