Asking For Trouble by Simon Wood Read Free Book Online Page A

convincing. He’d sensed she was keeping something from him and had acted hurt and distant. She’d tried calling him before she left for the airport, but he hadn’t picked up.
    She slipped off her sandals and put them in the tray with her purse. She dug loose change and a gum wrapper out of her pocket and they went in the tray too. She’d taken the precaution of not wearing jeans or a belt or anything that would set off the metal detector. When she passed through the detector, the only metal on her would be the two fillings in her teeth.
    A stern-looking woman with a severe perm put a halting hand out to Gill until the glut of people already through the detector cleared the area. Then the woman waved Gill through with her wand.
    Gill hesitated. This was it. She was either going to get away with it here, or it was going to hit the fan. She stepped through.
    The machine didn’t make a sound. Gill stood, disoriented, in front of the woman with the bad home perm. The detector hadn’t gone off, but the look of disdain on the woman’s face and her threatening grip on the wand said Gill had given herself away. Before she could figure out what she’d done wrong, the woman said to her, “Collect your carry-on and move on to your gate.”
    Gill did as she was told. She bundled up her stuff under her arm and got the hell away from the security area, passing the unfortunate people receiving unwanted pat downs. She was still so nervous that she didn’t bother to slip on her sandals until she reached the concourse at the top of the short flight of stairs.
    After that, everything went smoothly. The Southwest flight left and arrived on time. The Phoenix weather was glorious—the perfect balance of dry heat offset by a cooling breeze. There was no line for her rental car, and she even received a free upgrade. Her mood brightened to match the Arizona day.
    She followed the MapQuest directions Janet had printed out for her. When she found the address, she was surprised to note that Janet’s friend didn’t live in the best of neighborhoods. Gill wondered if she’d had to move to cover the medical bills.
    She pulled into the apartment complex and parked. A couple of preteens tracked Gill’s progress across the courtyard with malicious stares. She quickened her pace to the first-floor apartment and knocked on the door. A healthy looking woman with lustrous auburn hair answered the door. She didn’t show a hint of the ravaging effects of chemotherapy.
    “Melinda?” Gill asked.
    Melinda smiled and stood back. Gill walked inside the starkly furnished apartment, confused.
    “Can I get you a drink?” Melinda asked.
    “No. I’m good.” Gill wondered why Melinda looked so good. She expected the woman to be crippled by her disease. Maybe she was close to recovery.
    “Do you mind if I get one?” Melinda didn’t wait for an answer and opened the fridge door. Her head buried in the fridge she asked, “Do you have the stuff?”
    “Yes.” Gill had removed the bag from its hiding place in the airport bathroom and reached inside her purse and pulled it out. She held it out to Melinda.
    Melinda let the fridge door close and held out her gun and her badge.
    ***
    As it turned out, “Melinda” was actually an undercover cop named Faye Kirkland. There was no Melinda. The address belonged to a known felon and Detective Kirkland was there based an anonymous tip. Janet denied all knowledge of Gill’s claims during the trial, and Gill was completely flummoxed as to what had happened and why. The third month of Gill’s sentence, a postcard arrived at the prison. It wasn’t signed. It read, “Todd’s with me now.”

CLOSURE
    F abian’s words echoed in Jude’s head. “Ms. Hennessy, I’ve found him...the man who fits the description.”
    She’d waited such a long time for this news. Now that it had come, she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it. Potentially coming face-to-face with her sister’s killer seemed like a cruel taunt. She