The Suspect Next Door by Rachel Astor

Author:Rachel Astor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2023-12-06T19:54:55+00:00

Chapter 14

I was going stir-crazy. We’re talking straight-up cabin fever. Fidgety. Antsy. Fantsy, as it were. I hadn’t left the house in two days and couldn’t stand being stuck for even one day. I needed excitement, I needed people... I needed the hell out.

But Vic would have my head if she found out I was out and about on the streets. Brandt and I tried to convince her that my disguise had been a good one and that none of the thugs (what Brandt had taken to calling them) would ever recognize me, but Vic was adamant. The stupid investigation class had taught us to stay indoors with the curtains shut for at least a week if you thought your cover was blown or if you were in any sort of danger, so that’s what I had foolishly promised her I would do. She vowed to de-friend me due to her high stress levels if I didn’t “at the very least” (her words) do this for her.

So I promised. And I was totally keeping my promise too, even though I was sure she wouldn’t have approved of the fact that I was sitting in the lobby chatting it up with Annie.

“You’ve been around here a lot lately,” Annie mused.

Fair, since I’d been sitting with her practically every waking minute and she’d probably had it up to her peacock-feather fascinator hat with me intruding on her space.

“I know, sorry. Just let me know if I’m bugging you too much. I’m just, um, laying low. Ex-boyfriend issues. You know how it is.”

“Boy, do I,” she said, chuckling and shaking her head. “I have been there. And you are certainly not bugging me. I like the company.”

Truth be told, even with the literal feather in her cap, Annie was still not herself. She wasn’t as chatty, spending much of her time sort of staring into space, no doubt thinking about Erica and how unfair the whole situation was. Especially since I knew she was still skeptical about the police’s suicide theory.

“Okay, good,” I said. “You’re like an icon in this city—people want to come through and visit with you, not me.”

“An icon!” Annie said, delighted. “Well, that would be something, wouldn’t it?” She was laughing, but still looked pretty pleased.

“You are,” I insisted. “It’s an honor to even live in the same building as you do.”

She swatted my hand. “Well, you’re exaggerating,” she said, “but thank you. You do know how to make an old woman feel good about herself.”

“If there is anything you are not, it’s old,” I assured her.

She smiled again. “You flatter me too much.”

I shrugged. “Just saying what’s true.”

“I guess age is just a number,” she said. “Honestly, I don’t feel any older than I did when I was thirty.”

“And why should you?”

“True enough,” she said. “True enough.”

We settled into a comfortable silence. Since I was down visiting so much, we’d pretty much covered every topic imaginable, but found we were pretty comfortable with each other just sitting and chilling too.

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