Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 153268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 766(@200wpm)___ 613(@250wpm)___ 511(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 153268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 766(@200wpm)___ 613(@250wpm)___ 511(@300wpm)
“Why wouldn’t they believe me?” I placed a hand on my hip. “After all, it’s not the first time you tried to have someone killed.” I motioned toward myself for emphasis. “Although, I have to say, you do a really bad job of offing people. I’m glad you didn’t choose it as a career path. Your Yelp page would be a disaster.”
Allison rolled her eyes, which glimmered with unshed tears. She shook her head. “Don’t be so dramatic. We were dumb kids. No one tried to kill you. We were just messing around.”
“You let me crawl back to safety with a shattered bone, covered in mud and dirt.”
She stomped. “You survived, didn’t you?”
“No thanks to you. And your little minions are grown women now. If I drag them to trial and make them testify, they’ll sell you out in no time. The statute of limitations hasn’t passed for our case. I checked.”
Every night before I’d gone to bed for the past nine years, to be exact. My true crime love was partially due to the fact I had almost gotten killed myself. I had nearly become a statistic. Something you heard about in podcasts. That had inspired me to look closely into my own case.
Every obsession had an origin. I suppose I owed this to Allison—she’d helped me figure out what I really wanted to do with my life.
Allison’s back was plastered against the door now. I hadn’t even realized I was ambling toward her and she was retreating farther away from me.
“Good luck stitching this case up.” She gasped, a thin layer of sweat covering her face. A knock came from the other side of the door, making her jump in surprise.
“Everything okay in there, ladies?” a female voice—her mother?—inquired in a fake singsong voice.
I arched an eyebrow toward my nemesis, who inhaled a greedy breath. “Yeah, Mom. Fine.”
“Do you need me to—”
“Leave me alone!” Allison barked, looking and sounding like a mean teenager again. “Just go away.”
At least now I knew Allison didn’t discriminate when it came to being a brat. Everybody got the same treatment. She waited until the padding of feet on carpet diminished before picking up where we’d left off. “You were saying?”
“I’m saying you sent people to threaten and stab Row,” I said calmly.
“And how did you reach this conclusion?” She barked out a laugh, folding her arms.
“Glad you asked.” My eyes bore into hers, and I was no longer nervous. I’d found my strength. It had been there all along. Buried deep inside me. “When I went to visit Row at the hospital, I thought about who could do such a thing. Only someone with high stakes. And who is going to suffer the most if he sells the lot? You, as the mayor. All anger would be directed at you. Plus, I knew you had the guts to go the extra mile to make a statement. So far, so circumstantial. But I decided to do a little digging myself.” Specifically, I had asked Taylor to give me access to the restaurant’s security cameras that showed the edge of the car the attackers had disappeared into.
I reached for my coat, pulling out the footage I’d printed out and a paper I had scribbled at home before I came here. “This is the part where I should tell you that, unfortunately, you messed with a true crime junkie. One with a passion for unearthing and solving mysteries. I’m a long-standing member of an amateur crime-solving forum and posted the picture, asking if there were experts who could help me figure out the make of the car. Turned out that it was an Acura RLX, which is widely unpopular in our part of the woods. Only eighty-three Acura RLXs are currently registered in Maine, and out of them, only seven are in our area. Since I could clearly tell the car was dark—navy or black—I found the license plate and the man it belonged to in no time.
“Niall Burks is the husband of your assistant, Lucinda, and the owner of the car. The person who normally drives it is his stepson, who lives all the way down in Massachusetts—which I guess was why you thought he wouldn’t be recognized—but that’s some interesting connection.” I offered her the papers I was holding. She tore them into shreds without looking at them. Staring at her pitifully, I let out a sigh. “That’s okay. I have extras.”
Allison knew she was caught. Her mouth screwed into a grimace; her eyes were five times their normal size. Her sins had finally caught up with her, and not a moment too soon.
“Lucinda and Niall have their own reservations about this deal Row decided to go for. I have nothing to do with it.”
“He already signed the contract.” I smiled, putting the final nail in her coffin. Her body wilted with dread. “And if that’s the case, then I’m going to have Sheriff Menchin go directly to them. Hope they have good legal representation. How lucky are you?” I stepped forward, wiping invisible dust off her shoulder. She flinched. “So many wrongdoings around you, and yet you are totally innocent. I’m sure your track teammates, Tucker, Lucinda, Niall, and Sanders are going to be totally on board with your version of things.”