Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 57920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
My attention drops back to my phone when I see another message come through. Shit, I hit reply, telling Roger where I’m at as I read over everything he’s sent me. I don’t turn my phone away, letting Hollis see too.
“Shit,” Hollis mutters under his breath, sharing my sentiment. When I lean back, I see more people have entered the bar area.
“Guys!” Kindred hisses loudly. “I’m trying to spy. Take it down to a three.”
“You heard the lady!” Tinsley shouts, backing her up, kind of. They listen and take it down a few notches.
Hollis turns, shifting toward me so he can speak without anyone overhearing. “Should we do anything?” I shake my head no. We wait.
I would rather there were not so many people here, but if I tried to herd them out, that would spread like wildfire, and more would show up. But this is the nature of things in New Hope. People always migrate toward Kindred. It's the way of things.
"I hear something!" Kindred shouts, then slams her own hand down over her mouth, cringing. "I think I hear something." Now she whispers. The whole bar falls silent. Kindred cocks her head to the side.
"Is that your brother?" Candy asks, and I slip out of my chair.
"Yeah, what is he doing?"
I take a few steps back, and Hollis slides in, taking my place silently, knowing what I'm doing. Katie Beckett has lost it, and now she has lured Ethan to her room. I'm sure he thinks he's about to get lucky, but I think his luck has run out.
The second I am free of the room, I bolt up the stairs to the bedroom. I debate for a split second what weapon I should draw. When I reach the door, I don’t bother knocking; it’s best to catch them off guard.
My foot connects with the door, and it bursts open, chunks of wood splintering. Ethan has his hands up, backed against a wall with a gun trained on him. I fire, hitting Beckett in the chest, her eyes still wide as her knees give out, electricity coursing through her system.
"Ethan!" I shout, and the sound of running can be heard coming down the hallway.
"That bitch is crazy." Ethan drops his hands. I step closer to Beckett and kick the gun away, seeing the silencer on the end.
"I know." Kindred comes rushing into the room, I'm sure having heard everything. I hold my hand up, pressing it to her stomach so she doesn't move past me. I’m not taking any chances when it comes to her. “This is what happens, Ethan, when you think with your other head!” Kindred tosses at her brother.
"No!" Beckett whimpers, rolling to her side. "No, no, no," she says over and over, knowing it's the end of the line. "Why did you guys get to make it out and not him? You saved the others but not him!"
“What the hell am I missing?” Ethan asks, and I give him a look that lets him know this isn’t the time. Especially with the town filling up the hallway.
“She was talking about killing Ethan,” Kindred says, pressing herself into my side. She glances down at Beckett. I can tell by the way Kindred's face softens that she feels bad for her. I don’t. There was a silencer on the end of that handgun. This was a laid-out plan that’s been in the works for months. Beckett was planning to commit murder. I can’t even entertain the thought of what that could’ve meant for Kindred.
That was the email I'd gotten from Roger. When I started pushing for more information on her, he started digging deeper. Beckett had already put in for a transfer out of the city, and it had been approved. Those had been her first steps, but her sergeant had noticed she'd been acting strangely. When he pushed, she lost it on him and was fired.
I don't know where shit got lost in translation, but clearly it had. Beckett had assaulted her sergeant and then made a deal that if she checked into a mental facility, charges wouldn't be filed.
She agreed but left after a week. Then she showed up to her new position as if nothing had happened. If I had to guess, because they'd made a deal with her and didn't press charges, that's where things slipped through the cracks.
I get it. Cops want to protect their own, but in doing that, you sacrifice protecting the community, which should always come first.
"Can you get everyone downstairs?" I ask Kindred, and she nods, her eyes filled with tears, and I know it's for everyone. "Thanks, Cupcake." I kiss the top of her head. "Sheriff Buford is going to show up anytime now. Send him up for me."
Thankfully it isn’t long before Roger shows up, and I tell him everything that has gone down. I am relieved that Beckett doesn’t know the full truth. That means there wasn’t a leak.