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)
Why hadn’t Cindy texted her back? She nearly dropped a glass as she spun it around to place it on the bar, and that brought her up short. She was really agitated. It was nearly closing time. Cindy was most likely asleep. There was no reason to be panicking. But she was.
Gideon, is Javier around? What if it was Javier? She hadn’t even thought of him. He could be in trouble. He just seemed so invincible.
He was here with me when you called. He just left to look around.
Her phone vibrated, and she stepped back from the bar to take the time to look at the text from Cindy. It was long.
Called Larrsen and his partner. Lydia’s apartment broken into. Same with Sally’s. They destroyed furniture like in ours but didn’t take anything. The noise was reported, and two men were seen running from Sally’s apartment. They were both heavier set and wore those pullover beanie things with the eyes cut out. Two other men had been in Lydia’s apartment. They were seen running down the stairs. One was slender, pretty fit, the other looked older and a bit heavier, both wore masks covering their faces.
Rory let her breath out slowly. Her lungs burned for air. This was another blow she hadn’t been expecting, but she should have been. She and her friends were being targeted, but she couldn’t figure out why. Whoever had done this was searching for something. What? And why?
Not the worst. Jarrod Flawson’s body found. Stuffed in suitcase between machines in laundry room. The lady who found him was so hysterical they had to sedate her. He’d been there for some time. He’d been tortured and shot, the same as Dustin, except he was stuffed in the suitcase.
Rory had to work at keeping her body from panicking. All the signs were there. Numbness. Tingling. Dizziness. She signaled to Brad she needed to use her inhaler and would be right back. He nodded and stepped up to take her place.
Rory went to the break room and sank down into a chair, needing to get off her feet before she fell to the floor while she used her inhaler. No doubt Harvey was next if they could find him. Then her? Was Harvey right about framing him? Framing her?
Talk to me, Red. I can feel how upset you are.
She sent him the text from Cindy. She saw no reason not to share. He would know soon enough there had been another break-in. And another death.
Ask Cindy if this woman who found the body or the police confirmed who the suitcase belonged to.
Rory’s breath caught in her lungs. She hadn’t thought of that. It hadn’t occurred to her to even ask that question. Panic began to grip her all over again.
Just take slow, steady breaths. It’s my job to think of all the possibilities, sweetheart. What was the point of putting the body in the laundry room? Whoever killed him wanted him found. The suitcase was wedged between two machines. The killer knew that sooner or later someone was going to get curious and open it.
Rory forced her breathing to stay under control, but it took effort. Gideon made sense. She asked Cindy the question.
Black suitcase on rollers. Very expensive-looking, Cindy texted back. Shandra, the woman who found the suitcase, even has a photo of it.
Rory closed her eyes as relief poured through her. Not mine, Gideon. If the intention was to frame me, they didn’t use my suitcase. I have cheap but very adequate ones.
Are Lydia and Sally aware their apartments have been broken into?
She was very grateful Gideon changed the subject. I don’t think so. Not yet. Even with a new job, Lydia will have a difficult time replacing the contents of her apartment. She has renter’s insurance, but the money isn’t going to come in overnight. I’ve got money I saved to move that I’ll be able to help her with, but she’s very independent, and she won’t want to take it. She’ll be embarrassed, and it could ruin our friendship.
What if the money wasn’t specifically coming from you? Or just to her? You said your friend Sally lost everything as well. You did. So did Janice and Pam and Cindy. That’s all of you, right? We can set up something online to donate to, but also there in the apartment building and at the bar and in the harbor and at local restaurants. That would add up fast. We know a few people who are generous with contributions. Let me see what I can get started. If we have it in place immediately, all we need to do is figure out what to do for a couple of days for her and the others.
Gideon’s instant response was the reason she had fallen so fast and hard for him. There was no doubt in her mind that he would have something in the works by morning to ensure that money would be flowing toward fixing Lydia’s problem. Not just Lydia’s but all their problems. For all she knew, he might have already been doing that. It would be just like him.