Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 57888 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57888 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
I lift one side of Cole’s body and then tilt him upward, carefully lowering him until we can inspect his back pockets, which are also empty.
“Think someone frisked him before?” I ask.
“Are your pockets empty?”
I’ve got a wallet hooked to my keychain, keys, phone, a bus card, and a ticket from the latest Superman movie. “No.”
“Mine neither. I have lip balm, a receipt from the drugstore where I bought the lip balm, a couple of mints, and twenty dollars.”
“High roller.” I whistle.
She smirks. “The point is everyone has something in their pockets, so the fact that Cole’s are empty means someone went through them, most likely the person who killed him. If it was a robbery, they would have taken his shoes.”
I notice that Cole’s Air Force Ones are still on his feet. “I bow to your superior observation.”
Cole’s sneaks are clean, almost brand-new, with only some grit on the sole but no black marks around the edges. If you were going to rob him, the shoes would be worth taking.
“Whoever killed him didn’t do it for money, then.”
“Right, but why would anyone kill Cole? He was well liked at school. Not good enough to make someone jealous for his spot on the team but not bad enough that he was the cause of any loss. He didn’t have any enemies that I could find.” She taps her chin.
“I know I asked before, but why are you looking into this case, specifically?” She’d said that Cole wasn’t a crush, and she’s not acting like he was one, but her interest in his death and the fact that she was doing research on him before has tickled my curiosity bone.
Regret and sympathy passes over her expressive face. “My friend Carrie was dating him. They’d broken up a few weeks ago because Cole was being weird. He was missing dates, making plans without her. They would go out, and he would be on his phone the whole time, not letting her see who he was texting. She thought he was cheating on her. She didn’t even notice he disappeared because she thought he was cutting classes to be with his new girl.”
“This is going to fuck her up,” I conclude.
“Yeah. What you said.” Josie’s mouth turns down. “I’m not looking forward to telling her.”
“I’ll do it.”
“You’ll do what?”
“I’ll tell her.” I pull Cole’s body back in place.
“You don’t even know her.”
I shrug. “Makes it easier for me. You don’t need to do hard stuff, rebel. That’s what you have me for. We done here?”
“I thought you were for bump prevention and sex.”
“And all the hard stuff.” I wink, trying to lighten the mood.
Josie gives me a half smile. “Innuendos at a crime scene. We’re practically pros at this.” She gets to her feet and is about to leave before she spins back. “Let’s check his shoes.”
I reach over and pull off the Jordans. A folded piece of paper falls out of the right one. Josie lets out a small squeak of triumph. When she smooths it out, all it has is a series of numbers.
“A locker combo,” I suggest.
“Not a school locker. That’s three numbers. This is five.”
“Maybe one of the bigger ones?”
“Possibly. It’s not a phone number. Could be an address? I’ll search it on the internet later.” She loosens the laces on the shoes.
“You taking a souvenir?” It seems out of character.
“No. I want to put them back on him. He was one of us, you know? We can’t really bury him, but at least we can leave him with his shoes on.”
I help Josie put Cole back together. Now that she’s brought it up, it does bother me that he was left on the concrete like this. Whatever family he has should be told.
“Besides your friend, Carrie, does Cole have any other family?” I ask as we walk toward the battered door of the warehouse.
“An older sister, but she doesn’t live around here, and their dad, but I guess the dad’s abusive. That’s why the sister left.”
“She abandoned her brother?”
Josie sighs. “Carrie says Cole never held it against his sister. She couldn’t defend herself. Cole felt better after she left.”
“Could his dad have done this?” I jerk my finger over my shoulder.
“It’s possible, but why here at the warehouse? This is like two miles away from where Cole lives. It doesn’t add up for me, but I won’t rule it out.”
“Don’t go talking to the father without me,” I warn. An old man with a heavy hand isn’t going to take this news kindly.
“Because you’re my assistant?”
“It falls under the anti-bumping category. And because I’m your assistant.” And because from now on, I don’t plan to leave your side.
Chapter Six
JOSIE
Bam flips the hook to the chain-link fence, opening it for me. I head up the sidewalk and the stairs that lead to the small patio of my home. The house once belonged to my grams before she died a few years ago.