Espressos, Eggnogs, and Evil Exes by Harper Lin

Author:Harper Lin [Lin, Harper]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

“Sammy, what’s wrong?” I was surprised to see Sammy crying and, on top of that, afraid that her tears would freeze to her cheeks if she didn’t stop. She just stood there, sniffling, so I quickly wiped her cheeks with gloved hand, then took her arm and led her down Bonnie’s front walk so we weren’t just lingering on her front steps. “Sammy, tell me what’s wrong,” I repeated.

“I’m just so scared, Fran.” She sniffed and wiped at her nose with her glove. “We’re nowhere! Nowhere! When Ryan gave you Bonnie’s address, I thought it had to be something important, that Bonnie would know something or be the murderer or something, but she doesn’t and she’s not! And she’s so nice on top of it that I feel guilty for thinking she might be!”

I guided her down the street a few steps. “It’s okay, Sammy. Look, we found out where Cheryl was staying, didn’t we? And we got to ask Bonnie a few questions about her. I know it doesn’t feel like much progress, but it is. We’re further than we were an hour ago. If it was as easy as talking to one person, the police would have the case solved by now. We have to keep going.”

Sammy sniffled again and wiped her face. Her breathing was still ragged, but I could tell she was at least trying to calm down.

“Come on.” I took her arm and led her down the sidewalk. “Are you going back to Ryan’s tonight?”

She nodded.

“Do you need to go by your place to get anything?”

She shook her head. “Ryan told me not to until they come search it.”

“Are they going to?”

“After I told him what we found, he said he was going to try to get them to.”

Try didn’t sound as certain as I wanted it to. It was like Phillips didn’t believe that Cheryl had been harassing Sammy, like he thought Sammy was making the whole thing up. I gritted my teeth together. I had to figure out some way to kick this investigation into gear. I needed to know more about Cheryl. And with Bonnie being more or less a dead end, I had to find someone else who would know about Cheryl. One person came immediately to mind. “Will Ryan be home when you get there?”

Sammy pulled out her phone and looked at the time. “He should be.”

“Think he’d mind talking to me for a little while?”

“I’m sure he’d be happy to.”

We walked to Ryan’s house in relative silence. We both had a lot on our minds, probably Sammy even more than me. Her case weighed on me though. I spent the whole walk thinking about what I could do to help her.

Ryan’s house wasn’t far—it was Cape Bay, after all, but we were frozen to the bone by the time we got there.

“Coffee?” Sammy asked after calling out to let Ryan know we’d come in.

I nodded as I tried to keep my teeth from chattering. I was so cold, I probably would have willingly drunk gas station coffee if it was offered to me.

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