11 by Kylie Brant Read Free Book Online Page B

to switch bodyguards. Kacee something.
    “Who hired him to look for me?”
    “Why don’t you ask him?”
    “I did.” Seemingly unconcerned with the conversation, Jude continued eating. “Now I’m asking you.”
    “Adam Raiker. He runs the Mindhunters agency. He has a question…”
    Mia tossed the phone back to Jude. “She’s well-trained.”
    Setting down his chopsticks, he picked up the cell. “I’m certain she’ll be pleased to hear you say so.” His side of the conversation didn’t prove illuminating. He listened more than talked, glancing once at Mia, but otherwise ignoring her. She crossed to the bed and set the knife on the floor near her foot, then pulled the stained coverlet toward her until she could reach the remaining plastic plate and food. Discovering the call was from his employee didn’t prove he wasn’t working with Four. It didn’t prove anything at all. Which is why she kept her weapon nearby as she filled the plate and began eating mechanically. Food was fuel. And whatever the rest of the day brought, she needed to preserve her energy.
    Her plate was nearly emptied by the time he finished talking. Immediately afterwards, he sent a text. Then he looked at her.
    “The local police are searching for you now. You’re wanted for questioning in your roommate’s death.”
    The news rocked her, the food in her mouth turning to ashes. “She’s…Hoa’s dead?”
    “Snapped her neck in the fall. What’s the name of the woman you say you talked to right before Hoa was killed?”
    Her throat was tight. It took effort to force the words out. “I only know her first name. Quyen. But the shop is called Nahn Café.”
    His fingers flew over the keys on the phone as he sent another message. “She can corroborate your story?”
    “I…” It was hard to think. To concentrate on anything but the litany hammering through her. Hoa was dead . And Mia had led her killer right to their door. “Quyen would at least be able to provide a timeline. She was closing the shop right after she waited on me. She’d know the approximate time I pounded on the door, yelling for her to call for help.”
    “Assuming she did, the police would be talking to her already. We’ll make sure she calls them, tells them about seeing you if she hasn’t already. Best case scenario, she already has and they have a witness to establish time of death and they just want you to add what you might know.”
    He didn’t have to continue with the worst-case scenario. She could already imagine it. If they believed she could have returned to the apartment to commit murder and then hurried back to rouse Quyen…or that she’d killed her before going to the coffeehouse… Mia put down the chopsticks, unable to eat more. It would take a very gifted defense attorney to extricate her from the Vietnamese prison system.
    “Maybe I should call them. Give my side of the story.”
    “No offense.” He slipped the cell in his pocket before reaching for his plate. “But your tale about Hoa’s killer doesn’t exactly ring with plausibility. Especially once they check with American authorities, discover nothing came of the investigation surrounding your story five years ago, your credibility here will be zilch. You’re a foreigner in the country with a false ID, and a history—in the eyes of many—of providing false information to the police. You have too much to lose and nothing to gain. Don’t worry. Kacee is handling it.”
    He had a way of setting her teeth on edge. “You’ll forgive me if that, coupled with your professed skepticism about my past doesn’t fill me with confidence.”
    “I didn’t say I didn’t believe you. Exactly. I’m reserving judgment for the time being.” He tugged on the coverlet to pull the boxes of food closer to him. Selected some more caramelized shrimp. “Kacee found the names of six American women under the age of forty on the Da Nang airline manifest.” He reeled off the names from memory.