Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
“What kind of feel did you get?” Harlow asked.
“Like he was there to do more than sell those pills,” Mary told her.
“What else was he doing?” Raye pressed.
“Having a good look around,” Mary stated.
Oh man.
Casing the joint.
“What does this guy look like?” I asked.
Mary turned to me. “Young. Real skinny. Shifty. Dark hair. ’Bout as tall as you, maybe a little taller, not much though.”
“How young?” Raye kept at her. “Like, twenties young or thirties young?”
“Twenties young. Maybe just hit his twenties. He could pass as a teenager if you didn’t get a good look at his face,” Mary said.
“You said dark hair, is he white?” That was Harlow.
Mary nodded.
“Beard, mustache?” Again Harlow.
“No hair on his face. But the hair on his head is longish,” Mary said.
“Did he come during the day or at night?” That was Luna.
“Always during the day. Most of those kinds of guys slunk in at night. Not him. Right in broad daylight, breaking the law and destroying people’s lives, like he had every right to do it,” Mary groused.
We all took a moment to mentally grouse with her before I asked, “Did you tell the cops about him?”
A quick nod. “I did. But I could tell they thought it was just another drug dealer. They get a lot of those in the camp.”
I was sure they did.
“Would you recognize him if someone showed you a picture of him?” I questioned.
Mary brightened. “I would. You got pictures?”
“Not yet, but we’re working on some things,” I told her.
Or at least I hoped Tex and Duke were.
“You show me a picture, I’ll tell you if it’s the guy,” Mary decreed.
And if we could get a picture, maybe I could figure out how to find Javi and, since he knew everyone on the street, maybe he’d know who this guy was connected to and why he might be getting the lay of the land at the camps.
“Thanks, Mary. This has been really helpful,” I told her.
Her brows shot up. “It has?”
I smiled at her. “It has.”
She seemed pleased with herself as we said our goodbyes.
Frank took a swat at me as we started to leave, so I stopped and pointed at his kitty nose.
“Be good,” I ordered.
He curled a paw around my finger, gave it a good sniff then licked it.
“Good boy,” I murmured.
He stopped licking and swatted at me.
I laughed and braved a head scratch.
Frank started purring.
“Scammer,” I whispered.
“You got the touch,” Mary noted. “Frank doesn’t like just anybody.”
I hoped I had the touch.
“Is it better to get them as kittens or cats?” I asked her.
“It’s better they got someone who loves and feeds them,” Mary answered. “No matter what their age.”
She spoke truth.
She also followed us to the door.
“You girls be careful out there,” she called as we walked down the hall. “This is serious business.”
She wasn’t wrong about that.
Raye tagged the elevator button.
I turned to Mary and gave her a salute.
She gave me a shoo hand.
We got on the elevator, rode it, got off, hustled out to the parking lot, into the Sportage, and then we rolled out.
Raye was parking outside the camp when I received a return text from Eric about my text asking, Do you like cats?
Yes. Prefer dogs. Why?
I think I’m getting a cat, I replied, hit send, grabbed my Taser and angled out as the other girls did.
I’d learned from watching Eric, so I shoved my Taser in my front left waistband.
Easier to get to.
I did this making a mental note to ask Arthur for holsters. But I needed to do research before that, because I wanted to pick the one I’d get so it’d go with my outfits.
My phone vibrated in my hand.
Want to go to a shelter this weekend and look?
To respond and do it expeditiously, I sent him about twenty smiley emojis.
We headed toward Homer’s tent, with me watching Homer emerge from it to greet us, when my phone vibrated again.
I glanced at it.
Eric replied with a smiley, a thumbs up and a red heart.
All three were good.
Though, the heart was my favorite.
“Late again, Jessie,” Homer noted when we made it to him.
It wasn’t that late. It was just before eight.
But it was dark, already cold, and people were disappearing.
So I got his concern.
“Yeah, Homer. You remember my friends Harlow, Luna and Raye.”
He looked between them while nodding.
“We wanted to walk around and ask a few questions about what’s going on,” I told him.
“Why? Your guy is here,” he stated.
So he figured out Tex was ours, because I wasn’t sure Tex would tell him.
“You’re not telling everyone he’s our guy, are you?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Nope. He came to me. Requested space. Shared what he was doing and asked if I was okay with it. When I said yes, he told me we had to keep it to ourselves. But I’m glad he’s here.”