Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 74554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
“We will get her safe, but we have to be smart,” I told her, pushing the elevator button with my thumb.
“I can’t stomach the idea of something happening to her.”
“Nothing is going to happen to her.”
“You don’t know that. We’ve already wasted so much time.”
“This place is locked down,” I reminded her as she tapped her fingers impatiently on her thigh while the elevator climbed to the right floor.
The doors dinged softly as I reached out to grab Rue’s wrist, pulling her behind me as we moved down the hallway.
She pointed from behind me toward a door with a brightly colored wreath around the peephole.
Sucking in a deep breath, I reached for the gun, keeping it hidden against my front as I released Rue’s wrist to knock casually on the door.
“Who is it?” a sing-song voice called from inside.
I looked over at Rue, giving her a nod.
“Grammy, it’s me. Open up.”
Her voice was shaky.
“Unlock it, Katherine,” Claudia ordered.
A lock slid.
Another clicked.
Then the door was inching open.
The woman I’d recognized from the group I’d been introduced to answered the door, wearing a strange purple apron with sleeves, the kind you’d maybe use to paint.
As soon as the door swung open, the harsh scent of bleach reached me.
“Grammy?” Rue called, her voice tight.
Claudia moved toward us, also wearing one of the purple smocks.
Her keen eyes slid to my gun, giving it a nod.
“Well, it’s about time you two got here,” she said. “We’ve got a body in the tub and blood all over the kitchen.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Rue
Wait.
What?
Did I just hear her right?
There was a body in the tub?
As in a dead body?
My head whipped over, looking in toward the kitchen where the strong scent of bleach made my nose burn. I scanned the floors, but they were scrubbed ruthlessly clean, likely with the bleach combination in the mop bucket. But when my gaze lifted, there were violent red streaks across the cabinets and sprayed across the refrigerator.
“Grammy, what…”
The words failed me, though.
Blood.
That was blood.
Like she said.
That meant that, yeah, there was probably a body in the tub.
“Well move inside, would you? Can’t let the whole building in on our business,” she demanded, waving until Kylo shook out of his shock, moved us inward, and closed and locked the door.
“Whose body is in the tub?” he asked, making a weird, hysterical laugh escape me.
He went ahead and ignored me as he tucked his gun away and reached for his phone instead.
“Well, I’m afraid I didn’t ask for his name when I clocked him, my dear,” my grandmother said.
I wasn’t sure it was possible for my eyes to go any wider.
On the flip side, Kylo seemed as calm as could be.
“Are we going to move this body, or,” another voice joined our little party, coming down from the short hallway. Then there was Barbie with Loretta in tow, both wearing purple crafting smocks and elbow-high neon pink rubber gloves. “Oh, hello again,” Barbie said to Kylo, smile going flirty.
“Get yourself together, woman,” my grandmother demanded, all business. “You can flirt with someone of an inappropriate age some other time. We need to get that body out of here before the rigor kicks in.”
“Rigor?” I hadn’t even been aware I’d said it out loud until everyone’s gaze slid to me.
“Rigor mortis, my dear,” my grandmother said. “When a body goes stiff.”
“No. No, I know what rigor is. Why… why do you?”
“Oh, sweet girl, this isn’t our first body.”
“It’s not… I think I need to sit down,” I declared, actually feeling like the ground had shifted suddenly off its axis.
Kylo’s arm went quickly around me, hauling me up against him.
“Oh, swoon,” Barbie said.
“Crack a window,” Katherine suggested. “The fumes might be getting to her.”
“Come on, darlin’,” Kylo said, half pulling me over to the dining table and pushing me into a chair. “You’re gonna be alright. Just breathe.”
Fresh, muggy air filled the space as Loretta opened a window. Katherine moved into the kitchen to flick on the exhaust fan.
“My dear, why don’t you get her some cold water out of the refrigerator?”
Kylo gave my shoulder a squeeze before doing what he was told to. Only after I took a careful sip did he turn to look at my grandmother again, but he kept a hand placed on my shoulder.
“Claudia, I’m gonna need you to start at the beginning.”
“Well, we were having our book club,” my grandmother started. “A hot biker romance,” she added, making me squeeze my eyes shut and suppress an embarrassed groan. “And we were just describing our favorite steamy scenes when there was a knock on the door.”
“And there was a man at the door, saying he was looking for Claudia,” Loretta supplied.
“And you let him in?” I asked.
“Well, how were we supposed to know he wasn’t one of her gentleman callers?” Barbie asked.
I bit back the urge to ask her how many men around my age she was sleeping with. First, because ew to that mental image. Second, because, well… there was a dead man in the bathtub. The sex stuff could wait.