Deep Waters

Chapter Thirty-Six

"You know, your company is a whole lot better than your brother's," I admitted very blatantly.

Her chuckle filled the air. "Yeah, I feel that. My brother is a little different I guess."

Maybe she would know more than her mother would? The question repeated over in my head. I knew it was none of my business, but the curiosity ate me up. I had made this mystery a mission for myself to figure out. Or maybe I was just nosey.

"Do you know anything about his ex? Macy, I think her name was? The one who disappeared?"

Hazel looked at me after my questions, looking a little shocked. Curiosity sparkled in her eyes. "What about her?"

I shrugged. "Do you have any theories?" I reached out and gently patted the horse in front of me.

She looked away for a moment, lost in thought. Her gaze focused on the animal in front of her. "None that I'd like to believe," she answered quietly after a few minutes.

What was that supposed to mean? Did Sam actually do something to Macy? Did Hazel know? Was she just suspicious? A tension was suddenly filling the distance between me and the girl beside me. Maybe bringing up Sam and Macy was a mistake.

Sighing loudly, I stopped petting the horse and backed away from the fence, shoving my hands in the front pockets of my jeans. "I guess I better go find Gavin...I should talk to him about everything going on with Charles."

She just nodded, and for a moment we both stood in silence, me staring at her. As I turned and started walking away, she finally spoke up. "Delilah?" I paused and glanced at her over my shoulder, staying silent. "No matter what happens, follow your gut," she advised. "There have been times I should have followed my gut, didn't, and couldn't go back to make things right." Her sympathetic eyes raised to meet mine. "From what I've seen and heard, your gut feeling especially is never wrong." I thought about what said before slipping her a small smile and nodded. With that, I left her at the fence with the horses, while I headed back toward the house.

On my way, I pulled my cellphone out of my back pocket and dialed a familiar number. Anxiety swirled in my stomach as I remembered the argument I had had with Daniel just earlier this morning, but I pushed that out of my mind. This was important. "Hello? Delilah?" Daniel answered.

"Yeah, it's me." I took a deep breath. "I have a proposition...and before you say anything about how dangerous it is, or how reckless, or whatever, think about the chance of success." I clicked my tongue, thinking of what order to form my words. "There's one thing we can do to lure Charles out of hiding. There's one thing that he will take risks for, and that's me. I want to catch Charles, using myself as bait."

For a long moment, there was silence on the other end of the line. I was nearing the house. "Delilah..."

"Don't say it's a bad idea," I stopped him. "We both know that it would work. We can take all the precautions you want, but we need to do this. This is the only way we are going to stop Charles before he hurts more people." I breathed, ignoring my racing heart. "He's looking for me; so let's tell him where I am, or where I will be."

The sound of Daniel breathing through the speaker filled my ear. "And how to do you that he wouldn't just shoot you on sight?"

"Because you'll come up with a way to protect me," I assured him, knowing it was true. "I want to do this, Daniel. I'm tired of running and hiding. I want this over with." He was silent. "Please, Daniel...this is what I want."

He sighed again. "All right. Okay...when are you wanting to pull this off?"

I smiled and let out a breath of relief. "As soon as possible."