Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 122074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
I pushed back the desk chair, which had a good view into Easter Lanes as I reached for it. “Yes?”
Silence, then a growl. “You’re at Easter Lanes?”
This was Detective Worthing.
I stood up, phone pressed to my face as I stared at the window where I could see Molly behind the counter. She was helping a few customers, but there. I saw it. Her head was folded down. Her shoulders hunched forward. She was looking around. The customers left, and she remained in the same spot, her hand reaching for a rag and wiping the same circle over and over as her eyes were skirting around the place.
What did she do?
“Should we expect a surprise visit from you soon?”
A dry laugh again, caustic at the end. “Can’t say it would be a surprise, considering I got a call to my personal cell saying that if I wanted to question Miss Easter, today and within the hour would be a good time.”
My body went cold. “She called you herself?”
“Not her. Thinking it was one of her employees. They both seemed real protective of Miss Easter when we questioned them the other night.”
I wasn’t liking the way he said her name. “She’s not a part of this war.”
“Beg to differ. By the way, what are you doing at her place of business?”
I grunted. “I’m fucking her. How’s that for an answer?”
He was silent for a second. “Are you kidding me?”
Now my body went on alert. “Why would I joke about who I take to my bed?”
“Jess Montell was a good PO. Leave another one like her alone.”
“Unless my gut is lying to me, I’m pretty certain Molly Easter has absolutely no affinity for being in law enforcement.”
“You know what I’m saying. She’s an innocent.”
“Then why the call, Detective Worthing? Why the sudden interest in her? You’re assigned to organized crime. Why would you be assigned to a simple robbery if you thought she was so innocent?”
He bit off a curse. “You know why. Everyone knows why. Now listen, I got the call, and I have to report it, so that means that my partner and I will be coming into Easter Lanes to interview Molly Easter. This call is a courtesy because you used to pay me.”
I went back to being cold. “Yes, I did, until your family killed mine. Remember that. I’ll be seeing you when you get here.”
“Ashton, I didn’t make this call for war purposes. I’m aware that there’s a ceasefire—”
“But you still want to interrogate Molly Easter because of her connection to my family.”
“‘Interrogate’ is a strong word. Question, yes. It makes sense. Her father has ties to yours. You know where I was transferred to.”
“We both know it would’ve been an interrogation. I was told you were at the hospital to see her, but you weren’t there when I arrived. Why did you leave?”
“When Nurse Sloane tells you to leave and come back later, you leave and come back later.”
Nurse Sloane again.
“Have you gotten any leads for my brother’s murder? I know there’s an understanding between you and my cousin.”
And that was it for me.
I ended the call, still watching Molly as she was pretending to wash the same spot once again.
Her whole body was tense. Her eyes were darting around. She was nervous.
Why was I here? Like I didn’t have other items to handle today. Other businesses. Other family members wanting answers for events I still didn’t know. But I was here.
What was I doing?
That day, that morning so long ago. We were kids, and she’d had no idea what had happened that day, but I had. I knew who she was. I knew why she was there. I didn’t know the specifics, but I didn’t need to know. Grew up watching con men coming in and out of my grandfather’s house. Could clock them the second their cars pulled onto our block. Knew the rank they held among my family’s workers, how very little anyone thought of them or how much respect they carried. Her father had none. He was the bottom of the bottom, and I’d always known it, but then he brought her, and I knew what she’d lost that day.
She looked up, scared, all alone in a house of Mafia men. She shouldn’t have been there.
Then she saw me, and I recognized the look. She thought I was a cute boy, but more. Like I was a knight in shining armor. For a brief moment, so brief, but burned forever in my head, she looked at me like I was there to save her.
That’s what pissed me off the most.
Her father’s job was to protect her, and he was selling her out in the office I just left.
She had no clue about any of it, still didn’t.
That’s what I was doing here, and I needed to acknowledge it. I needed to get rid of it because I’d been feeling it since that day. Carrying that shit. It was time. Finally. Fucking tell her everything so she and I could move forward without holding someone else’s burden, whether we knew we were carrying it or not, and this one had nothing to do with her father.