She nods, tells Premy the numbers, then waits.
I watch the light dancing in Cat’s eyes. She’s excited about this break in the case, even though it means her friend was doing something she shouldn’t have been. Or rather, someone. But, I wasn’t convinced Sheila did it on purpose. It could be that the guy preyed on someone he knew would be open to his maneuvers.
He would go for someoneweak.
Someone who was thinking about anything but the evidence right in front of their face.
I take several deep breaths and work to remember - this isn’t about me. This is about finding two escaped murderers so that the Ward-Saber family can be safe.
Cat’s snapping fingers pull me out of my daydream.
“Paper?” She whispers.
I push the paper menu toward Cat. She pulls a pen out of her pocket and writes down two addresses. “Thanks, Premy! I owe you big time!”
She hangs up.
“Well?”
“Well,” Cat points to the first address. “This one is Sheila’s condo. So, I think this other location might just be the bad boyfriend. And guess what? It’s not too far from yourfriend’shouse. Ready to roll?”
Fucking right, I was.
Because the sooner we caught this sonofabitch, the sooner I could tell Cat the truth.
Not that I knew where in the fuck to start with that.
Chapter 24
“Not that kind of back door.”
-Cat
The mysterious address was not far from Evelyn’s home. But this neighborhood was far from the upscale type that had guest houses in the backyard. This was more of abars on the windowstype of place.
For the millionth time today, I wonder:What was Sheila thinking?
I went to college with Sheila for two years before enlisting in the Army Military Police. It was a dividing line in my life: B.S. and A.S.
Before Service (whichcouldalso be known as bullshit).
And After Service.
Before Service Cat and Sheila had a lot of fun indulging in frat parties and the requisite frat guys. We made a game out of how many dudes we could make out with in a month. Harmless fun. Utter bullshit.
After Service Cat had a hard time forgetting those former frat boys who went to Afghanistan on a troop transport and came home in a casket.
When I returned to the States, everyone was living their lives, as if nothing had gone wrong half a world away. My sisters Cam and Celia were raising their sons. My parents were living life in Florida. Sheila still had hope in her dating life that she would meet “the one.”
She always believed she’d find her true love, eventually. And she enjoyed trying on different guys to see if they fit.
I never told Sheila - or my family, for that matter - what I went through. I felt it would be tough for them to understand. Unless you’ve been in the thick of it, sand stinging your eyes, bullets whizzing around your head, you wouldn’t understand.
It kept me at arm’s length from them.
And everyone else.
Maybe that’s why I’ve never been able to get close to the men in my life because I didn’t tell them the truth of what I experienced.
