“Listen, I was wrong. You’re not the guy I’m looking for. I spoke to someone else’s sister. Short, definitely not pregnant. She lived in Portland so totally not yours.”
He stepped back until we were beside a room with an open door and then turned me… Big meaty hands on my back pushed me into the space with so much force I almost landed on my face. I stopped in the doorway, not wanting to go in the rest of the way because being in a confined space with a man who I was pretty sure killed Chip, there’d be nowhere for me to run.
Only a small set of windows lined the top of the room and they were too high for me to scramble up the wall and get one open. Jason blocked the entrance with his cart from which he pulled out a silver shiny metal gun before stepping into the classroom and shutting the door behind him.
Why the hell did everyone in Pelican Bay carry a gun, but no one let me have one? The percentage of armed people in the town had to be reaching a hundred percent. Sooner or later, they’d have to let me buy one.
If I survived.
“Let’s chat,” he said wearing a grin that even a combat-weary veteran would find scary.
24
Pierce
“Katy!” I yelled into the women’s restroom outside the high school gymnasium.
Yolanda Meyer walked out while I prepared to yell again and forced me to close my mouth and step away. I lowered the hand I cupped over my mouth to amplify the sound and smiled at her.
“She’s not in there,” she said, giving me a weird look. Obviously Yolanda hadn’t gotten the news about Katy and my new relationship, or maybe she had. Pelican Bay was a weird town.
I didn’t plan to take her word for it, though. Katy had friends to lie for her everywhere. “How do you know?”
Did Yolanda even know Katy? She was five years older than me, and even though Katy found herself into trouble often, did her reputation stretch that far?
Well… it’s possible
“First, everyone knows Katy Kadish. She slips in an extra cookie when you order at the bakery as long as she doesn’t think you’re a bitch.”
Oh. Well at least it was a good reason to know Katy. Hopefully Anessa had knowledge of the corporate shoplifting and wouldn’t fire Katy for it.
Yolanda shook her head. “It was real sad about her grandma, but also Katy isn’t in there because it’s empty.”
Damn.
Her gaze dropped, and she took in my blue polo shirt, khaki pants, and dress shoes before she stopped at the red and white bag of popcorn I held in my left hand. “Get better snacks and she’ll probably find you.” She pushed past me, leaving me alone in the short hallway.
“Right.” Pearl gave me the popcorn to hold when I approached her in the bleachers about Katy’s whereabouts. She explained Katy went to find the bathroom and then made a not-so-veiled threat if I ever hurt Katy, she’d use me as fertilizer for her potted plants. The old woman is terrifying. She’s the scariest resident of Pelican Bay and our town included a bunch of former SEALS, a mob boss, and a motorcycle gang.
Pelican Bay had more than its fair share of murders, especially considering our small-town populace. It always confused me why no one ever looked to Pearl as a main suspect. She grew the best Magnolias in the county. Someone needed to check the chemical composition of her fertilizer.
A noise caught my attention. It sounded like a hazy scream in the distance, but a second later the crowd inside the gymnasium went crazy and drowned out the noise.
Did I hear a scream or just my overactive imagination now that I saw danger at every turn since Katy became a major part of my life? The noise didn’t come again, and I strained my ear, tilting my head to the side, listening for it.
What were the odds the noise came from Katy?
Ugh.
High.
The odds were high.
If it involved Katy and a chance of a distressed scream, the odds were always high.
But how? Seriously, tonight the high school hosted their annual student staff basketball game. How did even Katy find trouble tonight?
Fuck.
