Rising From The Ashes by Katy Pierce

Author:Katy Pierce [Pierce, Katy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-12-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Daniel’s apartment may have been outrageous, but it didn’t hold a candle to the de la Rosa residence.

Allie studied its three-story brick facade through Phoenix’s passenger window, shielding her eyes from the bright morning. The upper-floor balconies were empty, the wrought-iron fence looked deadly sharp in the sunlight, and there were no signs of habitation on the perfect lawn.

“Where is this kid?” Phoenix wondered, glancing at his dashboard clock. “Doesn’t she have school?”

“If she doesn’t care about being pulled over for driving drunk at seventeen, she probably doesn’t care about being on time for school.”

Phoenix grumbled. “Little brat.”

“I thought you’d admire a party animal,” Allie said, eyes trained on the garage door, which was ridiculously painted to look like a barn. But a really fancy barn—the kind that housed show horses whose life insurance policies were worth more than Allie’s salary. “Or at least have some kind of grudging respect for them.”

“Not when they’re this rich, I don’t.”

As if the word rich had summoned her, the garage door wheeled up, and a shiny red sports car prowled down the driveway. The teen behind the wheel wore sunglasses large enough to eclipse half her face.

“That’s her,” Allie said. Try as Kimberly might, there were no sunglasses big enough to mask the aura of an intoxicated seventeen-year-old. She was a dead ringer for the photo Daniel had sent, though this suburban palace was admittedly a nicer backdrop than the bleak wall of a police station.

Phoenix pulled into the street, following the noisy red car. They tailed her at a comfortable distance, hoping for some sign of careless driving—anything that might be used as compelling blackmail. To Allie’s bemusement and Phoenix’s chagrin, Kimberly was driving more like a grandma than a teenage alcoholic, crawling to a stop well before every sign.

“Now she decides she’s a model citizen,” Phoenix growled, banged his heavy hand on the wheel, and heaved an exasperated sigh. “This is useless. Let’s just spook this kid. You ready to jump in?”

Allie nodded, keeping her eyes peeled for a one-entrance parking lot. The moment they found one, Phoenix sped up, forcing Kimberly’s car into the turn lane, earning himself a chorus of honks and choice words from the drivers behind them. He swerved into the lot behind her. Allie didn’t wait for him to put the car in park before she opened the door, standing up as Kimberly threw open her own.

“Oh my god, what is wrong with you?!” the teen shouted, pushing her sunglasses up into her wild red hair. Kimberly de la Rosa looked rough—not like she’d been drinking, but like she hadn’t slept in a week. Poorly concealed dark circles made her youthful face look ashen.

“Ms. de la Rosa, we’re private investigators, and we’d like to have a chat with you about your accident on October twentieth,” Allie said, and slammed her door.

Kimberly’s face seemed to drain of all color. Her fear was visible even from one car length away. “How do you know about that?”

“A little birdie told me,” Allie offered unhelpfully.

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