The Wolf Code

But the plan had backfired, and Addie had sought help to stop lying to herself and to quit disappearing and pretending that she’d been taken.  When Robin saw the truth in Addie’s eyes, it had opened the floodgates, and all the careful manipulation she’d been subjected to over the years had slowly been peeled away to reveal the person beneath the mess that the Sheriff had created.  With Robin’s help, Addie had discovered memories that her delicate psyche had pushed away and buried.  And from there, Addie had found the strength to resist. 

Addie’s journal wouldn’t have the particulars of the night she died, but Senora had a feeling she knew exactly what had happened.

Curious, she flipped to the last few pages and began to read.

We have a plan.  I can tell RH is scared, but I am, too.  We can’t let this keep happening, and another tourist went missing.  The papers say her car was found in a ditch on a road heading back to DFW, but I know the truth.  I’ve given RH everything I know, and she’s written it all down.  Every day, D calls me, or he pulls my car over and gives me a bogus ticket for speeding just so he can make me miserable.  But I’m not going to do it, and I’m going to make sure that D isn’t able to hurt another person ever again.  He’s going to pay for what he did, and so is everyone else that helped him.

Senora closed the book and leaned back, taking it all in and knowing that this was going to be a hard read.  But her hunch had been right, and it looked like Addie paid for her strength with her life.  The journal shed a lot of light on Robin’s notes, and she knew she’d been right about Robin.  Robin was a good person, and she had ended her life out of fear and not because she was harboring the secret of her own involvement.  Robin was one of the good guys, and Ty would be relieved to know that his friend hadn’t been involved in everything that had been going on.  She couldn’t wait to tell Ty what she had discovered.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

She looked at the hotel and grimaced.  She didn’t want to spend the night there, and she wasn’t entirely convinced that everyone in town who had been part of the Sheriff’s operation had been caught.  Senora would be willing to bet that there were a few low-level players that were still running loose and would never be tied to the crimes.  She wouldn’t know who those people were, and she knew from experience that hotel managers often turned a blind eye in exchange for a little cash.  She didn’t want to spend the night here, and she knew that there was only one place in this town that she would feel safe.

You’re making excuses, she chided herself, but she didn’t care.  She left the engine on and got out of the car, jogging into the hotel’s lobby and coming out a few minutes later with the carryon bag she’d left in the room when they’d fled.  The clerk hadn’t even asked her for ID, but she didn’t care.  She was done with this place, and she wasn’t looking to come back.  She knew where she wanted to be, and for the next twenty-four hours, she was going to pretend that she didn’t have a life halfway across the country or that she was never going to see Ty again.  She was going to follow Mabel’s advice and make sure she didn’t regret walking away.