Floodin' Out by Patti Benning

Author:Patti Benning [Benning, Patti]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Summer Prescott Books
Published: 2023-11-21T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

She and Violet stopped by the sandwich shop to pick up the order, while Grady swung by Sydney’s house to carpool with him. They arrived at Flora’s home at almost the same time, and walked in together. Amaretto was happy to see so many people she knew, and spent a content few minutes being petted by the others while Flora got dishes and silverware out for them in the kitchen.

They sat down at her small kitchen table, which was just big enough for the four of them, and dug into their food, taking turns to update Sydney on everything that had happened that morning. He and Violet had been dating casually for a couple of months now, so it was understandable when he focused on her problems first.

“That’s unbelievable,” he said, aghast, when he heard about the people throwing eggs at her store, and how someone had assaulted Mabel. “How did they even know you were involved in the accident? Whoever started spreading that rumor obviously didn’t have the full story. You had nothing to do with his death.”

“It has to be someone who drove past while the police were at the accident scene,” Violet said. “The three of you are the only ones who I told about what happened, and I know you wouldn’t have spread that sort of rumor around, so unless there is a leak in the police department, someone who either didn’t have all the information or has it out for me, the only other option I can think of was a passerby who saw the accident scene but didn’t have the full story.”

Slowly, Flora put her sandwich down. “Natalie.”

Grady raised his eyebrows. “Your neighbor?”

She nodded. “She drove past while I was at the scene of the accident to pick Violet up. I saw her slow down to look at it. Mr. Brant’s body was covered, but if she saw his death in a post online, she might have put two and two together.”

“This is your neighbor who has it out for you, right?” Violet asked.

“Things are… civil between us, but she’s not my biggest fan. I don’t blame her; I have been involved in two incidents that led to the police coming to her house. Neither were my fault, exactly, but I don’t blame her for not wanting to have anything to do with me. If she is spreading rumor like this about one of my best friends on purpose, though, I’m going to have to have words with her.”

Violet sighed. “I doubt she’s doing it maliciously. I understand how it looked. Any sane person would assume I hit him after seeing that accident scene. Because I did. It’s just that he was already dead when it happened. There is no way she could’ve guessed that part of it. I’m not thrilled that she spread the news around, but she’s probably just telling the truth as she understands it.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s okay,” Flora said. “Her spreading rumors around led directly to what happened today.

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.