by Leonie Gant
Chapter Fourteen
“So, what was Detective Hottie talking to you about?” asked Edwin. “He looked kind of intense,”
“Oh, he always looks intense,” I said. “I think it’s his go to face.”
“Nice to look at,” mused Crystal. “Wonder what he’d be like in the sack?”
I could feel the blush rising up my face and I prayed neither of them was looking at me.
“Oh my God.” Crystal wrenched her head around and almost drove us off the road.
“Will you watch the road, please,” I cried out as my hands slammed against the dash.
I’d almost died in a car crash once and I have had a major fear about cars ever since. I follow the speed limit and the road rules like they are the Ten Commandments.
“I’m sorry,” Crystal said with chagrin.
She knows what I’m like with driving and the reason why. She pulled into a shop parking area and turned to me as I went through my own version of a panic attack.
Edwin rubbed the back of my shoulders while Crystal kept repeating “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” with a devastated look on her face.
I know the way I feel about cars and driving is not anyone’s fault. Except the jerk who decided getting in a car after binge drinking for four straight hours was a great way to end the night. Edwin and Crystal know this and usually when I am in the car they call it their granny mode. Every road rule is meticulously followed because they can see my knuckles whiten if they stray anywhere away from those rules. They are the only ones who know how badly I was affected.
Between the two of them I managed to calm down enough to gasp out. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to panic like that.”
“No,” Crystal said, and I hated that she was so distraught because of my issues. “I should have been paying more attention to what I was doing.”
“I’m okay to go on now,” I said, breathing in deeply.
“Hell no,” said Edwin, still rubbing my shoulders. “You are going to tell us why you went bright red when Crystal was talking about Detective Hottie in bed.”
Right, that was why we were here. I’d kind of forgotten that part in the middle of my panic mode. Edwin and Crystal were looking at me expectantly.
“Yesterday he was at the wake and he was trying not to be noticed. He kissed me to hide his face.”
“Kissed you to hide his face,” Crystal repeated. “He’s a cop and that’s the best he could come up with.”
I blushed again.
“Was he any good at least?” Crystal asked.
At that I dropped my head as I felt my face get even hotter.
“I think we have our answer,” said Edwin softly.
Crystal laughed as she started up the car again and we headed home. Once inside my apartment I grabbed my laptop. Crystal went diving down the front of her top looking for the flash drive and Edwin sat back, grabbed a drink and enjoyed the show. Loading up the flash drive, I started clicking open files and found photos of Adam Hendricks and Emily Saunders doing what I caught them doing last night.
“Oh my God. Did you know about this?” Crystal asked, looking at me accusingly.
I grimaced, “I walked in on them during the wake last night.”
“Having sex,” said Edwin.
“Yes.”
“During a wake,” said Crystal.
“Yes.”
Crystal slapped me on the arm, hard. “And you didn’t tell me straight away.”
“I didn’t get in until after three,” I complained, rubbing my arm. “You know for such a tiny person you hit really hard.”
She hit me again. “Any time of the day or night, you have permission to call me if you have information like that.” I got hit again.
“Stop hitting me,” I complained, glaring at her.
Looking to Edwin for support was no good. “I agree with her, that information is too good to keep from everybody else,” he said.
Rubbing my sore and I’m sure bruised arm, I kept clicking through the images. They weren’t the best quality photos but considering the subject matter I was thinking I should be thankful for small mercies.
“Do we know who sent them to Ryan?” asked Edwin.
“It might have been a private investigator he hired,” I guessed.
“No,” said Crystal. “A private investigator would have better equipment for getting these images. These look like a camera phone has been used to take the shots.”
Flicking through to the last file, I found it was a video and I looked at Edwin and Crystal.
“Do we really want to see this?” I asked.
It was one thing to see photos of the two of them in various states of happiness, but after last night I didn’t think I was ready for a moving visual again.
“Of course,” chorused Edwin and Crystal, both of them grinning. I opened the file and I’ve got to say I was surprised. The screen filled with the face of a teenage boy. He looked young and small but he had that cocky arrogance of someone who is not going to let the world get them down.
“Hello Ryan. My name is Roberto. As you can see, I have some pretty interesting photos that I have been taking lately. I could make a lot of money from them. Or you and I can sit down and maybe have a discussion about them. I’ll contact you again.”
The three of us sat there looking at the screen.
“Ryan Hendricks was being blackmailed,” Edwin said.
“It doesn’t make sense,” I said. “Wouldn’t it be better to blackmail Adam or Emily? Adam might not have the money he wants, but Emily is a trust fund baby. She could pay this kid off with what she finds in the bottom of her purse.”
“Maybe he wanted something else,” ventured Edwin.
“I think I’ve seen this kid before,” I said, desperately searching my memory.
“Really?” asked Crystal. “Where would you have seen him?”
“I don’t know.” I couldn’t work it out, the kid’s face was bugging me. I was sure I had seen it somewhere. Long after Crystal and Edwin left, I lay awake in my bed trying to remember.