The Replacement by Susan Wales & Robin Shope

Author:Susan Wales & Robin Shope [Susan Wales]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781441237293
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group

Rubric insisted on taking Jill back to her apartment himself. Before he left, he looked around her apartment, even peeked under her beds.

“Deadbolt this door when I leave,” he ordered her.

After Jill told him good-bye, she followed his orders. She knew she should get her fingers on the keyboard to tap out the story for the Gazette. She couldn’t, not now. It was impossible to shake the memory of Ally with her throat cut open. After a cup of tea, she finally forced herself to sit down and write the story. By 3:00 a.m. she had emailed it to the paper.

After that, she tried to get some sleep, but she was too restless. As an investigative political reporter, she rarely dealt with death in its unrefined form. With her work, she focused on crooked politicians, bribes, extortion, political maneuverings and manipulations, sexual misconduct, and other moral trepidations—but rarely death. Now she had Senator Brown’s and Ally’s deaths to contend with.

Maybe it was time for her to resign. Go back to Delavan and write the classified ads for porch furniture and obits of ninety-eight-year-olds who’d lived full lives.

Giving up on sleep, Jill climbed out of her bed. As soon as the clock crawled to a decent hour, she called Tommy Harrison.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of this early morning call?”

“I’m in no mood,” Jill warned him.

“Fair enough.”

“Have you seen this morning’s headlines?”

“No, I’m on my way to an early session.”

“Can we meet for lunch?”

“I can rearrange some things, sure.”

“Make sure you read the paper before you come.”

They set up the time and place, and then Jill hung up.

When she arrived for lunch, Tommy was walking in the door. He put his arm around her waist. “I read the paper. Are you all right?”

Jill pulled back before he could embrace her. “It was awful. The most gruesome crime I’ve ever witnessed.” She sighed. “I can’t help but wonder how God could let something like this happen to anyone, especially a young girl like Ally.”

Tommy shook his head. “You can’t blame God. There’s evil in this world. Bad things happen. We have to do what we can to prevent it. And as far as I can see, you do that quite well.”

Jill eyed the senator suspiciously. Tommy Harrison wasn’t exactly the poster boy for Christianity, but she had to admit his words were comforting.

The waiter arrived for their drink orders.

“Jill, what will you have?”

“Iced tea, no lemon.”

“I’ll have the same with lemon, please,” Tommy said.

In minutes the waiter had returned with their drinks and a basket of bread. Pulling out a pad, he clutched a pen and awaited their orders.

“I don’t have an appetite,” Jill confessed.

“You have to eat.” He turned to the waiter. “What’s your soup of the day?”

“Carrot-ginger bisque, as well as our usual French onion soup, tortilla soup, and broccoli cheese soup.”

“I’ll have the carrot-ginger bisque. Followed by a Cobb salad. What sounds good to you, Jill?”

“Chocolate mousse.”

When the waiter left, Tommy reached across the table and put his hand over Jill’s hand.

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