The Mysterious Stranger (The Confidence Game 3)

Rory was still smiling about that when she made her way back to the command tent to find Zeke wasn’t there.

She slapped a hand on her back pocket and then yelped in frustration. The real world might be back, but she still couldn’t call him till she got some tech organized.

“He’s gone,” Tres said.

If he was leading some field search mission that was unfair. “He’s done enough. He needs to rest.”

“Absolutely. He’s more than done. He wanted out of here. Took off about half an hour ago.”

Gone? Without her. Without saying goodbye. That wasn’t possible.

Tres grabbed her arm. “Are you okay? You look like you need to sit down.”

She felt strange, as if all the parts of her brain were scrambling into new positions and she no longer had control of her body. “Where did he go?”

“Straight to his detox. I don’t know exactly where. You know what he’s like. He can be a secretive little turd when he doesn’t want to be disturbed. It’ll be a tree house in a wilderness somewhere off the grid.”

“Tree house?”

“Or a yurt.”

There was no need to overreact. This wasn’t a mystery. He was exhausted, and she could catch up with him. “Did he leave me a message?”

“No. He’ll see you back in the city at the end of the month. I’ve got your car ready if you want to leave now too. Luggage on board. All your gadgets. Your spa experience awaits you.”

He left without leaving a message, without leaving her any way to contact him. He wouldn’t do that. “I don’t understand.” She turned away from Tres, looked out across the town square to the window of the canteen where she’d stood all those mealtimes, bored, irrelevant, humiliated, broken down and doubting herself all over again.

This was worse.

“Rory, Rory. I think you should sit down.” Tres’s arm over her shoulder. “From what Zeke said, you’ve had a foul time of it. You know there are going to be formal interviews to come. You need rest before that part of the process starts. Let’s get you out of here.”

She broke away from Tres’s hold. She’d survived her Abundance initiation because she’d known it wasn’t real. Zeke abandoning her, how was she supposed to interpret that?

She shook her head, but it didn’t clear the fog. “I have to say goodbye to someone first.” She needed to move, to think, to be professional and not fall apart in front of dozens of law enforcement and welfare professionals because her brain was telling her this was a disaster.

Before she could step away, her vision filled with Orrin in cuffs being led to a police car. He tried to alter his course and come after her, his face contorted in rage, but was yanked back into line. When he finally figured out the role she’d played in his downfall, that rage could eat him alive. She wasn’t above hoping it did.

The goats greeted her with snickers and baas. Tres would make sure they found new homes with people who would care for them.

“Why would he leave me like this?” she said, entering their outdoor pen, holding her hands out flat for them to sniff. “He loves me, I know he does.” She checked their water. “What changed between loving me at the cabin and leaving me now?”

Bernadette screamed. Rory almost screamed back at her.

“This is a nightmare and I just need to wake up and find he’s standing behind me ready to tease me about liking smelly goats.” She scratched Petunia behind her floppy ears. “But I didn’t tell him about you guys. There’s so much I didn’t tell him, but I thought we’d have time, not whatever this is. I thought we’d have the rest of our lives.”

“Never thought I’d find you hanging out with farm animals.”

It felt like her heart bounced at the sound of that steady deep voice. So close in tone to the one voice she really needed to hear.

“They’re good listeners.” She turned to face Cal. “When did you get here?”

“In Abundance, about a half hour ago. At this place of goats, in time to hear you say you were in love with Zeke.”

“I didn’t say that.” Not out loud, not here, not in front of Cal. Least of all in front of Cal. It was too soon.

“I’m cutting to the chase.”

There was no trying to get one over him. She stroked Melanie between her eyes and the goat snickered happily. “I can’t talk to you about this.”