Page 41 of Deadly Misfortunes

“Don’t boil the milk.” She opened his email.

“Hey, you didn’t say anything about my emails.”

“I thought I might find some kind of a clue as to your hit man.” She clicked on the first message and sat back in her seat. The next message was just what she was looking for.

Gregory hurried to make the cocoa, brought it and a glass of water, and rejoined her, then sat down in the chair, rubbed his forehead, and read over her shoulder.

She read out loud, “I see you have a redheaded girlfriend, now, Gregory. Better try to keep her safe. She has got kind of a strange taste in furniture, though…a white fur chair, red vinyl couch, old wooden outdoor chair. And that’s just in the living room.”

Her skin crawled at the implication as a smattering of goose bumps dotted her arms. She whispered, “He was able to see into my living room. I always have the blinds pulled. Unless you’ve been in my apartment, you wouldn’t know what it looked like.” She jumped up from her seat as she read the rest. “Maybe you could give her some new stuff from one of your furniture stores. You know, some of the stuff that won’t sell. Be seeing you real soon.”

“Damn!” Gregory stood up from his chair so quickly that he sent it tumbling.

Sascha bolted through the office.

“Wait, Sascha! Where are you going?”

“Home. He has been to my house. What if he stole the money that you paid me for the party?” Plus, she had even more money in a wall safe.

“Sascha, he could be waiting for you to return there. You can’t go tonight. I’ll have the police check into it.”

Sascha paced across the floor. She had to get home. She had to make sure everything was all right. Her heart sent the blood rushing to her ears. No one invaded her privacy and threatened her without paying for it. No one.

He called the police, then pulled her close. He ran his hand over her arm and kissed her head. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her upset.

“Hello, Detective Rizzo, it’s Gregory Landry. No, nothing has happened at my place this time. But Sascha Lassiter, the woman who was in the limousine accident with Raymond, believes her apartment might have been broken into. Bill sent an email this time. In it, he described her living room furniture. Can you check the place out?” He gave him the address. “All right, thanks. Be waiting to hear back from you.”

He hung up the phone. “He’s going to send a patrol car to check out your apartment. They’re like a couple of minutes away. You’re not going home tonight.” He kissed her cheek. “I sure hadn’t planned to get you into this mess.”

She took a deep breath. This wasn’t how she’d planned to spend her evening at all. But she was glad Gregory was there for her. “I’ll call Kat and let her know.”

When Kat answered the phone, she said, “The police just arrived at your place. The manager doesn’t have your new number, so he called me.”

“Someone knew how my living room is furnished. He sent an email to Gregory.”

“No. Okay, Prescott and Uncle Jimmy are going over there. What do you need out of your apartment?”

“The money is in the wall safe. You know the combination.”

“All right. Prescott knows your place well enough to see if anything is missing. He’ll grab your laptop and some more of your clothes. When you've finished staying with Gregory, you’ll stay with us.”

“Thanks, Kat.”

“Think nothing of it. Aunt Meg said that she’ll make sure that if anyone who doesn’t belong there enters your apartment again, he’ll get a nice surprise.”

“What does she plan to do?”

“You know Aunt Meg. She wouldn’t say.”

“Okay, I hope whatever it is proves to be really nasty.”

“You know it will be. I’ll let you go then.”

Once they ended the call, Sascha said to Gregory, “Where am I supposed to stay?” Now she was glad she was staying here, where she would be safer as long as the guy didn’t show up here.

“He didn’t sign his name this time.”

“You mean Bill?”