She grabbed it and opened the back door, then moved into the alley.
“You said you’d fix it!”
Sadie paused at the shouted voices. Turning her head, she noticed the screen door for the liquor store was closed, but the back door was open.
“Don’t fucking shout at me, kid! If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t havehalfof what you do.”
Was that Mr. Anderson?Jesus. He was often angry, but this sounded different.
Walking quickly, she dropped the bag of trash into the dumpster.
“I risked myjobto pay off that fucking coroner to call it a brain aneurysm, and now someone else is in the hospital. She almostdied! Hell, her life isstillat risk. How am I supposed to cover up this one?”
Sadie stopped, her heart hammering against her ribs. Brain aneurysm? They were talking about Denny Barclay, right? They’d paid off the coroner? Why?
“All you had to do was take the bad shit off the shelves so no one else got hurt,” the guy continued. “Was that so fucking hard?”
“This shop is full of that shit. You wanted me to just empty the shelves?” Mr. Anderson yelled.
“Yes! If that saved us from getting in trouble!”
Ice filled Sadie’s veins, and for a moment, she couldn’t move. She could barely breathe. Had they had a hand in Denny Barclay’s death, then covered it up?
When the voices quieted, she forced her feet to move. She’d just wrapped her fingers around the handle to Sugar and Spice when the screen door of the liquor store opened.
“Where are you going?” Mr. Anderson boomed.
“Where do you think? To clean up your fucking mess.”
Jarrad stepped into the alley—and his gaze immediately clashed with Sadie’s.
Shit.
Pretend everything’s fine, Sadie. Pretend you didn’t just hear a confession.
She forced a small smile to her lips. A smile that took all her strength to form. Then she stepped inside the shop. Her hands trembled so badly that it took a couple tries to flip the lock.
Calm down, Sadie. Just get out of here and go to Eastern.
She repeated those words a couple times in her head before taking a deep breath and switching off the lights. In the front of the store, she grabbed her stuff and reached into her bag for herphone on the way to the door. Eastern only lived five minutes away, but even that felt too long. She needed to speak to him now, tell him exactly what she’d heard.
She was almost to the door when it opened and Jarrad stepped inside.
Fear skittered down her spine, not just at his presence but at the scowl on his face. The way he completely blocked her exit. Still, she forced her expression to remain neutral. “Hi. Sorry. We’re all closed up for the day, and everything’s been put away.”
Good. That was good. Her voice didn’t shake, and she sounded completely normal. Well, maybe not completely normal, but as normal as she was going to get.
The door closed behind him, and he shoved his hand into his pocket. “You know, sticking your nose into other people’s business is rarely a good idea.”
Her mouth suddenly felt dry and sticky, and it took a few tries to get words out. “I don’t know what you’re—”
“Don’t lie to me.” He pulled out his phone. “After you took it upon yourself all those other times to listen in on our business, we installed hidden cameras behind the shop.”
He touched the screen and turned his cell toward her. There, on the phone, was her stopping in the alley, gaze on the liquor store door and fear in her eyes.
She took a quick step back, fingers tightening around the strap of her bag. “I heard something about emptying the shelves, that’s it.”
“You little liar.” He moved forward, eating up too much of the space between them. “We trashed your shop, a little incentive to keep you the hell away, but you didn’t take the hint, did you?”
