Upstairs in her room, Daniela sat down and noticed the dress she’d planned to wear on their date. She shook her head. It wasn’t that late, but it had been an exhausting day. Needing something to keep her occupied, she gave Sari her bath and then tucked her into bed.
After just a few minutes of reading, Sari was fast asleep with Shambhala lying beside the bed.
Not wanting to leave her alone, Daniela sat here with her laptop, looking at various other US states. No way in hell she wanted to stay here now. She’d miss her sister, but it wasn’t enough to keep her here. When her phone rang, and she saw her sister’s number, she wondered if she wanted to answer it. Deciding to get it over with, she picked up the phone.
“What’s going on?” Davida demanded.
“You wouldn’t believe it if I could tell you,” she said tiredly, “and I’m not sure what I’m even allowed to say.” Still, she gave her the bare-bones story, cringing at her sister’s cries with every new turn in the twisted tale.
“We’re safe now. I’m upstairs, while the police are at work down below. Sari’s in bed sleeping, and I’m sitting beside her with my laptop.”
“Would you want to come here for the night?” her sister asked.
“No, but thank you,” Daniela said. “I want to stay here with Weston. He’s had a pretty rough time of it too.”
“I was really wrong about him, wasn’t I?”
“I don’t know. He just defended the two of us against terrible odds, and we’re not hurt,” she said in disbelief. “But two dead people are downstairs, and another is severely injured.”
“I hope that one dies too,” Davida said. “What has happened to this town?”
“I don’t know,” she said, “but I’m more than ready to move.”
At that, her sister gasped. “Seriously?”
“Yes,” she said, emotionally exhausted. “I don’t know where yet. But I don’t want to spend another winter up here.” There was an odd silence, and then Daniela swore she could hear her sister’s frown.
“Why?”
“It just seems like a fresh start would be good. I’ll miss you though.”
“Brian’s being transferred,” her sister said in a rush.
Daniela froze. “Seriously?”
“Yes,” she said. “To New Mexico.”
“Oh, my God. You’re moving anyway.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I didn’t know how.” She sounded defensive.
“Well, now you have,” she said. “And I made the decision to move regardless.”
“You could come to New Mexico,” Davida said hopefully.
“Maybe, I don’t know.”
“Where is Weston from?”
“Most recently, Santa Fe,” she said, laughing.
Her sister gasped. Then started to laugh too. “Okay, so maybe I was really wrong. It sounds like a fated meeting to me.”
“Not to mention we had the DNA testing rushed, and he is definitely Sari’s father.”
“Oh my,” she said. “And Angel is gone forever, right?”
“Yes,” she said. “And good riddance. She was planning to sell Sari for fifty thousand dollars to pay off a loan shark.”
“Oh, my God,” Davida cried out. “How low can anybody go?”
“Apparently very low,” Daniela said, suddenly supertired. “Listen. I’ll hang up now. I think I hear Weston coming up the stairs.”
“Well, my offer still stands, if you want a place for the night. I can’t believe the police will let you stay there.”
“I don’t know that they will, but I’d like to stay if I can.” With that, she hung up. She walked to the doorway to see Weston looking into the master bedroom, and, not seeing her, turning toward Sari’s room. She smiled up at him. “Are you okay?
“I am,” he said, “but it’ll be chaos downstairs for quite a few hours. We can go to a hotel, you know?”
She frowned, thinking about it and then said, “What would you like to do?”
“It would have to be a hotel that takes dogs,” he said. “Otherwise I’d rather stay here.”
“Agreed,” she said. “I’d like to get a steak just for Shambhala.”
He smiled and joined Daniela in Sari’s room, then reached out a hand to the dog, who even now was at his daughter’s bedside. “She has certainly earned her keep,” he admitted.
“Angel didn’t admit to killing her brother though, did she?”
“Not in so many words,” he said. “I have no doubt that’s what happened. But I don’t know if there’s a way to prove it.”
“I wonder if we’ll ever find out.”
“I don’t know. I think the detective wants me to leave town and fast,” he said with a smile. “And you? What does your rental agreement say?”
“It’s pretty standard,” she said. “I have to give a month’s notice.”
He nodded. “And the end of the month is coming up.”
“Yes,” she said. “So I have to pay for next month, but I could leave any time after that.”
“And will you?” he asked, leaning against the doorjamb with his hands in his pockets.
“Maybe,” she said. “If I had a reason to and a place to go. I just found out from my sister”—motioning at her cell phone—“that her husband is being transferred, moving to New Mexico.”
“Wow,” he said. “It’s hard to argue with that.”
“Maybe,” she said. “I don’t know what it’s like there.”
“Well, it’s not nearly as cold,” he said with half a smile.
She grinned and nodded. “Good point,” she said.
He looked around at the furnishings. “How much of this do you want to keep?”
She found herself considering the logistics of moving an entire household that far. “I’m not sure I care about very much of it. And how hard would it be to drive it all that far? Or should I just let it all go and fly?”
“That stuff we can worry about later,” he said. “You should sleep now, if you can. I don’t know that you want to sleep in your bedroom now though, if she’s already asleep here.”
“No,” she said, “I can’t sleep yet, but I thought I’d stay here.” She nodded to the rocker, near Sari’s crib, pointing out the daybed too.
“Good enough. I’ll go back downstairs and keep an eye on things. We’ll have to tell the landlord too.”
She
