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“Well I was born first. You’re number two. So suck on that for a while, why don’t you.”
In an instant, I was looking at a dark screen.
Well, that went well.
27
“Huh.”
“What?” Kai asked after he swallowed his eggs.
“My phone’s showing I have a message from the Down Home Diner.”
“That’s weird. Aren’t you going to listen to it?”
“I try not to let electronics interrupt meals.” I set my phone back down on the kitchen peninsula where we were eating, me on the kitchen side, and Kai across from me.
Kai laughed. “I’d say looking at your phone and seeing that you have a message, proves that you’re already failing at your goal.”
I wanted to stick my tongue out at him, but God only knew where that would lead us. Time to deflect.
“What time do you think Beau will get here?”
“Don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine.”
I spooned up more of my yogurt. Kai’s phone rang.
“Does your rule apply to me?”
I shrugged. “It never applied to Sue when we lived together, so it shouldn’t apply to you.”
He grinned and answered his phone.
When it wasn’t Beau I stopped listening, instead I finished up my yogurt and took Kai’s and my dishes into the kitchen and rinsed them off. I’d put them in the dishwasher, after I unloaded the clean dishes.
“Hey, that was Simon. He’s worried.”
“Why?”
“He put an alert out on Senator Thompson. Turns out that he flew into McGhee Tyson Airport.”
“So?”
“Sweetheart, that’s the airport you fly into if you want to get to Jasper Creek.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that. I drove.” I leaned on the kitchen counter. “That doesn’t make any sense. What would a West Virginia state senator be doing out this way?”
“Simon and I figure it has to have something to do with you.”
My gut clenched. “Do you think he wants to kill me?” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew I was wrong, so I held up my hand. “Wait. Wait. I know. I’m wrong. He doesn’t want to kill me. He wants my phone and all copies of the video.”
Kai nodded.
“But why come to me directly? Why not send another goon?”
“That’s what has Simon and I stumped. Neither of us think he would want to get his hands dirty.”
“Hmmm. When did he arrive?”
