Page 90 of Deserving Cora
“Who do you think it is?” Cora asked.
“I have no clue.”
“Not even a guess?”
Pipe sighed. “Not a good one. I’ve talked about it with the guys, and previously we’d thought it could be someone from our pasts. One of our teammates, a commander, someone else we worked with. But Stone brought up an excellent point, one we can’t dismiss…that it’s more likely someone connected to The Refuge.”
Cora gasped. “Really? Like who?”
“It could be anyone. Robert, Jess, Savannah, Ryan, Jason, Luna…even one of the men or women who deliver food and supplies up here. Anyone who might’ve overheard what was going on with Reese, then Lara.”
“Seriously? You think Robert’s a closet hacker?” Cora asked with a small laugh.
“Everyone has stuff they don’t share about themselves. But I think Stone’s right. It has to be someone who knows what’s going on here at The Refuge.”
“Are you mad?” Cora asked.
Pipe shrugged. “Yes and no.”
“I kind of like the thought of having an anonymous benefactor looking over us,” Cora declared as she leaned into Pipe’s side, feeling content.
They hadn’t had a conversation about how long she might stay here with him, but the time was coming when they’d need to talk about the future. She didn’t really want to, didn’t want to face reality. But she was healing, and she needed to make some decisions about her job and life back in DC.
Complicating matters was Lara. She was a completely different person than who she’d been before Arizona. Cora didn’t blame her, not in the least. She’d been through something traumatic, and would be dealing with that for a long time. Cora would do whatever it took to help her heal.
But so far, she wasn’t healing at all. Wasn’t leaving Owl’s cabin.
When she was discharged from the hospital, there wasn’t even a doubt that she’d be coming back to The Refuge with them. They’d actually decided to drive, since Lara didn’t do well around groups of people. She didn’t speak once during the drive and continued to panic when Owl was out of her sight.
Cora wasn’t jealous. Did she want Lara to lean on her because they were best friends? Of course. But knowing she considered Owl her safe space was completely fine, because he was a good man. And there was something in his eyes when he looked at her friend that told Cora he’d do whatever it took to help her.
She wanted that for Lara. So Cora wasn’t upset that Owl was the one at her side. She was angry that she was so broken, she couldn’t be left alone. Sad that she’d gone through what she had. But not envious of Owl.
“Will you tell me about the investigation?” she asked Pipe.
“I’m not sure I want to,” he finally said in response.
“I know,” Cora said, and she did. Pipe was her protector. He’d proven it more than once. Wanted to keep her from seeing or hearing anything upsetting. But she’d had time to come to terms with what happened and needed to know everything the police and FBI had learned.
He sighed. “You know that Ridge Michaels was found deceased in the house.”
“Yeah. Single gunshot to his temple.”
“It wasn’t suicide,” Pipe added.
Cora gasped and looked up at him. “It wasn’t?”
“No. The angle was wrong. And the shot was in his left temple, and Michaels was right-handed. There were a few news stories about it, but just as the publicity was ramping up, that famous actress out in Hollywood was kidnapped, and there was that four-hour car chase to stop her stalker from taking her out of state. That’s been dominating the news.”
“Yeah,” Cora said with a nod, resting against Pipe once more.
“The assumption is that it was Grant who killed him, after we arrived. To keep him from talking.”
“That makes sense,” Cora mused.
“Also, as we thought, the other employees in the house were in the dark about what was happening right under their noses. If they knew, I’m guessing they’d all be dead right now too. I suppose some of their ignorance can be chalked up to them being used to the quirks of the rich people they worked for. They were used to Ridge’s reputation, knew he went to strip clubs when he visited. And they had no reason to think there was anyone being hidden in the basement.”
“And the media room? Did they know it was used to knock people unconscious so they could be moved to the basement room, where Creepy Guy could do whatever he wanted?” Cora asked a little huffily.
