Deadly Vows (Lizzie Grace 6)

No way, no how, Belle said.

You’ll be safe at Maelle’s. It’s the last place they’ll think to look, and it’s doubtful if either of them would dare attack a vampire’s abode.

Because only an insane person would willingly stay on the premises.

Maelle owes us a favor—this will fulfill that. It keeps you close while keeping you safe.

From Clayton and your father, maybe, but not from her bloodsucker tendencies.

She swore an oath, Belle. She won’t break that or her promise to help.

Are you sure of that?

Every instinctive bit of me is.

She swore softly. Let me think about it.

“I’ll go get the truck,” Aiden said, his gaze returning to me. “Will you be all right with the suspect?”

I nodded and dragged the keys out of my pocket. As he disappeared, I said, “When did Lawrence contact you?”

James shrugged. “A couple of weeks ago. He didn’t appear in any sort of hurry to chase you up though.”

He mightn’t have been, but I doubt the same could be said of Clayton. “Did you ever speak to another man?”

“No.”

So why, if my father had recently begun distancing himself from Clayton, was he now here helping to track down his escapee daughter? That really didn’t make a whole lot of sense.

“How did he initially contact you?”

James shrugged. “I guess he got my details off my website and shot me a message. It was in-person from there.”

“In your office? Or elsewhere?”

“Generally out in the open and away from any possibility of being seen.”

“Where have you been meeting him here?”

James shrugged. “It varies—the last one was up at Jackson’s Lookout.”

Which wasn’t that far out of Argyle, if I remembered properly. “Were you supposed to meet him there tonight?”

“No. He said he had other plans but he’d be in contact with a new meet location.”

“How was he going to do that? Via messages magically transported to you again?”

He nodded. “They appear in my hotel room. And before you ask, they self-destruct two minutes after I’ve read them.”

I smiled. Of course they did. My father was nothing if not cautious. “What time do they usually appear?”

“Around ten.”

I glanced at my watch. It was just after nine now, but that still gave us plenty of time to get there if we left immediately. “Where were you staying?”

“At the Albion Motel.”

Which wasn’t a place I knew, but wouldn’t be hard to Google. “Key?”