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Ellie slapped a hand over her mouth to keep a scream in. A message popped up.You will pay for what you did.As she read the words, she remembered…this wasn’t her computer. She had no idea who it belonged to, but it wasn’t hers. And she sure as hell wasn’t supposed to see the video.
Taking a few deep breaths, she looked around the office. When she didn’t see anyone, she grabbed onto the edge of the desk, willing her legs to stop shaking. As soon as the trembling stopped, she reached forward, clicked on the file and sent it to her personal email. Then she snapped the laptop shut. With legs weaker than a newborn foal’s, she rose out of the chair and walked back to the counter, putting the computer back where she’d found it.
Tears burned her eyes. The Barracudas had killed Cindi. Cindi hadn’t moved to California like they’d said.
Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
Ellie took a few more deep breaths, to keep from collapsing. If they found out she saw the video, they would kill her, too. She had to get out of there. Now.
She opened the desk drawer to get her purse, walked through the garage and straight out into the sunlight. As she fished through her pocketbook for her keys, a heavy hand rested on her shoulder.
“Everything good?” Bear tilted his head to the side, examining her face. “You’re very pale.”
Don’t shoot me, please don’t shoot me.
Ellie lurched forward and threw up all over Bear’s boots.
“What the fuck?!” Bear jumped back.
“I don’t feel good.” She whimpered.
“No, shit!” Bear took a rag from his pocket, to clean off his boots. “You’d better go see a doctor.”
“That’s where I’m headed right now.” Ellie hurried to her car.
It took three tries, before she could get the key into the ignition. Once she was out of the parking, lot she headed straight for her apartment. She had to get out of Beckwith, New Jersey. Fast. There was no way she could go to the cops for help. A lot of them hung out at the club. There was nobody to call. No family. No friends. Caring for her dying mother had been a full-time job.
Ellie tore up the stairs, ran through the tiny apartment and ripped open the closet. She yanked a suitcase off the shelf and started stuffing it with anything she could get her hands on. When it was filled, she took her apartment key off her keychain, tossed it on the table and dragged the suitcase out to the car.
With her heart beating like crazy, she took a look around to see if anyone was watching her. Convinced the coast was clear, she drove to the gas station to fill up. Her next stop was the bank, where she closed out her savings and checking account. With a whopping four thousand dollars to her name, she headed for the New Jersey Turnpike.
Where was she going to go? Canada? No. She couldn’t go there because she didn’t have a passport. With her hands clamped to the steering wheel, she kept shifting her eyes from the windshield to the rearview mirror, looking for motorcycles. When she didn’t see any, after about twenty miles, the pounding in her temples started to ease.
What a mess she was in!
A sign caught her eye. “All Points NH/Maine.” Memories of sitting at her mother’s bedside, listening to her tell stories of how she spent summers as a little girl in Graceport, Maine, came flooding back.
Ellie strongly believed in signs. She smiled at the windshield. “Okay, mom. Message received. I’m going to Graceport.”
CHAPTER TWO
“I’ve been asking you to go out with me every Friday and Saturday night for six months, Ell. Six months! And every time you say no. I’m starting to get a complex.” Lizzie flopped across the sofa, in a dramatically feigned swoon.
Ellie studied her cuticles, trying to come up with a solid reason she could give her friend as to why she couldn’t go out. Every thought she had fell flat.
She owed Lizzie Thomson. Big.
Six months ago, when Ellie had arrived in Graceport, terrified the Barracudas were going to find her, it was Lizzie who turned out to be her guardian angel. Not only did she hire her to work at her bakery, called Sugar Beat, she rented Ellie a furnished studio apartment above the shop, for peanuts. From there, a friendship blossomed. But what they shared was more than just a friendship, it was a sisterhood. Which was why the guilt of not telling Lizzie what happened in New Jersey was weighing on her. Big time.
Ellie glanced over at Lizzie. The theme for today’s Libra horoscope had been about trying something new. Well, she definitely couldn’t tell Lizzie the truth about how she had come to live in Graceport, but she could try something new. Maybe it was time to give her something that would make her happy. “Fine. One time. I’ll go outonetime.”
“Stop messing with me.” Lizzie draped an arm over her eyes.
“I’m serious, Lizzie. I’ll go.” Ellie sighed.
“You’ll go?” Lizzie jumped to her feet. “You mean it?”
“I mean it.”
