Stranger in the Night by Catherine Palmer

Author:Catherine Palmer
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2009-11-10T20:00:00+00:00

Just as Liz shut the door, her phone warbled. So soon? Joshua couldn’t even have made it down to the parking garage, yet he was calling already. Her heart hammering, she answered.

“All right, it’s me,” she said. “What do you want—and be serious.”

“You’re the lady I was talking to before, right?”

The unexpected voice sent a cascade of chilled marbles spilling down her spine. She hadn’t bothered to check the ID on her phone. Now a pair of green eyes flashed into her thoughts. That night at Podunk’s came back in a rush. The vivid memory of a rank smell flooded through her body and made her stomach turn in revulsion.

Mo Ded.

Liz held her breath. He had called her before from Joshua’s phone, and she believed that was the last time they would speak. But now his words came again.

“Look, I saw you in Podunk’s, so I know it’s you. I know you’re with him. I got some things to say to that dude, yo.”

“Call him, then. You have his number.”

“He rigged his phone. I can’t get through. But you and him are together, right? So you give him a message from me.”

“What’s your name? Where are you?”

“You know me. You know who I am. What I do. You know I own the streets, and I got my people everywhere. We watchin’ you. We watchin’ him. He just left your place. Goin’ down the elevator to his fancy car right now. You want to keep him safe? You want me not to touch him? You want my boys to leave you alone, huh? Then you better listen up.”

Liz glanced at her door, as if the green-eyed man might be standing just outside it. He or some of his Hypes were inside her building. They had followed Joshua as he left the apartment. They knew where she lived, what she was doing, who she spent time with.

Fear coursing through her, Liz gripped the phone. “You get out of here. Leave me alone. And don’t you dare touch my friend.”

“Him? I won’t be touchin’ him. It’s you who should worry about gettin’ touched, lady. You and maybe your Mexican friend down the hall.”

The image of Mrs. Gonzales flashed through Liz’s brain. The elderly woman would be tottering back to her apartment, coffee mugs in hand and a smile on her face. She would never suspect that Mo Ded’s gangbangers might be spying on her from the shadows.

“What do you want?” Liz demanded. “Tell me. Tell me right now, and then you and your people get out of my life.”

“I want you to give your man a message from me. You tell him to stay offa my turf. I can take out his friends—not a problem. I know how to immobilize them. And him…he better not mess with me, yo. You tell him that.”

“Tell him what Mo Ded says, right?” she challenged.

“Oh, you know my name? Good. Then you got an idea what kind of organization you’re up against. You better take what I say serious, yo.

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