by R A Wallace
“How do you know that for sure?” Ariana asked.
“I wrote some for them. You know, the ones from the supposed models. They wanted to make sure some sounded like a teenager.”
Ariana dropped her eyes for a moment then looked back at Kym.
“Did you model for them?” Ariana asked.
Kym shook her head. “All I did was handle the phone. Sometimes they got calls in from kids like us wanting to become famous. Mostly, it was irate parents wanting their money back.”
Ariana had answered one of those calls also when she’d been there. She’d wondered why the parent didn’t want their kid to be famous.
“Did they tell you to call your friends and try to talk them into going there?” Kym asked.
Ariana nodded hesitantly.
“Don’t do it. You’ll just end up losing your friends. No one wants to be scammed.”
At the end of the conversation, Callie thanked the Turpins for their time. The drive back to her father’s house began as quietly as the trip to the Turpins.
Ariana broke the silence. “What should I do now?”
“I’ll help you with the lawyer that the Turpins recommended to break your contract.”
Ariana flashed her sister a quick look of relief. “Thanks.” She stared out the window. “Do we have to tell mom and dad?”
“You’re eighteen now, Ariana. You’re an adult. What you choose to share is your business. That includes your time.”
Ariana frowned in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“How much time you spend with the rest of your family is up to you. Just like the two of us. We could choose to spend time together. Or not. That’s all on us. No one else is going to force us to do it. We’re the ones who decide whether or not we want to act like sisters.”
Ariana remained silent. Callie waited a moment. She stole a glance at her sister but Ariana was looking straight ahead.
“What do you think?” Callie prompted.
Ariana shrugged. “Maybe we could hang out.”
Callie smiled. It was a start.
After dropping Ariana off at her dad’s house, she drove to her office. She felt like she had made some progress with her sister. She had a lot to think about herself. She wasn’t happy with the situation with Greyson Divine. He couldn’t really believe that she would allow him to just waltz into her life and her business. Just thinking about it gave her a headache but that wasn’t the only thing troubling her. She parked her car on the side street next to her office.
It was Sunday. Sierra and Michael weren’t there. Callie went straight to the rear of her office space where she kept all of the old files, including the ones she’d inherited from Corky’s agency. After digging through multiple folders in the filing cabinets, she finally found the one she was looking for. It was additional information that she had accumulated over time involving Corky’s accident. She straightened and set the folder on top of the cabinet then began flipping through it.
Finally, she found the photo she was looking for. It was taken inside Corky’s truck after his body was found. Callie wanted to see again what he had etched into the dashboard. Holding the photo up, she saw that it was indeed the letters CAL. She had always thought he was scratching her name but now she wondered.
From what the police report had said, it looked as though someone had hit Corky repeatedly from behind. Callie thought back to the truck looming in her rearview mirror as it closed the distance between them to hit her car. The one part of the image that stuck in her brain was the moment when she’d seen the license plate of the truck. It had never made sense that Corky would take the time to etch Callie’s name into his dashboard. He knew she would try to find his killers. He had to have been giving her a message that he knew would help. What was it? Was he trying to tell her that the license plate had the letters CAL on it?
Callie snapped a picture of the dashboard photo with her phone then put everything back into the filing cabinet. She stepped out to the main part of the office. That was when her eyes fell on the object on her desk. She hadn’t noticed it when she’d first passed it. She was too focused on Corky. She walked over to it, not believing at first what she saw.
It was a betta fish, swimming inside a small container that allowed it to be easily transported. It didn’t look exactly like the one she’d lost but it was beautiful. Callie wondered how it got there. She hadn’t told anyone about losing her betta. Had she? She thought back to the dinner with Greyson. She had mentioned it to him. She wondered again why Greyson just happened to be at Anilese’s apartment when they’d found her body. And why he had been outside of Rob Shaw’s house the day she had decided to follow Rob Shaw. The day that she and Greyson ultimately had tracked down the bank robbers together.
She looked back down at the fish, then slowly looked around her office. For that matter, how did he get inside her office on a Sunday? Callie lifted the fish from her desk and looked at it more closely. Either Sierra or Michael must have let him in even though they weren’t typically here on weekends. That had to be it. It was the only possible answer. Wasn’t it?
Books by R. A. Wallace
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Indigo Investigations Cozy Mystery Series
Callie Indigo is struggling to make ends meet with her private detective agency, Indigo Investigations, while juggling the complexities of an extended family and life in general. When she isn’t working a legitimate case, she’s often talked into helping out friends and family. Just when she’s wondering if she’ll ever turn a profit, her life becomes even more complicated with the appearance of Greyson Divine who has the uncanny ability to appear just as Callie is solving a case. Callie has to admit, however, that sometimes Greyson Divine may actually be helpful. This cozy mystery offers a clean read with a female sleuth, friends, and family.
Teaberry Farm Bed & Breakfast Cozy Mystery Series
Megan is the main character in the series but interacts with a wide range of other characters in the fictional town of Teaberry. A difficult first marriage ended in the accidental death of her husband. She supports herself with her bed and breakfast, produce from her farm, and her tech skills as a web developer. Over time, she discovers that the love of her life was in front of her all along. Main characters in the series are multigenerational.