Page 12 of Hell Hath No Fury

“Or if you really want to go back to Eric’s place?—”

She leaned over, resting her head on his shoulder. “Honestly, this is perfect. I haven’t spent a night on my own family property in way too long. Besides, I’m glad I can share it with you.”

He put an arm around her, and she melted against him. After several moments of silence, he said, “We haven’t really talked about what happened with Sonny Jones this morning.”

Emma straightened. “I’d forgotten what a pig he could be.”

“I would use a stronger term to describe him, but I don’t mean that. Do you think the signature was Nell’s?”

Emma pictured the signed agreement. “No doubt about it.”

“So, it looks like Eric did negotiate the contract.”

“I can’t believe he would make a deal like that without consulting me.” She crumpled her sandwich wrappers and stuffed them back in the takeout bag. “Where on earth are they?” Her mind ran rampant with nightmarish thoughts.

Matthias added his trash to the bag and shifted to face her. “Let’s think about it. Why would Eric take off and leave his phone behind?”

“He wouldn’t.”

“But he did. What would make him leave without it?”

One of Emma’s dark thoughts settled to the front of her mind. “Someone made him leave.”

“You mean Nell?”

“No. I mean… he was taken. Forcibly.”

Matthias didn’t answer for a couple of beats, then said, “Kidnapped?”

“Maybe.”

“By whom?”

Emma hopped down from the Jeep and paced a few feet away, her gaze still on the fields. “I can’t even imagine.”

“I know I already asked you this, but I have to ask again.”

She pivoted to him.

“Is it possible that Eric took Nell to Ohio? To Zeke’s funeral?”

“He would have told me. And he would’ve taken his phone.”

Matthias’s gaze shifted past Emma, looking toward the same fields she’d been studying a minute ago.

In the silence, she considered his suggestion. Had Eric and Nell simply driven to Cleveland to attend her boyfriend’s memorial service? Except for the lack of notification and the forgotten phone, it was entirely possible. Maybe that was it. Eric merely forgot his phone. Emma didn’t believe it, but she preferred the option to thinking he’d been kidnapped. “I’ve changed my mind. I want to go back to Eric’s house. I want to use his computer and get more details about the funeral.”

Matthias held up his phone. “I’ve got it right here.” He thumbed the screen. “The service was a couple of hours ago.”

She retrieved her own phone from her pocket and keyed in the number for Nell she’d copied from Eric’s contact list. The call went straight to voicemail. “Nell, this is Emma. Please call me. I’m worried about you and Eric.” She crossed her arms and looked at Matthias. “We could drive to Cleveland?—”

He stopped her with a firm shake of his head. “And do what? If they’re there, we don’t know where they’re staying. Or they might be headed home, and we’d pass them going the other way.”

She hated that he was right. Then another idea struck her. “Do you know any cops in Cleveland? Someone you could call and have them look into whether Eric and Nell were at the funeral?”

Matthias seemed on the verge of shutting her down again but looked away for a moment, thinking. “I don’t know anyone there offhand. Cassie might.”

Detective Sergeant Cassie Malone, Matthias’s partner, was currently on medical leave after being shot and left for dead. Emma knew she should tell him no—let Cassie rest—but she couldn’t. Not when Nell’s safety was in question.