Ohfuck.
Don’t look this way, don’t look this way, I silently chanted.
Ricky walked right by the clothing rack and went to the wall. I moved aside a few clothes to peek out and see what he was doing. Ricky pushed aside a table and hoisted a big potted plant out of the way. He crouched down near the floor and lifted something. Suddenly a small portion of the wall swung open.
Hidden door?
I perked up.
I could hear Ricky moving about inside. Getting in once he left seemed easy enough, but the problem was the safe. How could I get the evidence without getting caught and then having it dismissed by a court because I was an asshole? Lying would only make it worse, but I was seriously considering some not-totally-outrageous storylines as to how I could have found the hammer—if it were there at all.
I fumbled my phone free from my pocket and pulled up a text message. I never thought this recently learned tool would be handy, but I sent Calvin a map of my current location. He’d warned not to find me at a murder scene, and if one were being technical, I wasn’t at one.
Calvin’s name immediately popped up on the screen, phone buzzing in my hand. I canceled the call and put it back in my pocket. Sorry, honey, not now.
A woman entered the room just then, crying. She dropped her bag and coat on a chair and wiped her face while walking to the secret room. “Ricky!” She sounded like the same young lady who answered my call the day before.
“What?” Ricky snapped from inside the room. “I’m busy!”
“Ricky, I just read in the papers! Meredith, she’s—she’s—”
“I know, baby,” he called.
I frowned. Baby wasmypet name, thank you very much, sir.
The girl stood in the open doorway to the room. “Aren’t you going to do anything?” she protested.
“What the fuck do you expect me to do? She’s dead,” Ricky barked.
Damn. What an asshole.
The girl sniffed and gingerly wiped under her eyes. “I knew it. I knew she shouldn’t have left with that guy! He must have… oh my God, poor Mere!”
“What guy?” Ricky asked, and I’m glad he did, because I almost jumped out of the clothing rack and asked myself.
She glanced up, staring at Ricky, who was still hidden from view inside the room. “T-There was a guy on Wednesday afternoon who picked her up when we were having a smoke outside.”
“Who was this guy, Gracie?” Ricky asked, sounding more and more pissed by the second.
“I don’t know. I don’t think Meredith knew him.”
“But?”
“But, I mean, she got in the truck with him. I don’t know why. Poor Mere!” Gracie started sobbing again.
“You fucking bitch!” Ricky shouted. “You saw the guy and didn’t tell anyone? Meredith was my prize!”
“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t realize something was wrong!”
Inside the room, I heard Ricky drop something and then metal grate against metal. The first thing I thought was “He has a gun in his safe.”
“Ricky?” Gracie asked, her tone hesitant and decidedly scared. She took a step back from the doorway.
And then Ricky lunged out of the room, wielding a hammer and swinging at the girl’s face. She screamed and stumbled back, tripping on her own feet and falling to the floor. She curled into a ball, trying in vain to protect herself.
I didn’t have a second to think. A second would have been too long. I dove out from the clothing rack and tackled Ricky from the side, throwing him to the floor and away from Gracie. He swore and swung the hammer, which was still in his grip. I struggled against him, trying to get his arms under control.
“Get out!” I shouted at Gracie, not bothering to look and see if she was already gone. “Run!”
