Jennifer Apodaca - Samantha Shaw 04 - Batteries Required by Jennifer Apodaca Read Free Book Online Page B

does it say?” Blaine demanded.
    Frowning, I scanned the words. “It’s a scene from a book, a kidnapping—” I couldn’t breathe. Fear raced through me. Hot prickles popped out on my back and arms. Was this a description of Angel’s kidnapping?
     
     
    I stared at the words pasted onto the greeting card. This couldn’t be a description of Angel’s kidnapping. That didn’t even make sense. And how would they find a book that had the exact same kidnapping . . .
    Unless the kidnapper had copied the actual kidnapping from a book. I shivered at the thought. It would take a true crazy person to do that.
    Blaine’s voice cut into my thoughts. “Boss, what is it?”
    I looked up at Blaine’s intense brown gaze. “I don’t know. It’s a scene from a book, I think.” I looked down again, skimming the words. “Wait, this is familiar. I think I’ve read this somewhere . . .”
    “How can you remember, with all the books you read?” Blaine asked. “Want me to call the police?”
    But I knew this writing. I recognized it. I closed my eyes, trying to put the kidnapping scene in context, when it hit me. I opened my eyes and said, “Vance!”
    Blaine reached for the phone. “I’ll call him.”
    “No!”
    Blaine held the phone in one of his blunt-fingered hands and looked at me. “Come again?”
    “I didn’t mean for you to call Vance, I meant this is Vance’s writing . It’s from one of the books that he wrote under his pen name. A romance where the hero/cop’s love interest is kidnapped. That book was hot.”
    “So that card has nothing to do with Angel? Then who left it for you? Why?”
    I turned the card over and looked at the back. “Samantha, R. V. Logan is looking for me, his heart mate. He wants me to find him. Don’t keep us apart. Zoë.” I groaned out loud. “Cripes, it’s from Zoë.” Talk about crazy. The question became, was she crazy like Kathy Bates in the movie Misery –crazy?
    Blaine set the phone down. “That chick that was here on Saturday?”
    “Woman,” I corrected. “And yeah, her. I hoped she had gone away.”
    Sighing, Blaine said, “You don’t have that kind of luck, boss. Crazies home in on you, like you are their mother ship.”
    “Gee, thanks.” I tossed the card down on my desk. “I don’t have time for crazies. Angel is out there somewhere.” I thought of her, scared and afraid of dying alone. I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t let that happen. “I just hope Gabe and I find out something at the casino that will help us find her.” Now for the hard part. “Since she hasn’t turned up, I think I’m going to try and call her mother on the ship.” Both of us turned to look at the phone on the desk.
    It rang.
    Cripes! My heart jumped in my chest. But that was silly—it wasn’t like Angel’s mom was calling me from the ship. It was just a coincidence that the phone had rung when Blaine and I looked at it. Pulling myself together, I took a step and grabbed the phone. “Heart Mates, this is Samantha. How can I help you?” It was automatic, almost soothing to be doing something so normal.
    “You can help me find the pricks who destroyed my house.”
    Omigod! I plunked my backside down on the edge of the desk. Dizziness spun around in my head. Was I hearing things? “Angel?”

4
    I left Blaine at the office and drove to Angel’s house. I couldn’t believe it! She was alive, and apparently fine. The short version that I’d gotten on the phone with her was that she’d gone to Las Vegas with Rick Mesa and his group. That explained why we never had been able to get ahold of Rick. The promoter who had seen the Silky Men’s show at Daystar had booked them a Sunday matinee as a test show at one of the hotels that had a cancellation. Angel had gone along with Rick, in his truck, to promote her lingerie. That explained why Angel had gone home, left her car in the garage, and changed purses.
    Her cell phone’s battery had died, and Angel had just left it