A Real Page Turner by Rita Lawless Read Free Book Online Page A

that had fallen down her cheeks. “A big, fat, greasy hamburger with tater tots on the side, and a chocolate shake.”
    “Extra pickles on mine, please,” Misty said as she pushed herself up from the floor.
    Even though she felt as if she might burst into tears at any second, April knew the best thing she could do was not sit around and dwell on things. Getting something to eat would take her mind off the visit from the detectives. It wouldn’t make her forget, but it might help her to refocus for a f ew moments while she came to terms with the fact that her young friend would never again enter the shop.
    “I’m going to wash my face, and then I’ll be right out.” April made her way to the back of the store. Once in the bathroom she shut the door, mostly out of habit. She splashed cold water on her face, getting quite a bit of it on her shirtfront. Not that it mattered. She had extras in the office, kept because, as Misty always said, April was the messiest eater on the face of the planet. If she ate anything with ketchup, it somehow ended up on the front of her shirt.
    “April.” Misty’s voice sounded strange.
    April blotted her face with a paper towel before she opened the door. “What?” she shouted back.
    “Out here,” a deep voice said. It was one she’d heard not that long ago. She stopped in the doorway of the bathroom, wondering what the hell he was doing there.
    It didn’t take her long to reach the front. Misty was near the front door, Titan at her side. April studied him, confusion taking center space in her mind.
    “What—”
    He interrupted her. “I hear we’re going to get something to eat. Let’s go. I’m buying.”
     

     
    Chapter Four
     
    They found a diner in LoDo that wasn’t too crowded, in fact, much to April’s surprise, they were seated within five minutes of their arrival. To April, it was nothing less than amazing. But as soon as they were seated, she and Titan on one side of the booth, Misty on the other, the reason for the visit from the cops, for her calling Misty, pushed away all the other feelings she had, and she felt like she might tear up again.
    “So, what did you tell the cops?” Titan asked after the waitress had delivered iced teas and taken their orders.
    “Excuse me?” April had picked up her water glass, and for a moment she thought it would slip from her fingers and shatter on the table.
    “About Virginia.”
    April set the cup down. “How did you… what?”
    “Everybody knows about it,” he said as he took a sip from his own glass. He was so calm, as if he were discussing the weather. “I figured that’s why they were at your store, unless you had a break-in or something.”
    “And why would you think that?” Too many thoughts were passing through her mind at one time. How was it that he happened to be at the store the minute the cops were gone? Why did he think the police were there about the murder?
    “How do you know about Virginia?”
    “Everybody knows,” he said again. They fell silent as the waitress returned with condiments in preparation for their meal. She set the bottles on the table, and April could tell from the look on her face that she was uncomfortable that they were all staring at her, and had stopped talking the minute she’d approached.
    When she was gone, Titan leaned closer to the table, as if he had a secret to impart to April and Misty. Instead of telling them something, he asked, “What did they tell you?”
    “That Virginia was dead,” April said. She sat back and crossed her arms over her chest. “You sound like you know an awful lot about what’s happened.”
    He shrugged. “I watch the news.”
    “That’s not what you said,” April countered. “You said everybody knew. Who is everybody?”
    “People at Charlie’s,” he informed her. He had a straight face, which made her think he was telling the truth, or he was good at lying. “Tom called me to tell me he’d heard about it from a mutual