The next morning, I heard her taking a shower in her room when I woke up. Tossing some boxers on, I walked through our adjoining door and stopped when I heard her singing the words to a song I recognized, .She was softly singing Heart’s classic hit “Alone”. I’d intended to join her in the shower, but instead, leaned against the wall, listening. Her sultry voice became louder as she hit the high notes, sending chills through me.

When I heard the water turn off, I snuck back to my room, leaving the door open. Pretending to be getting organized, or trying to create the illusion I wasn’t entranced by her voice, she never noticed I’d been in her room. She poked her head through the doorway, catching my eye.

“Morning, beautiful,” I said, taking her in as she stood in front of me in nothing but a towel.

“You’re awake!” she exclaimed cheerfully.

“I am, indeed. Did you have a good shower?” I grinned.

“Yes, thank you. I’m going to go downstairs and have breakfast with my sister. You’re more than welcome to join us, if you’d like.”

Normally, I would have said yes, because I didn’t want her to be far from me, but this time, since she was just meeting her sister downstairs, I decided to shower and let her go on her own. It had been weeks since we’d had any contact from her stalker, and while that may not mean anything, she wouldn’t be alone.

“I’m going to let you two have some girl time. Why don’t you have her meet you up here?” I suggested, thinking that would cover the five minutes she’d be alone going to the elevator.

“She is already in the lobby, waiting for me. She’s turning into quite the early bird, it seems,” Miranda replied. “I’m just gonna throw some clothes on and go. I’ll be fine. You have nothing to worry about.”

Crossing the room to her, I kissed her on the forehead. “I will always worry about you. I told you last night; you’re special to me, Miranda. So, just be careful.”

I had an uneasy feeling, but I couldn’t be in two places at once, and I needed to get ready for the day out at the venue, and the show tonight. Being with her, and watching her, all while creating the illusion I was just hanging around got a little tricky in these situations. It was only five minutes tops, and then she’d be safe with her sister. I’d never convince her not to go, and that wasn’t the point of the undercover gig anyway. She was supposed to be able to lead a normal life.

I kissed her goodbye and took the fastest shower possible, forgoing a shave. I was into the beard that was growing anyway, and Miranda seemed to like it too. She had run her fingers through it several times, which I loved. I opted for the ankle holster that day, and after checking my gun, like I did every day, I put it on under my jeans. Quickly, I got the rest of my shit together, and headed down to the lobby for coffee, and to keep an eye on the girls, of course.

I could hear the yelling before the elevator doors opened, and I knew it was Carmen. Running out as soon as the doors would allow, I turned the corner to find Miranda holding what looked like a shoebox, tears streaming down her face, while Carmen screamed at a man in a hotel uniform.

“What’s going on here?” I shouted, as I ran toward them.

Miranda’s eyes, red from crying, shifted from the box she was holding, to me. My instinct was to sweep her into my arms, taking her away from whatever the fuck was going on, but I kept as calm as possible. She lifted the box, handing it to me.

Inside was a doll. A fucking Voodoo doll. It looked exactly like her, and had a pin through its heart, with another stuck directly in its throat. As I examined more closely, it had red hairs attached to it; actual hairs that looked like Miranda’s. Someone had taken her hair from somewhere to use with the doll.

“What the fuck is this?” I demanded, looking at Carmen and the hotel manager.

“Sir, calm down,” the manager said in a hushed tone.

“Where the fuck did this come from?” I demanded, my heart pounding in my chest.

“Someone left it for her at the front desk,” Carmen replied. “Nobody seems to have any fucking clue where it came from, though, which is what you are witnessing now.”

“This was left for her at the front desk?” I shook the box at the manager.

“Sir, we take packages for guests all the time. This was nothing out of the ordinary. What’s inside is, well… it’s unfortunate, but there is nothing we can do about it,” he replied in a hushed tone, trying to diffuse the situation.

“Has anyone called the cops?” I asked, looking around. As my eyes landed on Miranda, she was frozen in place, almost catatonic. Handing the box to Carmen swiftly, I rushed to Miranda’s side. “Miranda? Are you okay? Talk to me.” I tried to get her to look at me, but she was completely still, and silent.

“I just called them, they’re on their way,” Carmen replied quietly, seeing the gravity of Miranda’s reaction.

I shuffled Miranda over to an overstuffed, cushioned bench nearby, and kneeled down in front of her. “Miranda? Look at me.”

Her face tilted up, and with a quivering lip, a single tear fell from her eye. Sweeping it away, I said, “It’s going to be okay. I’m here.” I paused. “Your sister is here too. We’re going to get to the bottom of this.”

“Someone stole my hair and made a Voodoo doll of me, Ryan,” she whispered, another tear falling.

“Did you see anyone watching you? Did anything weird happen after you left your room?” I asked, looking around myself.

Shaking her head, she replied, “I didn’t see anyone. Carmen and I had breakfast at the hotel restaurant, and then on our way back to the elevators, the concierge stopped me and said there was a package for me.”

“So, he knew who you were?”

She nodded her head. “Yeah, he called out my name.”

“No more using your real name to check into hotels anymore, alright?”

“Okay.” She nodded, wiping her eyes.

“I’m going to talk to your sister and this hotel manager. Just sit here, okay? I’ll be right over there.” I pointed the ten feet away, where her sister was gripping the box and arguing with the manager.

“Carmen, come here,” I said.

Pointing at the hotel manager, she stormed over to me. “What?”

“Let me see this box again,” I demanded.

“Here.” She handed it to me. “Who the fuck would do something like that? It’s creepy as fuck, and I’m just gonna tell you right now that if her throat starts hurting, we’re going to see a witch doctor to get this shit fixed.” She looked up, sighing and running her hands through her long hair. “Only in fucking New Orleans. I hate this fucking place. It’s got way too much bad juju.”

“Go sit with her and wait for the cops. We’ll get this sorted out. Have you called your father yet?”

“No, it hadn’t even occurred to me, honestly. Would you do it? I don’t feel like answering a thousand questions right now,” she replied.

“Yeah, of course after we talk to the cops,” I replied.

As Carmen walked off to comfort Miranda, my fury, coupled with my impatience, festered. At first, I had only noticed the doll in the box, but there was a note underneath it. When I pulled it out to read it, my temper escalated tenfold. It read, You belong with me, or with nobody. What the fuck kind of person does this to a woman…to my woman? When I found the guy, he was going to regret the day he ever laid eyes on her.

I agreed with Carmen wholeheartedly. I was never a fan of New Orleans, and the Voodoo history it had. It was fucking creepy, and while I didn’t know enough about it to believe in it, I didn’t know enough about it to not believe it in either. Glancing around the lobby, there were people milling about. They’d moved on from the scene that had just occurred, going about their vacations and whatnot, when I spotted Travis at the front desk. I placed the lid back on the box and stormed over to him.

“Travis!” I exclaimed.

“Oh hey, Ryan, how’s it going?”

“What?” I replied, assuming he knew exactly how it was going.

“Uh, I said, how’s it going? I just got here,” he replied, confused.

“You just got here?” I asked, confused myself. I had started to pin him as my stalker, but if he had just arrived, that wasn’t very likely.

“Yea. Leo and I stayed in Tampa a little longer and took our time getting here. Not the most scenic route, but we figured we had a little time on our hands, so why not. What’s going on? You alright?”

Well, fuck. If he and Leo had just gotten to town, he wasn’t my guy. That doll had her fucking hair on it. There was no way he could have gotten away with delivering that to the front desk. Even if he had someone do it, there’s little to no chance that someone in New Orleans would deliver a Voodoo doll for him. It simply wasn’t likely. “Yeah, yeah. I’m alright. Sorry. Just a weird morning,” I replied.

“Oh yeah? What’s going on?” he asked me, seeming genuinely interested.

I let my guard down a bit, but still tried to cover up what was going on. “Ah, you know those girls. They can be kind of volatile. Just a crazy morning with them today.”

Laughing, he said, “Oh, I hear ya. I’ve known them forever. Couldn’t agree more.” I laughed along with him, holding the box at my side in a death grip, not acknowledging its existence.

“Well, it’s been a long night. I’m gonna go say hi to the girls and then get a nap in.” The hotel clerk handed Travis his key, and pointed toward the elevators.

“Uh, maybe you should wait to see the girls. There was an incident this morning,” I said.

“An incident? What kind of incident?”

“Miranda received a threatening package today, so the cops are on their way,” I explained, scanning his face for a reaction, but seeing none.

Palpable shock appeared to cross his face. “A threatening package?” he gasped. Pointing to the box in my hand, he asked, “Is that it?”

Quickly glancing down, I replied, “Yeah, this is it.”

“What’s in it?” His eyes were still wide with shock.

“It’s just a Voodoo doll, but she’s pretty upset about it,” I replied, still looking for a nefarious sign and coming up empty.

“Jesus, that’s creepy,” He scrunched up his face. “Okay, well I’ll leave her alone and say hi later, of course. If there’s anything I can do, please let me know?”

“Will do, Travis. If you see anything weird, anything at all that gives you a bad vibe, tell me, and we’ll get it handled,” I said authoritatively.

“You’re pretty good in bad situations, Ryan. Especially for a writer,” he replied.

“Thanks man, I guess it’s just shock, maybe. Someone needs to stay levelheaded, ya know?”

“Well, she’s lucky you’re around,” he stated, picking up his bag to leave.

“Thanks man, we’ll catch you later,” I said, waving goodbye as I left to go back to the girls. The dude just wasn’t my guy. It seemed like he had an affinity for the girls, Miranda in particular, but nothing creepy or fucked up about it, from our conversation, and he definitely didn’t show any of the tells of a typical liar.

The cops had just arrived, and they needed the doll and a statement. While I’d like to have sent the doll to my guys, the cops were probably going to want that too. Before I reached the girls, I took a few pictures of it, and sent it to my buddy, Caleb. He had worked for me for the last couple years, and while he couldn’t run any tests on the doll, he knew how to find out where things came from, and knew how to get people to talk. That’s what I needed. Some fucking answers.