Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 58727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58727 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
“Yeah, I know. Sadie gave me the 4-1-1 on him.”
“What the hell were you thinking, Miles?” Austin shakes his head at me.
“Hell, I was… Fuck. I was thinking that my woman just lost her brother. That she’s sad. That she needs me.”
They both raise their eyebrows at me.
I’m done hiding. “Yeah, you heard it. My woman. Sadie Hopkins is my woman. I’m fucking in love with her. Satisfied?”
Austin tries to hold back a grin but is ultimately unsuccessful. “Seriously? You’re in love?”
“Don’t you dare give me any shit. You fell faster and harder than I did.”
“And you don’t hear me complaining about it.” Austin shuffles his feet on the sidewalk and holds out his hand to Chance. “Pay up.”
Chance shakes his head, but he’s smiling as he pulls out his wallet and slaps a twenty-dollar bill in Austin’s palm.
I roll my eyes and set my hands on my hips.
“The receptionist inside said Sadie was going to take some days off,” I tell them.
“That was good advice you gave her,” Chance says, tucking his wallet away. “Especially now that she’s recused herself from our case.”
“I just drove over to her place, but she’s not there.” I gaze around the sidewalk and street, absently looking for Sadie’s brunette head.
“It’s close to lunchtime. She might be over at Millie’s. Or at that taco place.” Chance rubs his belly. “I could stand eating.”
“You’re just like me.” I chuckle. “The world might be caving in on us, but I can always eat.”
“I’m the same way.” Austin laughs. “My mom always said I’m a bottomless pit. That must be something we got from our father.”
“I hope that’s all we got from him,” Chance says. “I don’t want to be anything like that motherfucker. Thank God that none of us look much like him. We got his height and shoulder breadth. You sure favor your mother, Austin. Miles, I’ve never met your mother but I bet she’s a blonde with blue eyes.”
I nod. “That she is. Though she colors her hair now to hide the gray.”
“My mom was a stunning redhead.” Chance smiles.
I get the feeling there’s a story there, but Chance doesn’t elaborate.
Instead, he places his Stetson on his head. “So about that lunch? One of Millie’s greasy burgers is calling my name.”
I grab my phone. “Yeah, sure. Let me give Sadie a call first.”
It rings.
And it rings.
Finally I get sent to voicemail.
This is Sadie. Sorry I can’t get to my phone right now but let me know who you are and I’ll call you right back.
Just the sound of her recorded voice brings a smile to my face.
“Hey, baby. It’s Miles. Where’d you run off to? Austin, Chance, and I are headed over to Millie’s for lunch. Meet us there, okay?”
Then I follow my brothers a couple buildings down to Millie’s Diner. I know a burger won’t solve our problems, but it sure can’t hurt to try.
24
SADIE
* * *
Call it detective’s intuition.
Or call it an old-fashioned hunch.
I walked back to my place after I left the conference room at the station, but I didn’t go in. Instead, I got straight into my car and started driving.
I knew I had to go somewhere, though I wasn’t sure where.
So it was as big a surprise to me as anyone when I ended up back at my father’s place. I sit in my car staring across the street at the dilapidated house.
He’s probably working, but if there’s a way to get into his house I’m going to find it. Breaking and entering isn’t a good look on a cop, for sure, but I can always pull the “it’s my dad’s house” line. It’s not even a lie.
Something has been itching at the back of my neck since yesterday. I feel like I missed something.
I pull into the rocky driveway and park my VW Beetle. Then I make my way to the ripped screen door, open it, and knock.
No response, not that I expected one. This neighborhood works during the day, or they keep to themselves.
I knock again, louder this time.
Again, nothing. So I turn the door by knob, and I’m surprised when it opens.
I didn’t think my father would leave his home unlocked. I expected to have to find an unlocked window to crawl through. But it makes sense. There’s nothing in here worth stealing.
I walk inside, and the stench of stale cigarette smoke and sour beer assaults me.
No problem. I’ll breathe through my mouth. Time to have a look around.
“Who the hell is out there?”
I know that voice—that gravelly-sounding cigarette voice.
“Hello, Rainey,” I call. “It’s me. Sadie. Curt’s daughter.”
Rainey comes out from the kitchen, wearing a magenta fluffy robe and holding a cigarette. “Don’t you know how to knock?”
“I did knock. Several times. Very loudly.”
“And then you decided to just come in?”
“Isn’t a daughter welcome at her father’s house?” I counter, although I’m pretty much only a daughter by blood, nothing more at this point.