Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
“I guess you never know how someone is really feeling,” Sally said. “As many times as they made comments, none of them ever made a real pass, at least not at me.”
The other women shook their heads.
They hadn’t at Rory. None of them had come to the bar. The men knew the women gathered in the lounge, and they had never joined them. There had been opportunities for any of them to harass the women individually, but they hadn’t taken them. She should have asked herself why.
She took another sip of coffee. “I’m a bartender. It’s my job to read people. I failed that one epically.”
“Rory, what he did isn’t on you,” Cindy said. “We didn’t know him that well. Just enough to say hi and hurry out of the room. That was about it.”
Because she hadn’t bothered to take the time, but then during her travels she rarely, if ever, had. It was these women and the ones at her place of work who had changed everything for her. Changed her. Opened her up to new possibilities. To Gideon. And yet even with him, a man she was interested in, she hadn’t asked about his injury. She’d been closed off for so long, she’d forgotten how to talk to people.
“Where’s Janice?” Rory asked, concerned that she wasn’t with them.
Pam looked around and lowered her voice even more. “A friend of hers called and said it was important she meet him regarding the D-E-A-T-H here. She should be back any minute.”
“For a safe apartment building, things are a little dicey here right now,” Sally said.
“I’ve lived here nearly two years,” Pam said. “It’s always been quiet here. In fact, if you don’t count the fabulous four creepers—rest in peace, Dustin; and they’re really more annoying than anything else—then it was quiet until the detective was shot.”
“Do you think someone from our building had something to do with it, or an outsider?” Lydia asked.
“That’s a good question,” Cindy said. “One would think it would have to be someone residing on the ground floor or someone able to get in and out the lobby doors.”
“That could be anyone. The deliverymen have a way in,” Pam pointed out.
Janice rushed in looking disheveled and a little pale, Rory thought. She took her usual chair beside Pam and looked around at her friends, twice opening her mouth to speak and then closing it when she glanced down at Ellen.
“Should I take Ellen upstairs to our apartment?” Lydia asked.
Ellen glanced up, proof that she was paying attention to the conversation.
Janice took a deep breath. “Give me a minute. I’m not even being dramatic. I swear.” Janice was rarely given to dramatics. “It might be best, Lydia. I can fill you in after I tell the others.”
“I’ll go up and watch her,” Cindy promised.
Lydia immediately rose, lifted Ellen into her arms and took the elevator up to the second floor.
Rory looked expectantly at Janice.
“I’m telling all of you this in absolute confidence. You have to give me your word this won’t go any further. My friend risked his job to warn me.” Janice waited for each of them to verbally give them their vow of silence.
Rory could see she meant business.
“Dustin didn’t commit suicide,” Janice whispered. “He was shot. Tortured. And then hung. Someone murdered him. No one is supposed to know. My friend wanted me to be on the alert. He said not to go anywhere alone.”
A chill went down Rory’s spine. They stared at each other in shock. “Could he be mistaken, Janice?”
Janice shook her head. “He risked his job to warn me. He examined Dustin’s body. You can’t tell anyone. I mean it. The gunshot wasn’t to kill him, only to subdue him. Whoever tortured him took their time and inflicted a tremendous amount of pain and damage before hanging him. Go in pairs everywhere.”
Cindy took a deep breath. “This is crazy. Why didn’t the police warn us?”
“I have no idea. They didn’t tell anyone. They let everyone believe his death was a suicide.”
“I moved here with the boys believing they would be safe. First the detective was murdered, now this. I need to rethink our living arrangements.”
“Cindy,” Janice wailed.
“I’m not telling anyone,” Cindy said. “I’m just going to start thinking about where I can move with the boys that’s safer.”
Rory couldn’t blame her. If she had children, she’d think about it too.
4
Gideon could barely take his gaze from the vibrant color of Rory’s hair. They were seated at one of the outdoor tables on the wharf at a restaurant only the locals frequented. The sun spotlighted all that dark cherry, now shining so bright it was nearly blinding him.
“You have beautiful hair.” He blurted it out and then flashed her a grin, shaking his head at his own stupidity. “I suppose you get told that a lot.”