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“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. I didn’t recognize her in the video because she had some work done on herself. And by little, I mean, a lot. She looks like a completely different person. You brushed her off and with that you laid waste to her dream of becoming Mrs. McCoy. The lady’s very ambitious. Even now she had some delusions about comforting you after Charlotte’s disappearance and then there was some five-year plan she mentioned.” Fergus looks at me.
“The point is that she admitted that the men at the church had been there to kidnap Charlotte. They’re low-level operatives of the loan sharks. We still don’t know whether the actual men involved ten years ago were aware of this or not. But once everybody had left, the men were going to snatch Charlotte. She had sent them after her at the flea market. She, however, knew in detail what they wanted to do to Charlotte. Which is why her sentence is going to be a long one.”
“What about the bakery?” I straighten up. “What did she say about that?” Zayn and Fergus share a look.
“She swore she had nothing to do with that. She told us that she just wanted revenge on Charlotte for being the cause of ruining her plans ten years ago because you happened to be in love with her. Charlotte’s death sounded too easy to her.” I get up and start pacing.
“So, there’s someone else out there who wants Charlotte dead? That’s comforting!” Fergus takes my abandoned seat to watch me.
“It could have been an extreme burglary.” I eye him, feeling a tingling in the base of my spine.
“He wasn’t interested in taking anything. What about Detective John? You looked into him as well?” Zayn frowns.
“About that. I got somebody I know to check him out. That one case that he had which involved Charlotte, was the only one he was involved in anything relating to the gang. And that case remained a cold case. He moved on to bank heists and things like that. He came off a little strong because that one case stung him. The man’s got an exemplary record.”
Fergus broke in with, “But he was suspended from duty the day he and the other guy came to take Charlotte’s statement. And nobody has seen him since. He’s missing. The claims against him were strange, something about tampered evidence. The man that Zayn has on the inside swears by John’s integrity.”
I stare outside as the rain lashes against the windows and lightning rages across the sky in blinding flashes.
“The detective went missing?” Zayn puffs at his cigarette, his eyes fixed on me.
“His partner claims he’s gone on vacation, but my man sa
ys that John didn’t have that kind of money.”
“Who’s his partner?” I already knew the answer, but Zayn’s voice makes my insides run cold.
“Clarence Thomson.”
16
Charlotte
I glance out the window.
“It’s really coming down, huh?” Tim makes a sound of agreement.
“The forecast didn’t mention a thunderstorm,” he says.
Jim is silent, focused on the road.
The two had become quite comfortable around me, and although they aren’t very chatty, they are nice enough.
I always hate that Woodworth College is in such an isolated area. The college has acres and acres of land surrounding it, most of which are still woods. However, the aloofness of its location also charms a lot of the elite.
It is quite a distance from the city center where Philip’s apartment is located, and I wish he was here with me. His presence is like a solace to me. I don’t know when I have become so dependent on him always being there for me, but right now as I sit in this car, I feel so alone.
I want to be wrapped in his warmth as he peppers my face with wet kisses and teases me, relentlessly. Every minute with him makes me feel alive, like a whole new person.
When he asked me today if I could see myself married to him in the next five years, I wanted to say yes. Because I can see it.
I can imagine endless nights of going to bed with and waking up next to him. I can almost reach the dream that was him, but I don’t know why I didn’t give him a definitive answer.
My ringtone startles me, and I fumble in the bag for my phone. A wide smile grows on my face.
It is Philip.
I answer, “Philip, I was just—”
