AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Josie finished up the last of her searches. More dead ends. None of the other people who’d been banned from the Collinses’ and WYEP’s social media platforms lived in Denton. Only one of them—one of the women obsessed with Beau—lived within driving distance.
It had to be someone local. Someone familiar with the city park and the areas of the city with the fewest cameras where LPRs were least likely to be. As much as Josie detested Raffy, he’d made a good point about the Collinses’ former patients. Trudy had denied any issues with past patients, but Josie had a feeling that she would do anything to keep her job, even covering for Beau. If he didn’t want the subject of these patients coming up, Trudy would hold her tongue. But if what Raffy had overheard was correct and the Abbotts were former patients, it stood to reason they weren’t the only ones who took issue with Beau Collins.
Josie brought up her internet browser and searched for the Collinses’ marriage counseling practice. It took a while to find anything that pertained specifically to the practice since the first thirteen pages of search results had to do with their book, show or podcast. Finally, she found what she was looking for: reviews. There were some on Yelp, mostly favorable. The two- and three-star reviews had to do with Beau’s lateness to appointments several years earlier. There were even fewer Google reviews. Those were all favorable, more recent, and discussed only Claudia—in glowing terms. Josie found a third site specific to Denton called Citizen Review. There were many more reviews than the other sites. Josie bypassed the good reviews and clicked right on the one-star reviews. There was only one. It had been posted by a user simply listed as ‘Anonymous’ over four years ago.
Beau Collins is a lecherous liar who cannot be trusted. He is not a real therapist. He’s not there to help you. He’s there to steal your wife. He should not be allowed to counsel couples. Watch out for him. He will turn your wife against you. Flirt with her right in front of you and then laugh when you tell him to knock it the hell off. He will call your wife and have private conversations with her that you don’t know about. He is a fraud and a cheat. He will ruin your marriage and your life. Don’t pay him to steal your wife! STAY AWAY FROM HIM. He is a horrible person who deserves to feel the wrath of all the husbands whose wives he screwed. I hope one day this bastard gets what he deserves.
Had Ron Abbott written this review? Or someone else?
They’d add it to the list of questions for Beau Collins.
Josie prepared a warrant for Citizen Review to see if they could find out who had written the review. She could wait until the morning to have it signed and then email it to Citizen Review. Noah startled awake just as she was finishing up. He blinked and swiped his hands over his face. “Why’d you let me sleep?”
“You weren’t out that long,” Josie said. “Why don’t you call the unit assigned to Beau and find out where he is while I print something out? I want you to see this.”
While Noah made the call, Josie printed the review.
Noah said, “Beau’s staying at the Eudora.”
The name of the hotel sent an instant wave of dread through Josie. A recent case had uncovered several unsavory activities happening at the hotel—although without the knowledge of its manager. While the Eudora was the oldest, largest and most upscale hotel in the city, the reminders of that case were unavoidable. If Josie never set foot in the place again, she’d be fine with it. “Of course he is,” she said, standing up. She circled her desk and handed the review to Noah. “I’ll drive. I want you to read this on the way over there.”
They found Beau Collins at the bar inside Bastian’s, the restaurant just off the hotel lobby. He sat alone at the end of the bar, staring into a glass of amber liquid. Bourbon, from what Josie could tell as they got closer and the smell of it reached her nostrils. Something inside her twisted in yearning. A sense memory of Wild Turkey burning a satisfying trail from the back of her throat to her stomach made her feel momentarily heady. She’d given up drinking years ago. After the last time she saw Luke Creighton, when she realized that getting blackout drunk, as good as it felt while doing it, led to poor choices and even worse consequences—and did absolutely nothing to dispel her psychic pain.
Beau Collins had no such compunction.
He slugged down the bourbon and signaled the bartender for another. The man gave Beau the once-over, taking in his sad, uneven stubble, his uncombed hair, wrinkled shirt buttoned crooked, and his slumped posture. He poured Beau another but qualified it with, “Last one.”
Beau didn’t argue. Instead, he stared deep into the glass. Josie wondered if it was speaking to him.
Noah nudged her with an elbow. “He may be too drunk to talk.”
“Only one way to find out,” Josie said. “He may be drunk, but we’ve got two murders to solve.”
As they reached him, Josie clapped a hand on the back of his shoulder. The alcohol had slowed his reflexes. It took a second for his head to swivel in her direction, his blank expression filling with annoyance. “Detective Quinn. Are you following me?”
“You know we are,” she answered, taking the barstool next to him. “We’re trying to keep you safe.”
His gaze returned to the bourbon in front of him. Noah moved around to his other side. “How many of those have you had?”
Beau picked up the glass and swished the liquid around. “Not enough to forget that my life, as I know it, is over.”
Josie bit back the words:you’re still here. Claudia and Eve are not. She needed answers from this man.
Beau put the glass back down and looked from Noah to Josie. “Let me guess: more questions.”
Josie nodded. “Let’s start with Claudia. A few months ago, she took a large amount of cash out of one of your accounts. Or so you told Margot.”
“Jesus,” Beau muttered. “That kid—is nothing sacred? That was private. A private matter between my wife and me.”
Noah said, “So she did take out cash from one of your accounts without consulting you?”
“Yes. It was for a cash donation to some charity she was into.”
Josie asked, “How much cash are we talking?”
“Thirty thousand dollars.”
Noah said, “What was the charity?”
