Dragons of Zalara: Books One - Four by ML Guida & ML Guida

Author:ML Guida & ML Guida [Guida, ML]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2020-04-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Agnes sat at the same Starbucks where Daidhl had given Hoss the bloody package. Her flat white coffee had no flavor. The café was crowded with a group of chattering teenage girls, a circle of elderly men, and a couple snuggling together on the couch. She couldn’t see the woman’s face, but the man was very attentive. There were several single people wearing earplugs and typing on their iPads. God, any of these people could be Daidhl in disguise.

Her phone rang. “Detective Malloy.”

“Any sign yet?” Hoss asked. He waited across the street in a rented dark window van. Daidhl would be able to spot him if he were flying overhead or seated in the café.

“No,” she answered nonchalantly.

Her phone buzzed again–Captain Morgan.

“I’ll call you back.”

“Wait, Agnes–”

But she hung up. She planned on avoiding Tom’s persistent calls, but she couldn’t ignore the captain’s. Not if she hoped to have a job after the killer was found.

She sat straighter. “Captain?”

“Where the hell have you been?”

She flinched. “Investigating.” More people entered the café, including laughing teenagers, a kissy couple, and a single woman. She carefully watched them, wondering if any of them were Daidhl in disguise.

“Did you and Hoss steal an ambulance? One was found out on Indiana and Eighty-sixth Avenue.”

She hesitated before answering. “No.” Lying to the captain, who had always believed in her, put her at an all new low.

“Your brother is also missing from the hospital.”

His accusatory tone pushed her lower than a child kidnapper.

She cleared her throat. “Captain, Frank’s safe.”

“Where is he?”

She bit her lip and turned her cup around. “I can’t tell you.” Her lame answer echoed the same excuse former suspects had used that she had scorned.

His response were hard, angry breaths.

She shuddered as she sipped her cold coffee.

“You got ten seconds to tell me where your brother is, or you’re off the force.”

His belief in her just died.

“Okay,” she said slowly. “He’s in a private facility that specializes in cases like his. As his only living relative, I had a right to move him.”

“What facility?”

Her lies and half-truths tongue-tied her voice. Ignoring his gruffness, she put the phone gently down on the table and stared at Hoss’s car. When no one else believed in her, her dragon had faith.

Not wanting to play the coward, she picked up the phone and blurted, “If he makes it, I’ll let him tell you.”

“You’re walking on thin ice, Detective. Where the devil are you?”

“Captain, he went after my family and my best friend.”

Silence greeted her on the phone.

“You know about Kathy?”

His voice turned gentle, something she wished he hadn’t done.

“Yes, I know.” Her eyes blurred for a second, but she blinked back the wetness. She couldn’t show weakness, not while searching for Daidhl.

“I’m sorry, Detective. I know she was a good friend.”

Betty materialized in front of Agnes, her eyes burning red. “He’s here.” She pointed toward the couple. “Over there. Are you going to let her die like you did me, Detective?”

Agnes grimaced at the haunting tone.

“Captain, I have to go.

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