Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 126823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
“It has the keys to the outside building housing the freezer and larger refrigerator. The freezer is kept locked, and so is the refrigerator, just in case children accidentally manage to get in there. The answer is yes, at some point everyone has had to go out to get something from the fridge or freezer.”
“What about customers?” Vienna asked.
Shabina shook her head. “They would have no reason to know.”
“But Chelsey easily could have pocketed the keys during her shift at any time, and no one would have noticed,” Raine said.
“That’s true,” Shabina admitted. “It never occurred to me one of my staff would help someone set me up to take the fall for murder.”
Her head was pounding all over again, and she felt physically ill. “I’ll check to see if the keys are in the drawer when no one’s around. I don’t want Chelsey or Sean to know we have them on the security cameras.” She lifted her head frowning. “When I saw Bale, his face and jaw were swollen and his knuckles were scraped. He’d clearly been in a fight. Look at Sean’s face. He has a black eye.”
Both women looked toward the table where Sean and Edward were seated while trying not to appear as if they were staring.
“He’s definitely been in a fight,” Vienna agreed. “With the accusations Bale hurled at you about trying to break up his friendships with his boys, I’d say you might have been a part of their disagreement.”
Raine nodded slowly. “Sean is an intelligent man. He might have agreed, at first, to get the spices and dates for Bale to somehow incriminate you at the scene of a murder, but he had to know he would also be incriminating himself. Chelsey would know she stole those spices from your kitchen and gave them to him. If they were found with a murder victim, do you think she would remain silent and allow you to be accused of killing someone?”
Shabina rubbed her pounding head. “I didn’t think she’d steal from me, so I can’t honestly answer that.”
Vienna looked out the long window to the patio, watching the young waitress as she laughed and talked with her customers. “I’m going to go with Raine on this one. Stealing might be appalling, just to try to get laid, but I don’t think she’d go along with framing you.”
“She’d probably think Sean was the murderer,” Raine added. “If he thought this through, he was the one most likely to throw the spices and dates away. Bale would have been furious, not only because he didn’t have the items to implicate you, but because he’s beginning to feel as if he’s losing control of the men who always did whatever he said. They just went along with him, and now suddenly they’re rebelling.”
Patsy placed the food in front of them, including a plate of zucchini sticks. Shabina’s café was famous for her zucchini sticks. “Vaughn sent these to you, Shabina. And this smoothie. He says you’re losing weight and he’s getting worried. He doesn’t want to have to wrestle you to the ground and force-feed you, but he will.”
The thought of Vaughn trying to wrestle her made her want to laugh. That was unexpected. Just the fact that she could find it in herself to laugh she thought was a good sign. Maybe she wasn’t as far gone as she thought. But then she couldn’t seem to stop. Vienna and Raine stared at her with a kind of horror.
“Honey, I’m not going to tell you it’s going to be all right,” Raine said quietly, “because I know it doesn’t feel that way to you right now. Take some deep breaths.”
Out of control. She was never out of control in public. Because she had to do something to stop the hysteria, she drank water, big gulps of it. Naturally, it went down the wrong way and she coughed and choked. Her lungs fought for air.
“Just talk to me. Were you able to find out anything more about Boucher and Cormier? Who they really are. They speak in fluent French, but the accent isn’t exactly right. And what about Beaumont?” That was a gift she had—languages. She heard the slightest little nuance in pronunciation. Her ear was so good she could tell regions people came from in the same country.
Shabina felt the thin chain around her neck pulling tighter and tighter, constricting her airway. Harsh, taunting laughter erupted around her. The walls of the café rippled and faded, morphing into a high rocky cliff. Beneath her feet, the floor faded away, turning to sand. Splashes of crimson striped the sand like a bizarre painting.
Rolling thunder boomed in her ears, drowning out everything around her until she was only aware of the beads of sweat trickling down her face. Her lungs were raw and burning for air. The feel of blood seeping through her clothing was all too real.