Left to Prey (An Adele Sharp Mystery—Book Eleven) by Blake Pierce

Author:Blake Pierce [Pierce, Blake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2021-11-15T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The chill air of night, replacing the swaddling warmth of daylight, settled in Adele’s bones. She stared after the retreating ambulance, watching as the paramedics, escorted by two police cars, took Mr. Lazar to the hospital. Adele’s hands dangled at her sides, her phone gripped between clenched fingers, her eyes on the flashing lights of the highway.

Mr. Bardem, Mr. Lazar’s coworker, had confirmed the man’s alibi. She’d already requested a confirmation of the phone number’s identity and was waiting—tentatively—for Agent Pascal to get back to her. But she wasn’t hopeful.

Mr. Lazar had been erratic, dangerous, but hardly subtle. Not the sort of man to stalk someone until they were alone and kill them in the dark, in privacy.

No… Mr. Lazar’s alibi had checked out. Holding on to hope that it would all crumble wouldn’t be the best use of her time.

What then?

Adele wrinkled her nose, still staring in the direction of the whining ambulance, watching as cars parted before it.

“Bad news,” a gruff voice muttered behind her.

Adele looked over at the side of the concrete barrier on the edge of the highway. John was stalking toward her, scowling and shaking his head. He jerked a thumb in the direction of their parked cruiser where Agent Pascal was still on the phone. “No go. The alibi checks out. Mr. Bardem works for the same company. Admits to taking over his friend’s route as a favor.”

Adele sighed. “Same news from the hotel,” she said, slowly slipping her phone back into her pocket. “They had a man matching Mr. Lazar’s description check in and stay the night.”

“More than two hours from where Ms. Alvarez was killed that same day.”

Adele and John both sighed at the same time. Adele felt sore all of a sudden, wincing and massaging her neck. It was all so exhausting.

What next? What new lead could they uncover?

Maybe the victims weren’t connected after all—maybe the murderer was just arbitrarily executing anyone he found. In some ways, it was harder to catch a maniac—they were less predictable in the mayhem they caused.

As these morbid thoughts cycled through her mind, she heard a soft ringtone and glanced over as John’s hand darted to his pocket. He hesitated, almost as if he were going to let the call go to voicemail.

And now this… John acting strange again.

Perhaps he didn’t deserve it, but Adele could feel her temper rising, could feel her frustration mounting. She fixated her gaze on John and said, through gritted teeth, “Answer it.”

John paused, hand still on his pocket. He began to speak, but she cut him off.

“I mean it. Answer it now, John. Who the hell keeps calling you? What are you hiding?”

John stared at her, but seemed to realize she was being serious and, with a sigh, he pulled out his device, lifting it and wiggling it in her direction. For a moment, as he glanced at the screen, he almost seemed relieved. Or was it just her imagination? She was so tired…

“Ha, see!” John said, as if he’d just scored some point.

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.