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“Oh, my! That’s awful.” Grace cried.
“No, it’s not. It’s justice,” Ginny retorted. Then her smile returned. “Will that be cash or charge?”
Chapter 7
Grace and Molly drove away in the Silverado, poorer by ten bucks but richer by one pair of neon pink leg warmers and a new suspect.
“I don’t know, Grace. She seems too ditzy to have committed murder. She thinks her cats talk to her.” Molly fingered the paper bag with the leg warmers in it, folding the top over and pressing it neatly. “Besides, she said his head was bashed in, and we know that wasn’t the case.”
“Maybe it’s just an act, something to throw us off the trail. She could have done it. She sure sounded pretty sincere when she said it wasn’t murder, it was justice. Either way, I think we should go talk to Albert Herves. His name seems to pop up a lot.”
“Well, sure. He’s the one who lost everyone’s money in Jeremy’s Ponzi scheme.”
“And a very good person to be a suspect. Kill the guy who stole your client’s money and left you holding the bag? Andwhereis that money, by the way? Have the cops found it? You sure as shit don’t have it,” Grace said.
Molly laughed. “Ain’t that the truth! I won’t even be able to afford to feed myself once I burn through my meager savings.”
“You don’t need to worry. I told you. I have money for both of us.”
Molly smirked. “Well, it won’t take the cops long to go through my finances. After, they’ll probably all have a good laugh.” She sobered and took Grace’s hand. “I’m really sorry, Grace. For dragging you into all this.”
“For the last time, you didn’t do anything. The only people to blame for this are Jeremy Prada and whoever killed him.” Grace nodded as if to herself. “My money is on Herves. He’s got the most to lose in this. If they can prove he knew it was a Ponzi scheme, he could go to jail for a long time. Killing Jeremy might have been his exit strategy.”
She pulled away from the curb and started driving again. “But you know what? That can wait. It’s lunchtime, and I’m hungry. Are you?”
Molly shrugged. “I could eat.”
“How about Chips and Burgers? Feel like a burger?”
“That sounds perfect!”
Grace smiled and was just beginning to make a left onto Conifer Avenue when suddenly there was a loud crash, and her world turned upside down. She hit her head, and everything went black.
***
“Ma’am? Ma’am, can you hear me? Wake up now.” The voice was insistent, refusing to be ignored. “Ma’am? Wake up.”
Grace heard the masculine voice but couldn’t place it. Why was a man in her bedroom, telling her to wake up? Her eyes blinked a couple of times, the light hurting her head. She finally held them open part-way, squinting.
“What’s your name?” The voice came from a handsome young man dressed in a blue uniform. The embroidered tag over his nameplate read “EMT.”
“Um…Grace. Grace Conroy.”
“Good. Grace, I’m John. You were in a car accident. Somebody hit your truck and flipped it over. We’re going to get you out of here, okay?”
“W-wait…M-molly. Where’s Molly?”
“The woman with you? We’re going to get to her next. We have to get you out to get to her.”
Grace tried to turn to see Molly, but her neck was constrained by some sort of neck brace.
“No, try to keep still. You may have a neck injury. We’ll have you out in no time.” John pulled away from the window and Grace heard a grinding noise. Then her truck door was removed by firefighters, and EMTs were sliding her onto a backboard.
“Molly! Molly!” She cried.
“I’m here, Grace,” Molly called back. She sounded weak, but at least she was alive.
Grace was placed on a stretcher, but before she could be lifted into the waiting ambulance, a familiar face loomed over her.
