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“Good. But… first things first, we need to find you a place of your own.”
“Hell no. I’m not leaving my mom here alone after last night.”
Mel’s thoughtful expression showed her agreement. “I’d say it sucks to be you, having to live with mommy again, but I’d do the same thing. Until they have Tansy under lock and key, why take chances. Speaking of your mom, where is she?”
“I haven’t seen her since I got here earlier. She seems to have gone out. Not worried yet but if she doesn’t answer my calls soon, or my texts, I’ll be anxious.”
“Why not check with what’s-his-name before getting too upset?”
“Bernie? Good idea. He just lives a couple doors down.”
Before she could follow through on the suggestion, they both heard the kitchen door open. Her mother came in humming, her hair rumpled, and her blouse’s top buttons undone. She came to a dead halt when she saw the girls. Then rushed to her daughter. “Honey, are you okay? I didn’t see your car.”
“I parked it on the road because of the crime scene tape still up. And I’m fine.”
Anita came closer and looked deep into Honey’s deceptive innocent expression. Then as if she made up her mind not to pry, she began gathering her loose hair back in a tail. Flustered, she rushed to the fridge. “I’ll make you girls some breakfast.”
“Mom. Stop. Where have you been all morning?”
With her back to Honey and Mel, and her voice weak, she admitted, “I stayed with Bernie.” As if she needed to explain, she turned to face them with a carton of eggs dangerously hanging from her hand. “He made me. Said it wasn’t safe here for me alone, and I should go home with him. The policewoman, you remember, the nice one who was so sweet to me, agreed with him. So I did.” Her head nodded as if to urge them to agree also. When they said nothing, she added, “We were both so tired, we fell asleep and woke up not that long ago.”
Honey went to save the eggs and also hug her mother. “It was a good idea, Mom. I’m glad you weren’t here alone. But, from now on I’ll be staying with you until they catch that other girl, Tansy.”
Flushing, Anita pushed the eggs over on the counter and then hugged Honey. “I’m glad, baby. We’ll be much safer together.”
***
Mel, sitting back, saw the older woman’s face and had the distinct impression that those words had been said more for Honey’s comfort than for hers. Hmm! Mel felt positive that more went on earlier than Anita had shared.
It made her smile to think that the woman she’d known as only Honey’s mom might have found a new life of her own with a new man.
Scoffing inside, Mel realized she wanted the whole world to be in love because of her own shiny new relationship. Knowing she had plans to spend most of the day with Jess made her tingle with anticipation.
Suddenly, it hit her. How the hell were they going to be able to continue, her and Jess, when her bestie refused to see or even talk about Luke?
Christ on a stick. Life sucked sometimes.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Luke saw the coded message that he needed to call into Headquarters. Getting into his truck, he retrieved his hidden burner phone and found his wireless earplugs. In seconds he began talking to Bill Flint, his boss.
“What’s up?”
“Hey, champ. That’s what I was going to ask you. You’ve been busy. First of all, we hit the lab you gave us in the Gulch last night and shut it down. Found over a half a mill in cash onsite. Then we followed up on the death of the high school kid you notified us about on Beecham drive… the fentanyl overdose. By the way, her name is Val Gordon, she’s fifteen, and according to her mom, she reckons her daughter only started using since she began hanging out with a student from a different high school. She thinks her name is Tansy Bitmore. So you know… Tansy’s in the same school where Anita Bolder’s daughter is a teacher.”
“Noted.” Thinking to change the subject, Luke pounced on the first name. “Val Gordon. Just so you know that girl’s OD is getting me closer to the Fentanyl distributor. I heard she’d bought the drugs from a loser named Zed. He used to play with Matt and the band before going down the rabbit’s hole himself. It looks like the prick is selling in that back alley next to Garth Brooks’s new place. I’ll be hitting Zed up later for some details so don’t mess with him.”
“It’s you we need to mess with. I’m guessing you didn’t hear about the second overdose from the same shit. A female found at the Madrona in room 204. You know anything about this?”
Oh, oh! Bill’s tone didn’t bode well.
Before he could say anything in his defense, Bill kept talking. “We caught your truck on the video feed and saw you go into the room with her.”
Thinking quickly, Luke added, “Then you also watched me leave.” He kept his voice flat, emotionless… brittle.
“Yeah. Calm down. Lucky for you, the coroner places her time of death hours later.”
Tansy! Jesus, your own cousin. She must have switched the drugs.
