Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
I’ve been running it over and over in my head since they put me here, but I still don’t know what to say. “I told you back at my house. I had a bad morning.”
“What happened?”
Nervous, I pick at the corner of my thumbnail. If they check my email, they’ll know, right? Can they do that if I’m not arrested? What about GPS? Best to stick to the truth. “I… I had a job interview but it didn’t go that well so when I stopped to fill gas on my way home, I figured I would go in and grab a slushie to make myself feel better. I was chatting with the guy behind the register when something exploded outside.”
“What did you talk about?”
“I don’t know. My job hunt I guess? Anyway, we ducked behind the counter when stuff started blowing up, and then we—”
Detective Harris reaches into his jacket and pulls out several grainy photographs which are stills from a surveillance camera. In one you can see me coming out the front where a body is clearly visible, in another I’m hiding by my car, and in the third, Wraith is leading me away.
Shit.
“Like I was saying. We started running for the back door because of whatever was going on out front, but he was faster and the door got blocked so I had to go out the front. I really didn’t see much, I swear.” Between thinking about yesterday and the stress of being interviewed, it’s all too easy to let the tears come. Hopefully they’ll get me some sympathy. “It was so scary. I saw the body and just… I ran to my car hoping I could get away, but was too scared. I hid and hoped they wouldn’t see me.”
“Who wouldn’t see you, Ms. Thompson?”
“I don’t know who they were. I told you, it happened fast.”
“Could you pick out any of the shooters if I showed you some pictures?”
“M—maybe. I’m not sure.” Lie. I’ve been trying to forget, but I can still picture the scarred face of the guy who nearly found me and I’m pretty sure if I saw them again, I’d recognize at least one of the others.
“Good, excellent. Now I’d like you to tell us who the men were that you left with.” He frowns and taps the picture where Wraith is visible. “They looked very similar to the shooters didn’t they?”
My heart’s racing a mile a minute. I’m walking on very thin ice. “You think? I guess they both were riding motorcycles, but that’s pretty common. They were just Good Samaritans.”
He snorts in disbelief. “Do you really expect me to believe that someone was driving by, saw a shooting in progress and the gas station burning, and they just scooped you up and left?”
“Why is that so hard to believe?”
“Nobody in that area does anything unless they have something to gain from it. Let me be perfectly clear. We’ve run a background check on you and there’s nothing that indicates even a hint of connection to anything that happened aside from you happening to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Then why am I here?”
Detective Harris stands. “Because we have reason to believe that the Screaming Eagles are behind those cold blooded murders. You’re either keeping your mouth shut to protect them or you’re afraid of them. I don’t know which it is, but either way, you could be the key to making sure they pay. I’d start thinking long and hard about what you saw.”
“I didn’t… I really didn’t… When can I go home?”
Anderson leans back, and his grin turns crafty. “Oh, Ms. Thompson, I’m afraid that would be a very bad idea. We’ll be keeping you safe for your own good.”
“What? You can’t just—”
“We can and we will. Someone will be in to get you soon.” Anderson finishes the water and crushes the paper cup on the table right in front of me before they walk out, leaving me locked in the room alone again.
This really can’t be legal. Can the police really just pick me up and hold me without any kind of consent?
I close my eyes and remember Tank and Nitro joking around at the tattoo parlor, and the taste of Wraith when he kissed me goodbye. I know for a fact the three of them weren’t the shooters, and from what I heard and saw after, I’d bet money that it wasn’t the Screaming Eagles behind it.
The police department in this city has been a joke since I was a kid. Everyone knows it. Maybe Harris and Anderson are seeing the chance to finally pin something on the bikers and being a little overeager. I’m sure once someone more understanding talks to me this will all work out.
7
NITRO
“Anything?”
Wraith shoves his phone into his jacket with a shake of his head. “No. Her number’s going straight to voicemail. Has been since last night. I don’t like this.”