Hostage Walk (A Lacey Fitzpatrick and Sam Firecloud Mystery Book 37) by Bowersock Melissa

Author:Bowersock, Melissa [Bowersock, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New Moon Publishing
Published: 2023-01-18T06:00:00+00:00

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EIGHTEEN

The young man stared at Lacey with his mouth open even as she shook his hand. She might have laughed at the obvious shock on his face, but that would have been rude.

“Uh, Marcus,” he managed finally. “Marcus Shelton.”

“Nice to meet you, Marcus,” she said. She dropped his hand and stood back.

Marcus had very close-cut black hair, but then had what Lacey thought of as racing stripes razored above one ear. Three of them streaked from front to back in parallel lines. Very stylish, she thought.

He was slightly bigger than Billy, a bit taller with more meat on his bones. He wore a black turtleneck and jeans. Behind him, out the window and past the screened-in deck, Lacey could see a red pickup truck parked in the drive.

“Uh.” He finally snapped out of his shocked trance and held the two bags out to Billy. “I got your stuff,” he said.

“Oh, g-great,” Billy said. He, too, seemed to shake off the frozen moment, and took the bags from Marcus. He peered into them briefly. “Thanks.” He set them on the kitchen counter and pulled out his wallet, passing a few bills to Marcus.

Marcus took the bills and jammed them into his pocket. “You, uh, need anything else?” he asked. He purposely kept his dark eyes on Billy.

“No, I’m g-good,” Billy said.

Marcus nodded. “Okay.” He took a step backward toward the door and glanced at Lacey. “Nice to meet you, uh…”

“Lacey,” she supplied. “Fitzpatrick.”

This time she thought she saw a spark of recognition at the name. She was sure her name and picture had been splashed across local news broadcasts, and hoped Marcus had seen them.

“Uh, Lacey,” he said. “Okay, yeah. Well, bye.” Ducking his dark head, he backed out of the door and hurried to his truck.

Lacey turned back to Billy. He stood with his ski mask in his hand, and stared at it as if he might put it on again, but why? His straight, brown hair was a bit shaggy around the ears, and when he looked back at Lacey, his features were small and pinched. She noticed he had a thin, almost nonexistent beard, more peach fuzz than hair. She guessed he didn’t have to shave much.

She walked past him to the coffee pot and poured herself a second cup.

“So who’s Marcus?” she asked. “A friend?”

“Yeah,” Billy said. He moved to the bags on the counter. “He g-got some s-stuff you asked for.” He pulled a toothbrush from one bag and held it out to her.

“Hey,” Lacey said happily. “That’s what I’m talking about.” She took the toothbrush and peered into the bag. Inside were a hairbrush and comb, deodorant and toothpaste. She noticed the bag had a dollar store logo on it. Cheap, but serviceable. She glanced into the other, unmarked bag.

Two burner phones.

Billy grabbed that bag and held it behind his back.

She put the toothbrush back in her bag and carried it and her cup of coffee back to the table. She pushed her lunch plate aside and just concentrated on the coffee.

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