As You Look by Veronica Gutierrez

Author:Veronica Gutierrez [Gutiérrez, Verónica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-03-17T21:03:39+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Monday, 2:00 p.m.

On the way home from the Bradbury Building, my cell phone rang on the passenger seat. The loaner didn’t have a Bluetooth connection, but I saw from the caller ID that it was Sydney’s work phone. She never called from work. I pulled over before getting on the freeway.

“Are you okay?” I said without a greeting.

“Yes, didn’t mean to scare you.”

“What’s up, then?”

“Well, I went to lunch with Sylvia,” she said, referring to one of the supervising ER nurses. “To talk about some new reports we have to submit.”

“You left the hospital?”

“Really. I wasn’t alone. And we went right nearby, but I’m glad we did.”

“Why?” I was about to get angry that she hadn’t heeded my advice, but then I couldn’t remember if I’d told her not to leave the hospital. My curiosity got the better of me in any case.

“Well, on our way back, we walked by the employee parking and I noticed a note on my windshield.”

Shit.

“It says ‘Better get your ruka,’ r-u-k-a,” she spelled out, “‘to back off.’ Let me send you a picture of it.”

“Holy shit. How much did you handle the note?”

“Mostly the back of it. It was facedown. I touched it in the front when I turned it over, but I folded it from the back without creasing it once I read it.”

“Good girl! Now, will you please stay inside the hospital until I get there?”

“Definitely. Gotta get back to work. Just sent you the picture. Love you.”

I thought she was trying to sound unconcerned so as not to alarm me, but she wouldn’t have called if the note hadn’t scared her. I opened her text after we hung up. The note was on white paper and written in what looked like old cholo—gang member—script in black marker.

No one writes like that anymore. Ruca, slang for wife, was misspelled, but the meaning got across. The cholo script, a combination of block letters with upper and lower peaks, wasn’t sloppy, but I couldn’t tell if it was from a practiced hand or someone trying hard to copy it. I forwarded the text to Detective Lan—the only LAPD friendly on this case so far—telling her I’d bag it for her as soon as I got to the hospital. I provided a description and the location of Sydney’s car, and I looked up her license plate number in one of my phone apps before giving her that as well.

But, damn. Is this what the dream and the anxiety attack were about? I rushed to the hospital, hoping that was all, but I couldn’t relax now. Someone wanted me off this case, but who? Tony’s killer, most likely—meaning there probably was a killer, and he hadn’t died of a heart attack. And it was someone who knew about Sydney. Someone who knew they could get to me through her. That could be anyone who knew we were married. I didn’t think anyone had followed us when I’d driven her to the hospital. Did that mean

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.