Free Deceived 6 - Ultimate Deception by Eve Carter

thought she could hurt me even from prison, that bitch had another thing coming.
    I made up a tray with some cheese and crackers and took it back to the room. If she noticed that I was more quiet than usual as we were eating, she didn’t mention it. Instead, she kept up a steady stream of conversation about the baby items we were going to need to get before Victoria was born. I hadn’t even thought of the fact that we didn’t have diapers or baby clothes or nearly enough of the necessities for a new baby. New York seemed so far away right now and I didn’t have time to focus on baby bottles. I’d deal with that when the time came. I had a more pressing issue burning a hole in my mind. I put on my best poker face and tried to stay calm as we made a list of all the things we would need. By the time we were finished, she was yawning and I told Chloe she could use my laptop and order baby stuff online after she woke up. She wasn’t sleeping as much as she had before, but every couple hours, she’d take a catnap which worked well for what I had to do next.
    Once Chloe’s eyes fluttered shut, I leaned over, kissed her forehead and then headed out into the main part of the house. I’d already searched the kitchen and even though I’d been looking for drugs, or something she could have slipped into my wine, I hadn’t found anything to link the Baroness to Nina. Not surprising since it was a kitchen, but that meant I needed to venture into other places. I hadn’t explored the house as much as Chloe had when we’d been here before, but I knew the kinds of places I was looking for. Communications, pictures, all of the things that showed human interaction would be in an office, a library which often doubled as an office, or a bedroom. I really didn’t want to search Nina’s bedroom, so I started by looking for an office.
    With the exception of one other guest room, all of the first floor was made up of places to entertain people, whether it was the living room where I’d sat with Nina that night or an entertainment room where a television took up an entire wall. Once I’d exhausted all of those resources, I headed for the stairs. I kept my eyes fixed firmly in front of me, not wanting to look down and see where Chloe had fallen, but I couldn’t keep myself from seeing her tumble those last few feet. I hadn’t seen where she’d started from, but even the bit I’d seen had been too much.
    When I reached the top of the stairs, I closed my eyes and took a moment to steady myself. It was odd, I thought, how Chloe’s loss of memory meant that I would feel all of this anxiety when things reminded me of what had happened, but she wouldn’t. I hated feeling this way, but I loved her enough that I was glad she didn’t have to experience it.
    Although there was one closed door straight ahead, I headed for the first room to my left and opened the door. Bedroom. I continued on, working my way down the hall until I found the library. Since I hadn’t yet seen a bedroom that looked like it could be Nina’s or an office, starting here was my best bet. I looked around, skimming over books and portraits, barely registering the expensive sculptures or the empty spot where a painting had obviously been hanging. Then I saw a desk against the far wall and crossed to it.
    I rummaged through the papers on top, but found nothing of interest. Mostly junk and bills that I didn’t look through. I’d check out her finances only if I didn’t find anything else. I tossed an empty envelope onto he desk top with frustration and set my sights on the drawers of the desk.
    The bottom one held paper and spare ink cartridges for a printer. Noting but computer supplies. The middle one had pens and pencils, along with other odds and ends. The top was locked.
    I dug through the middle drawer until I found a paper clip. When I’d been around eight or nine years old, there had been this boy in my school who’d taught a bunch of us at recess one day