Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 155775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
It was nice of Butch to tell the rest of them. Cash shot a look at Ralen, who just shrugged. Seemed he hadn’t known that either.
“All right. I’ll just heat mine up afterwards. Thanks, Cash.” Monroe moved over to sit next to Dotty at the table.
Dotty was working on her laptop, a small frown on her face.
Cash carried over several bowls. One he placed in front of Dotty. The other two were for Addie and himself.
“There’s one up on the counter for you too,” he said to Butch. No way was he carrying it over for the grumpy bastard.
Ralen sat with his bowl and bag of sugar.
“Can I have some of that?” Dotty asked.
“I don’t know. I was going to use it all on my bowl.”
“You’re going to use the whole bag?” Dotty asked.
“Yeah, but I suppose I can share.”
Ralen put way too much brown sugar on his oatmeal, took a mouthful, and added some more. Everyone stared at him in shock.
“He’s got a sweet tooth,” Cash told them.
A bedroom door opened, and Addie walked out wearing an oversized hoodie and a pair of tights. Thankfully, Ink kept the safe house stocked with spare clothes, toiletries, and plenty of food, so they all had something to wear this morning.
Although he might head over to their place and get some more stuff later.
And go to LittleLand to get her that hoodie with the squishy bits in the cuffs.
He noticed that the bruise on her face was turning dark purple. Ouch.
“Come here, Addie.” Cash pulled out the chair next to him. “I made you some breakfast.”
She walked over slowly and slid into the seat.
“Here,” Butch said, frowning down at his own bowl which he’d grabbed. “You’ll need this.” He passed her the bag of brown sugar, which was considerably lighter than it had been before.
“Everyone’s a critic,” Cash said as he dipped his spoon into the oatmeal and took some. Gross.
Addie spooned some in.
“Thanks,” she said to Butch.
“No talking,” Cash reminded her.
She nodded and they all ate quietly. Cash added some sugar to his, ignoring the look Ralen gave him.
Butch’s phone went off, and he opened the laptop that had been sitting in front of him. He turned it so they could all see, before standing and moving behind Dotty.
Brody and Ink appeared on the laptop screen.
“Morning, everyone. Sleep okay?” Ink asked.
There were several shrugs and tired sighs.
“That good, huh? I don’t blame you. I have some news, though. The police talked to hotel security and they weren’t willing to just hand over their video footage. So they are asking a judge for a warrant. Hopefully, they will be able to pinpoint who trashed your hotel room and left that message. Brody has been looking into Vextar. He can’t find anything about him, which indicates that it’s a false name. I’ve got some of my guys asking around about him, but everyone has been clamming up as soon as they hear his name, which is a big red flag.”
“He’s a bit of a ghost, to be honest,” Brody said. “But if we get a good image of his face, we might be able to do some facial recognition. Monroe worked with Greer to create an image, but she didn’t think it really looked that much like him.”
“Jackson took a photo of it,” Ink said. “I still think the cops must have heard of him or they wouldn’t have questioned Monroe so much at the police station.”
“I just don’t understand one thing,” Monroe said. “If this was Vextar and he left that message in the hotel room, why come after us at the airport as we were leaving?”
“It has to be those photos that you put up,” Brody said. “I’ve been studying them, but so far I can’t figure out what it is about them that would have him sending men after you. Other than the fact that you can see a part of his face. However, it’s not enough for facial recognition.”
“Who is this guy that he’s able to send people after Monroe? Do you think he belongs to some gang?” Dotty asked.
There was silence as everyone took that in.
Monroe groaned and buried her face in her hands. “Trust me to marry some gang leader.”
“How did they know we were at the airport, though?” Dotty asked.
“I think I know that,” Monroe said, raising her hand and looking guilty. “I was having a look through my messages just before, and you know how my phone dropped out of my hand yesterday? In the airport parking garage when I nearly walked out in front of that car?”
“Yes,” Cash replied. “Why?”
“Well, I happened to notice that a message I’d been writing actually got sent through to Vextar. I’ve sent him lots of messages, and he hasn’t replied to any of them. When you ring him, his phone just goes voicemail. It’s not like I ever thought he was even reading them. But I had written one that I didn’t intend to send.”