Miranda and Blake?

Signing?

Blake

I signed the divorce papers. 

I realized Miranda wasn't here. 

"Do you happen to know where your Client is?" 

"Nobody has been able to reach her for days. She's not answering the door either. So..." 

"She's isolating herself from the world?" 

"Essentially. She hasn't released any other songs yet either. It's strange. Carrie says her truck is in the driveway but there's no movement in the house. They can't get in the house without the code. The front door was locked." 

"My Wife never locks the door if she's home. That doesn't make any sense." 

"Maybe she's changing." 

"No. She would never risk somebody breaking in." 

"What if somebody broke into the house? It'd explain why her truck is there but there's no movement inside of the house." 

"There's no way. Miranda would've kicked whoever's ass it was." 

"Unless she knew the person. Somebody she wouldn't put her hands on." 

"Nobody comes to mind. The only people she wouldn't fight is her family. But they're all the way in Texas." 

"Yeah." 

"Nobody else except the both of us know the code into the house." 

"I bet somebody could crack it. Or watch from afar as you put the code in." 

"That's not funny." 

"I will get her to sign these later." 

"Okay." 

"When she wants to rejoin the world." 

I walked out. 

"Blake, just be careful." 

"I'm not scared of her." 

"Scared of what you might find. Days without a response? It's not looking good for her." 

"That's not even funny. At all." 

"But it's being practical." 

"Miranda is a fighter. If she went down, she went down fighting. I know her better than anybody else. And I know she doesn't give up or quit. Never give in, never give up. Her own motto." 

I got in my black truck. 

I drove to the Nashville house. 

Carrie was banging on the door. 

"Hey." 

"Jeez." 

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." 

"There is no movement in the house. The dogs were in the backyard. Mike has them at our house." 

"Thank you." 

"Of course." 

I put the code in the keypad. 

It is 5/14/11.

I opened the front door. 

Carrie and me walked in the front door. 

It was a mess. 

"Jeez." Carrie commented. 

Her platinum five carat diamond Engagement ring was on the Coffee table. 

You could tell she didn't voluntarily take it off. 

Carrie ran up the stairs. 

She was looking in the rooms. 

"She's not up here." 

I walked around downstairs. 

I walked into the Kitchen. 

Miranda was bound to the Kitchen Island. 

She had a huge cut across her throat. 

Miranda was still somehow breathing. 

She had lost a lot of blood. 

"I found her." 

"Oh, my God." Carrie commented. 

You could tell Miranda had fought against whoever it was. 

"So, she definitely put up a fight. With the bruising on her knuckles, she had got a few shots in before he knocked her out somehow." 

I squatted down in front of her. 

There were fingerprints around her neck. 

"It was definitely a male." 

"How do you know that?" 

"The fingerprints around her neck. No females' fingers are that wide apart. She had pried the guy's hands off her throat." 

"So, then he knocked her out. And cut up her face. And then slit her throat. But how is she still breathing?" 

"I don't know. But she's lost a lot of blood." 

I unbound her hands. 

I easily lifted Miranda up into my arms. 

"You better hang on for me." 

"She's gonna be fine. She's a strong woman." 

"Yeah." 

I let Carrie walk out in front of me. 

I shut and locked the front door behind me. 

I put Miranda in the passenger seat. 

I sped to Mercy General Hospital.