Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
She refused to cry again. She was already a mess. He didn’t need to see her as more of one. But however much she didn’t want to see him, she didn’t want Lydia or the detective to call an ambulance. She would be totally humiliated.
Feeling a little stronger, she made an attempt to take the inhaler herself. Her arm still wouldn’t cooperate. Pins and needles began to replace the numbness, as if her body were returning to life. The roaring in her ears receded enough that she began to hear the conversations happening around her.
“I’m Detective Larrsen.”
“Gideon Carpenter.” Gideon kept his arms around Rory. “She has severe asthma.”
“I should have known she needed her inhaler,” Lydia said, a sob in her voice. “I’m sorry, Rory. I couldn’t think. I just couldn’t think.”
“I take it you and Rory are seeing each other?”
Rory tried not to react. She knew if she objected and said she’d split up with Gideon, he’d instantly become a suspect. No way had he done this. She nodded her head, not looking at either Gideon or Lydia. She sent up a silent prayer to the universe that Lydia wouldn’t contradict her.
“How did you know Rory was in trouble?” The question was asked in a mild, almost casual voice.
“I texted him when she went down,” Lydia said. “Pam, Janice and I talked it over and thought Gideon should know. We were worried after we first saw the car. Rory is very independent, and we weren’t sure if she would tell him, so we agreed we should. I still hesitated until she went down like that, and then I just had to.”
“I see,” Larrsen said. There was amusement in his voice.
Rory wasn’t certain if Lydia was telling the truth or not. She sounded very honest, but then she knew Rory had broken up with Gideon. She didn’t know why, and Rory hadn’t told any of them. They only knew Rory had been heartbroken. Lydia was a romantic at heart, and maybe she saw this as an opportunity to get them back together.
Rory might not want suspicion to fall on Gideon, but she told herself that was because she wanted the real perpetrators to be hunted down.
“There are security cameras in the garage, right?” Gideon asked. He began to massage Rory’s arms, helping to get the blood flowing much faster.
“That was the very first thing taken out. Clearly, they knew what they were doing. Every camera was destroyed coming into the parking garage. There’s no recording of them driving in even on the lower levels.”
“This was planned out very carefully,” Gideon observed. “And it was done by more than one person.”
Larrsen agreed. “Rory, did you have anything of value in your car?”
She shook her head. It was still impossible to put a coherent sentence together. Her lungs burned, but the raw ache was beginning to subside along with the terrible panic. She kept her gaze away from the wreck of her car.
“Janice said she picked up mail, registration, insurance papers and a notebook that were strewn all over the floor of the garage and shoved them in a tote bag.”
“By the looks of the car, this attack was personal. Was it the same in her apartment?” Gideon asked.
Larrsen shook his head. “The break-in at the apartment didn’t feel personal. My take was someone was looking for something in the furniture. None of the women bought their furniture from the same place. Nothing appeared to be taken. There was no graffiti in the apartment, like on the car. No message written.”
Rory started shaking all over again when she’d just begun to get herself under control. No one had ever hated her—that she knew of. What could she have possibly done to cause someone to despise her so much? She remembered everything after her childhood. Every conversation. She didn’t intentionally snub people. Or hurt their feelings. Had she ignored someone at the bar? How had she not noticed someone following her home?
“Could someone be trying to hit at you through her, Gideon?” Larrsen asked. “Do you have enemies that would do something like this to her?”
Gideon thought it over before answering. “It doesn’t seem likely. Rory and I have talked at the bar where she works, but mostly after closing. It’s always very late, and no one’s ever around. We sit outside or just inside her apartment building in the lounge area. We did go to the Salty Dog restaurant once in public together. Sometimes we go to my place and sit on the rooftop. We keep things low-key. The point I’m making is we aren’t seen in public together a lot.”
“Is there a reason for that?” Larrsen asked.
Gideon shifted and pulled his wallet from his pocket. He fished a single card from it and handed it to the detective. “That would be the reason. I’m careful with her.”