Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 94716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
“No, thanks.” I muttered and waited for him to leave the room before punching in the sequence of numbers that Winter told me.
Once the numbers were punched in, I waited for the red light to turn to green, and then punched in the last four-digit code.
The snick of the lock releasing echoed, hollowly, throughout the empty room.
Right on top was an envelope addressed to me, followed by a legal sized brown envelope, and a voice recorder that had a sticky note that read: “Give this to my mom.”
Stuffing the tape recorder into my inside jacket pocket, I took the envelope, folded it in half, and shoved it into the back of my jeans, letting the jacket fall down to conceal it.
The envelope went into my other pocket, and I closed the safe, tapping the code back in to make sure it locked securely and headed for the door.
The sudden opening of the door startled the young man that had taken up position outside the door. His face clearly showed guilt as he spoke into the phone that was pressed to his ear. “Yes, sir. I’ll do that immediately.”
I knew immediately that something was fucked about this situation, so I didn’t dawdle. Ignoring the man’s pleas to wait, I headed out the door and into the bank lobby. All the while the young man trailed at my heels.
“Sir, if you’ll just wait a minute, my supervisor would like to speak with you.” He panted as he tried to keep up with my strides.
Pushing through the front doors, I called over my shoulder, “Sorry man, got an emergency.”
Gabe took in the quickness to my stride and the look on my face and started his bike with a loud throaty roar, which immediately drowned out the young man’s insistent pleas to wait.
He stopped about four feet from my bike and watched as I swung my leg over it and started mine up with a roar much the same as Gabe’s bike.
Giving the man a two finger flick, I pulled into traffic just as the doors to the bank pushed open and an older man that looked to be in his late fifties and two large men poured out.
The young man came up to them quickly and started pointing in our direction before the older man dressed him down quickly and efficiently.
I didn’t see anything after that because the light turned green and I hauled ass through it without worrying about my back since I knew that Gabe would always have it.
James picked us up a mile from the bank and we rode for over three hours before stopping at a diner at the halfway point between San Antonio and home.
“Hope you got something that was worth riding for three hours when I needed to take a piss.” James said as he walked into the diner at a near run.
Gabe snickered at the man’s obvious discomfort, and we followed him inside at a much slower pace.
The diner itself was made to resemble an old 50’s diner. It had the black and white tiles, the sparkly chairs, and a train that traveled around the top edges of the room.
A woman that looked like she was ridden hard and put up wet nearly thirty years ago was sitting at the bar with a cigarette in her hand. Her nametag read “Gladys.”
“How many?” Gladys asked.
“Three,” I answered. “Away from the smoke though.”
She huffed, but sat us in the very corner of the diner nearest the emergency exit and the bathrooms.
Gabe and I both sat with our backs to the back wall and ordered a water from Gladys before she left.
“Get anything useful?” Gabe asked as he glanced at the menu.
“Not sure yet. Here.” I said and handed him the manila envelope while keeping the letter for myself.
He grunted and started opening the files while I ripped open the edges to my own.
Adam’s cursive blocky handwriting greeted me as I unfolded the letter and started to read.
If you’re reading this, then it means that I’m gone. Apparently, I didn’t concede the warnings well enough, because I thought I could get this to you before anything happened to me. Guess I was wrong.
I’m sorry that you had to find out about it this way, but I want you to know that I never stopped looking for Winter, and when I realized she was alive just a few short days ago, I made it my life’s mission to find out what the hell was going on. I’m sorry I let you down. I hit the jackpot three days after your phone call, but didn’t want to tell you anything until I knew more details.
Edward Clayton ring any bells to you?
I’m sure it does. You had a background check done on his son, and told me to keep an eye on him while you were gone just in case.
Words will never be enough to tell you how very sorry I am that I didn’t watch out for her better, and take your worries to heart.
From what I’ve pieced together, Edward is into selling young girls to the highest bidder. The son runs the drug business and gets junkies hooked who have nothing else to offer but themselves or a family member.
Enter Winter’s mother and there you have it.
I had a buddy in the force run daddy dearest through the system, and low and behold he had an overdue speeding ticket.
Now, I’m no expert, but that means jail time. Lucky for me, I happened to be visiting my buddy on the force when daddy was brought in from his lunch date with his son. Papers his son had given him were confiscated as he was taken in.
Took a picture of all the papers and dropped them at the bank for safekeeping. Only, I wasn’t as smooth as I thought, or Clayton has someone on the inside who showed him security footage. Picked up a tail as soon as I pulled into my house that night.
I spoke with Winter’s sister about her old boyfriend, but damned if I could get her to talk about anything. All she kept saying was that she had failed her sister and it was all Peter’s fault.