“He’s back.”
No, not Justin.On Wednesday morning, he was still in jail, and I felt sick over it.
“Who’s back?”I asked Sophy.
“The loan shark.”She spoke in a whisper.“You said to call if he came, and…well, he’s in the hallway.I saw him through the window, and then there was a knock at the door.”
“Did you answer it?”
“No!Should I?I’m hiding behind the couch.”
“No, don’t.Hold on, I’ll check with Ari.”
Shiro was whining, and I let him outside for what must have been the tenth time today.The peach cobbler had made him squicky, and I’d had to hose the lawn twice already.At least he hadn’t pooped on the carpet.Dawson had gone to pick up extra Lysol and paper towels while Violet joined a conference call with her agent in Hollywood.She’d have to fly back to California soon, and I was dreading it.
Ari was still watching the surveillance tape.She’d eaten an entire peach pie for breakfast, and she’d drunk so much coffee that her blood had to be ninety percent caffeine.
“I don’t know if it matters anymore, but the debt collector showed up at Sophy’s apartment again.”
“Today?”she asked.
“Yup.He’s still there, and Sophy sounds pretty scared.What should I tell her?”
“Tell her I’m on my way.”
“You’re going over there?”
“Someone needs to set him straight and send him after Saige instead of Sophy.”
“And you’re that person?”
She pulled a face.“That depends.I’ll start by finding out who we’re dealing with, and to do that, I need his licence plate.If he’s working for a bona fide collection agency, he should be adhering to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which means we can file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office if he breaches the rules.”
“What if he isn’t bona fide?”
“I’ll follow him and see where he’s staying.”
“Be careful.”
“I always am.”
“Ari’s on her way,” I told Sophy as Ari grabbed her key and headed out the back door.Her car was parked in Marion’s driveway too.“She’s going to follow the guy and try to find out who he is.I’m so, so sorry about Amie.”
“And I’m sorry about Justin.”Sophy gave a quiet sniffle.“I wasn’t even sure whether to call you, but I said I would, so…”
“I really appreciate it.Justin being arrested is all a big misunderstanding—he has so many people giving him alibis, but the police still won’t let him go.”
“Maybe they know something you don’t?”
Or maybe they were just being pig-headed because they didn’t want to admit they were wrong.Looking at you, Special Agent Rimer.
“I’m not sure they know what they’re doing.I mean, they’ve lost Amie’s body.”
“What do you mean?”
“You haven’t seen the news?”
“No?They were sensationalising everything and telling so many lies about Amie, I couldn’t watch anymore.How can the police lose a body?That’s a joke, right?”
