Alison Kent - Maximum Exposure by Pearl

Author:Pearl [Pearl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-01-16T23:20:32.318000+00:00

“I’m good,” he assured her. “But before I bother Jodi at home, do you know if she’s there? If she’s sick and might be sleeping, I don’t want to disturb her. I guess she’s turned off her cell.”

“She’s home, yes, but she should be taking calls.”

“Is she all right?” he pressed.

“She will be. She walked to Starbucks Monday morning and fell, twisting her back. I guess she caught her heel or something. The doctor ordered her off her feet for the rest of the week.”

Was that all that had happened? That was what she called urgent? “She called several times Monday afternoon, but I’m just now getting back to her. I’ll give her house phone a call.”

“I’m sure she’ll be glad to hear from you. She was pretty shook up after the fall. It didn’t seem to hit her until later in the day how badly she’d been hurt.”

That was curious. “How so?”

“Well,” Stephanie began, sounding as if she was settling in for a long story. “I didn’t notice her limping or anything when she got back, or even when she went out to check something about her car. But when she told Dustin she was going to the doctor, she could hardly walk.”

“Poor thing,” he said, his gut twitching.

“And there were huge scrapes on both of her knees. I was on the phone when she brought in our breakfast, which must be why I didn’t see all the blood before.”

Or maybe it wasn’t there before.

“Anyway,” Stephanie went on. “Tell her we miss her and are thinking about her. Dustin hasn’t been himself since she’s been gone. Like it’s his fault she fell, which is ridiculous. She went to Starbucks by herself.”

Where anyone could have seen her, threatened her. He said his good-byes and slammed down the phone, assuring Penny he was fine when she called out to ask. He had to make sure Jodi was okay before Tomás showed up. Carmen would have to cover the floor. Fuck the job.

He told Penny he was taking his lunch hour early, which she duly marked on his time card, and he told Carmen he’d be back, and that her boyfriend was not to leave before Roland had given his okay and signed off on the boxes Tomás brought.

Carmen hadn’t been happy with Roland disrespecting her boyfriend and doubting his competence, but she was more than happy to get him out of her face. And she’d always seemed to be such a nice girl. At least as nice as was possible, considering she lived with drug-dealing scum.

Friday pre-lunch traffic through the city wasn’t bad. He hit Jodi’s complex before noon. He parked, hurried to her door, and knocked. When she didn’t answer fast enough, he knocked again. He was reaching for his cell to call her when he heard the thwump of her dead bolt and the click of what he assumed was a second lock.

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