“Permanent like a coffin.”
“Well, yeah, but she doesn’t see it like that.”
Fiona was silent. Morgan’s heart fluttered, and she wasn’t quite sure what to do or say next. Confessing that had been hard enough, but she still feared what Fiona might say, what she might do or think.
“Talk to me,” Morgan whispered. “Don’t go silent. What are you thinking?”
“I was thinking that I’m confused.”
“Confused about what?” Morgan glanced at the ticket counter to check on her flight and see how much longer she had to wait for it.
Fiona grunted. “I thought, I guess without confirmation, but I thought you were interested in me.”
Morgan snorted. Of all things for Fiona to say. “I am…I was…I am interested in you.”
“Then why would you go out with her?”
“I didn’t think you were interested in me. I’m not exactly…what’s the word…I’m not exactly observant when it comes to things like that. I’m inept.”
“You’re oblivious.”
“Yes! That’s it. I’m oblivious. Thank you.”
Fiona laughed lightly, the sound sweet to Morgan’s ear, and she relaxed into her chair again. “I like you, Morgan.”
“But you said you were dating someone.”
“I am in a relationship, yes.”
“Then this conversation isn’t going anywhere unless you are in an open relationship.”
“It’s not, at least not in that sense.”
“Then we shouldn’t talk about it. I just wanted to call and let you know that she has been arrested. You can close your cases.”
“Morgan…”
“I’ll see you around, Wexford.”
“When are you coming home?”
The single word was her melting point. Morgan stared at the screen above the ticket counter again and breathed a sigh of relief. “My flight boards in twenty minutes.”
“I’ll see you soon, then.”
“Talk to you later, Wexford.”
Morgan hung up. She’d wait until she was on the plane to do some more paperwork, to finalize her reports, and reacquaint herself with the trafficking case that was still ongoing. She’d focus on that for a while and leave the serial killers to someone else. She needed something a little less personal, even if it was equally as traumatic for all those involved.
When they called her boarding zone, Morgan grabbed her bag with her freshly de-stitched hand and straightened her back. She got into the throng of people ready to board, she pushed all thoughts of Lollie to the back of her brain. She’d deal with her again when she had to, when the trial started since she doubted Lollie would willingly admit to murdering seven people, but for now she could focus on something she could solve, someone she could save, and taking down Mr. Jimmy’s sex ring.
About the Author
Adrian J. Smith has been publishing since 2013 but has been writing nearly her entire life. With a focus on women loving women fiction, AJ jumps genres from action-packed police procedurals to the seedier life of vampires and witches to sweet romances with a May-December twist. She loves writing and reading about women in the midst of the ordinariness of life. Two of her novels, For by Grace and Memoir in the Making, received honorable mentions with the Rainbow Awards.
AJ currently lives in Cheyenne, WY, although she moves often and has lived all over the United States. She loves to travel to different countries and places. She currently plays the roles of author, wife, and mother to two rambunctious toddlers, occasional handy-woman. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, or her blog.
More from Adrian J. Smith
For by Grace (Spirit of Grace #1)
If you just want to spend an afternoon losing track of everything else, this is the book to do it with. There's suspense, humor, and even a little hint of romance – A. M. Leibowitz
Being a Sheriff’s Deputy is not all about saving lives and arresting criminals, and each day Grace wonders if she’ll make it home.
While kids at the schools Deputy Grace Halling visits see her as the knight in blue-cotton armor, people involved in the cases she is dispatched to have a different opinion. She has every confidence in her ability to do her job and arrest criminals. She easily takes down a knife-wielding woman and a drunken combatant teenager without hesitation. Everyone—victim, suspect, or witness—has a story to tell or to lie about, and Grace is never perturbed by their tales.
That all changes when she looks down the barrel of a gun. She loses confidence in her ability as a deputy, she loses trust in herself and fellow officers, and she struggles to stay afloat as shift after shift passes. Grace cannot find her rhythm of being a deputy again. And when the Police Chaplain unexpectedly barges into her life, her personal and professional lives are flipped upside down. Grace struggles to find her even ground, worrying that the next time she stares a murderer in the face will be the last.
2014 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention
Memoir in the Making
The first day of her junior year in college was supposed to go off without a hitch. But when Ainsley Jacobs sat in her memoir class with a professor she’d never had before, her life took an unexpected turn. She couldn’t get her well-dressed professor, Meredith Frenz, out of her head.
Meredith had lived a lonely yet comfortable life for the past fifteen years, and despite flings here and there, she had no desire to jump head first into a relationship, especially one with her student. Despite all her thwarted efforts, Meredith was determined to keep to herself and push Ainsley away.
Forbidden love is often the most attractive.
Romances
Memoir in the Making
OBlique
Quarter Life
Unbound (#1)
De-Termination (#2)
Release (#3) (2021)
The James Matthews Series
Forever Burn (#1)
Dying Embers (#2)
Ashes Fall (#3)
Spirit of Grace
For by Grace (#1)
Fallen from Grace (#2)
Grace through Redemption (#3)
Detective Grace
Lost and Forsaken (#1)
Broken and Weary (#2) (2021)
Agent Morgan Stone
Stone’s Mistake (2021)
Table of Contents
Front Matter
Stone’s Mistake
About the Author
More by Adrian J. Smith
Stone's Mistake Page 25