AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“They’re really nice. And they think so highly of you. You should be proud.”
Francesca brought a hand to her chest. “What are you talking about?”
“Adriana and Josephine and Heather. I like them all.”
Josephine was her aging neighbor. After having both knees replaced two weeks ago, she could barely get around. No way could she defend herself against someone like Butch. “How would you know my friends?” she breathed.
“I called them earlier, when I was trying to get hold of you. I went through your address book. I like the way you categorize. You make it easy to tell friends from clients. I even left a message at your office with that nice Heather person who said she’s your assistant.”
What the heck? Bracing the phone with her shoulder, Francesca shuffled through the messages she’d set aside. Sure enough, there was one from Dean Wheeler. Because it didn’t mention her purse—just his name and number—it wouldn’t have meant a thing to her even if she’d seen it.
“I’m glad you kept the same cell number,” he said. “You never pick up at home.”
Could he be as oblivious as he was making it sound? Or was he laughing at her? “The line’s been cut.”
“Really?”
Had he already known? She couldn’t quite tell…. “Really.”
“How long will it take to get that fixed?”
She ignored the concern in his voice, wasn’t sure she could trust him. “The telephone company will get to it as soon as they can.” Due to recent layoffs, they had a backlog of work orders and couldn’t send someone out right away. But she didn’t add that.
“That must be a relief. Well, just so you know, Adriana’s been trying to reach you. You should give her a call. She’s worried about you getting your purse back. She even offered to drive over here and pick it up.”
So why had Dean refused? Francesca was curious about that, but didn’t ask. She didn’t want to make Adriana a focal point. The last thing she needed was for the people closest to her to come to the attention of someone like Butch or his odd brother-in-law. “No reason to drag my friends into this. We’ve got it covered, right?”
“Now we do. I’ll let you go. But please tell Heather I hope her son sleeps through the night.”
He knew where she was staying! She got the feeling he’d been following her, but it was more likely that he’d spoken to Heather just before she’d left the office to pack Francesca’s overnight bag while Francesca was at the Apple store. Regardless, like Butch—maybe because of Butch—he was trying to frighten her.
“Quit it,” she said flatly.
“Quit what?”
“Mentioning my friends. They have nothing to do with you or Butch or whatever’s going on here, so just leave them out of it.”
“What do you mean ‘going on’? I was only trying to be nice.”
If that was true, why did she have alarm bells going off in her head? “It’s Butch I’m worried about,” she said.
“He’s not what you think he is, Francesca. Really.”
The way he used her first name, as if they knew each other, grated on her, too. “Tell April Bonner that.”
“Who?”
“The woman your brother-in-law met last Saturday at the Pour House. Her body turned up this morning outside the Skull Valley Chocolate and Handmade Gifts shop, less than fifteen minutes from your house.”
Another voice came on the line, this one louder and blatantly taunting. “You sure it wasn’t a mannequin?”
Francesca recognized Butch’s laugh. “You think it’s funny?”
“I think you’re funny,” he said, still laughing.
“Why’d you move her, Butch? Don’t tell me you went to all that trouble just for me.”
The laughter suddenly stopped. “Nothing’s too much trouble for you.”
