“Uh-huh. And then I had to get a ride with these really nice people who had been to the concert too. They took me straight home. Dotty said I shouldn’t have gotten in that car though.”
She really shouldn’t have. Addie totally agreed with Dotty on that.
“You got into a car with strangers?” Ralen said sharply.
Wow, Ralen seemed really upset. Monroe didn’t seem bothered by it, though. She just smiled and shrugged. “Hey, it’ll work out in the end, right?”
Yeah, sometimes her sister was a real worry.
“There is the possibility that the person wasn’t dead,” Ink said. “And until we can find some video footage, we probably won’t be able to find out too much more.”
“Were there no security cameras in the area?” Dotty asked.
“Not so far,” Ink replied. “There was one camera pointing at the parking lot, but we discovered that it hadn’t been in operation for at least a year. I’ve got someone going around localbusinesses, but some of them don’t open until after midday. However, if there’s footage, we’ll find it.”
“I asked The Broker about this,” Dr. Claw said.
“A broker? Like an insurance broker?” Dotty asked.
“No,” the voice said, sounding amused. “Not an insurance broker. If it was a contract kill, then he didn’t arrange it.”
“A contract kill,” Monroe said. “Do you think that’s a possibility? Does that sort of thing really happen? Are there really contract killers out there? I thought that was just something that was on TV.”
“It’s not,” Brody told her.
“Thanks for asking,” Ink said to Dr. Claw.
“Of course, anything I can do to help. I am nothing but helpful,” the voice said.
She had the feeling that might not be entirely true, but she simply smiled and waved with the hand that she’d pulled free from Monroe.
“What are you doing, Addie?” Dotty asked, staring at her in surprise.
Oh, was she being weird? Should she not have done that?
Cash took hold of her shoulder and squeezed it lightly. Then he leaned into her. “It’s all good, Addie. You’re fine.”
“I’m really not sure how his mind went to contract killing,” Dotty said. “We don’t even know if the guy was murdered, if he was dead, who this other man is. He didn’t see Addie, so there’s that at least. I think he’s probably the least of our worries.”
“I agree,” Ink said.
“What do we do now?” Monroe asked. “I still haven’t found Vextar, and the way the cops were asking me questions, I don’t think it’s a good idea to go looking for him anymore.”
“Especially since there’s a message on your hotel mirror saying, ‘leave or die,’” Ralen said dryly.
“Right. That is a pretty good indication that we should get out of town. Right, Dotty?” Monroe asked.
They were going to leave? Of course they were going to leave. This wasn’t their home. Addie guessed they’d just grab all their stuff and leave after talking to the cops about their hotel room. She still wasn’t sure about going to the police. What were they going to say or do? Nothing had been taken. Although that message was pretty threatening . . .
She swallowed heavily. It still made her feel sick.
Dotty nodded. “Yes, we should go as soon as possible.”
“You sure that’s what you want to do?” Ink asked.
“Why?” Monroe asked. “What do you think we should do?”
Addie gave Ink an interested look. What did he think they should do? Should they stay? Maybe if they stayed, she might run into Cash.
