Total pages in book: 183
Estimated words: 178343 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 892(@200wpm)___ 713(@250wpm)___ 594(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 178343 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 892(@200wpm)___ 713(@250wpm)___ 594(@300wpm)
She eats half of hers but feels nauseous, so she decides to take a shower and get ready while I clean up, planning to head to Genesis.
I’ve got a meeting with the cops there and then I’m planning to sift through as much surveillance of Numbers as possible to get intel on this stepsister of Felix Hoffman and hopefully whoever else is part of the crew that has been planning to rip me off before Susanna brings Violet over for her surprise bridal shower.
Violet’s phone rings and she answers it. Her lawyer’s appointment is canceled. Jennifer Cross can’t meet until the first week of the new year due to a personal emergency. Violet is pissed about it for a minute, but then shrugs that this gives her more time to investigate Shara and build her case.
I find it amusing, and I’m also proud of her.
She’s standing up for herself. Fighting back. Somehow I don’t think she’d do that this well if this were a few months ago. Yes, I’ll take partial credit for it.
“So all you’ve got today then is your meeting with your friend?”
“Tennille from KIT Peripherals, yeah.”
“Stan taking you?”
“He can’t drive me today. We talked about it after the mall. He has his daughter’s Christmas pageant. I told him not to worry. Wesley is going to follow me. Since you think that’s necessary. But is it really?”
I clasp her chin and look into her eyes. “A hundred per cent. I’ll take no chances with your safety.”
She moistens her lips and then nods.
“Thanks, baby,” I say. “It’ll make me feel better to know you’re not vulnerable. Lots of shit piled on my plate right now and over the next bit I’ll be workin’ hard to get it cleaned up so we’ve got a clean slate for the new year.”
“Okay. If you need any help, let me know.”
I smile at her.
“What? I can help.”
“Let me worry about all that.”
“Fine. Will you be back for dinner later? Should I cook like the dutiful little woman?” she asks, snark in her tone.
“I think I’m spending the evening at Numbers,” I say. “Probably won’t be home until closing, but you’re way more than the dutiful little woman, woman. And I have a pile of shit on my plate, so it’ll help me focus on that if I know you’re safe. Is that okay?”
She sighs. “Okay, well, I’ve just decided I’m not cooking. I’m having gingerbread again for dinner.”
I chuckle. “You’re gonna turn into gingerbread.”
“And give birth to one,” she shrugs.
My phone rings. TR. Tino Rossi.
“Hey,” I greet.
He says, “Throw the kettle on.”
“Will do.”
“Later.”
He’s referring to the news, so I head to the television and turn it on. Not five minutes later the ticker on the bottom of the screen has a line indicating a yet-to-be identified body was just found at the landfill.
Hoffman.
They haven’t said his name, but obviously. I asked Tino to work with JC to get advice on where and how to stage the scene.
Hoffman’s stepsister Stephanie happens to be on the schedule today from three to eleven at Numbers, so that ought to be interesting to see, too.
Half an hour after Violet leaves to go to her lunch, I’m almost ready to head out when Ed Scottsdale, one of the cops that came to see me the other day calls.
He tells me Felix Hoffman was found dead, at the landfill. Gunshot wound to the head.
I remark that I guess we don’t need to worry about a New Year’s Eve heist, and he tells me their ears will be open and we’ll proceed as planned in case the rest of Hoffman’s crew continues on with their plan.
43
Violet
I phone Killian after my lunch with Tennille. I’m so excited to fill him in that I’m trembling.
“Hey, baby.”
“Is this a good time?” I ask, about ready to burst. “I have news.”
“Sure, I’m at Numbers going through surveillance, waiting for the manager to show. He should’ve been here an hour ago, so I might have to let you go suddenly. But if I do, I’ll call back after a quick chat with him. Go. Give me your update. You sound excited.”
“Oh, I am. So, I went to lunch with Tennille, and she’s given me quite a bit of ammo.”
“Tell me.”
“So, there was an order from me the Thursday before we went away that came in via the usual EDI transmission, which is archaic but still how we do business with this supplier. Remember the time you picked me up and had to wait half an hour?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s a pain in the ass. But anyway, because of how it works, if you have order changes, you have to fax or email a revision and get them to do them manually, the system glitches otherwise. So there was a manual revision sent through on Monday morning for the eight hundred and whatever pieces they said I made the mistake of ordering by fax. And it came with my name as the sender but it’s not my handwriting. But, then the revision got canceled via fax about twenty minutes after the first fax was sent.”