Checkered Past (A Laurel London Mystery Book 2) by tonya kappes Read Free Book Online

now.”
    “We aren’t kids anymore.” Gia shrugged. “And we don’t have any loyalty to Willie. . .”
    “Shh!” I put my hand out. “You vowed.”
    I reminded her and pointed to the barrel.
    “Willie Ray Bowman. Willie Ray Bowman!” Derek stomped around in frustration saying the words we swore years back that we would never speak again. “We are going to have to talk about Willie Ray Bowman.” Frustrated, Derek ran his hands through his hair. “Gia’s right. We aren’t kids anymore. He killed an FBI agent. He left you standing at the altar of that little chapel in Nashville. Turn him in.”
    Derek’s words brought back the memories; dug up the hurt and images of what seemed to be a lifetime ago.
    Willie Ray was a bad boy. Trixie had kicked him out of the orphanage so many times. He wasn’t wanted by anyone. . .anyone but me.
    He was reckless. Hot. Good looking. Good in bed. Good with my body. I was head over heels in love with him.
    Willie Ray made all sorts of promises to me when I was seventeen. He wanted to marry me. He even talked me into stealing a few things from K-Mart, pawn it, and hop a Greyhound bus to Nashville. He swore he would be there waiting for me. We’d get married at the little chapel. I stole and pawned so much stuff, I was able to get me a dress from the secondhand store.
    Gia and Derek skipped school that day and went with me. They were going to give me and Willie a real good send-off.
    Willie Ray never showed. The only person who did show was Mr. Chiconi. The school called The Cracked Egg and asked him if Gia was ill because she wasn’t at school. He and Mrs. Chiconi scoured Gia’s room. They found the bus schedule. Gia had put a big red heart around the bus we took to Nashville. Her parents hopped in the car and were relieved to see it wasn’t her standing there in the used, two sizes too big, yellowed wedding gown.
    It was the only time I had ever seen Trixie drunk. She drank herself silly after the Chiconis brought me back to the orphanage. And she didn’t talk to me for a week.
    When she did, all she could do was cry, asking me why I felt the need to be unruly all the time.
    “Laurel!” Gia screamed bringing me out of my nightmare and into another one.
    “Yeah.” I shook my head. “Sorry. It’s all hard to wrap my head around.”
    “Did you forget he robbed a bank the day he was supposed to be in Nashville? Then Sally Bent gave you the pictures of him with her the night before?” Derek questioned me.
    “I forgot about Sally,” I whispered.
    All because of Willie Ray, I had sworn off men. Sworn off being loved. Sworn off sex.
    “So?” Gia swung her hip to the side. “Has he contacted you other than leaving the pouch in your car?”
    “No.” I shook my head, shaking back the memories and the tears. “I know he has to be watching to see my reaction. Or if I’m willing to help him.”
    “I’m a cop now,” Derek was good at reminding us of that. “And I can’t help him now.”
    “Laurel?” Gia’s brows lifted. “Are you going to help him?”
    I turned my head toward the barrel. Images of the wedding dress going up in flames ran around like circles in my head. Gia, Derek, and I had snuck back out here one last time after Willie’s arrest.
    I had put together a little ritual. I had made voo-doo dolls out of scrap clothing and twigs to resemble Willie Ray. The dolls along with anything Willie ever gave me were dumped into the big barrel. I made Gia and Derek swear they would never speak of Willie’s name again.
    Never.
    And they hadn’t.
    Until today.
    “Are you kidding me?” Oh. Yeah. I wanted to see Willie Ray. I wanted to give him a piece of my mind. “I want that rat bastard to burn in hell for what he did to me.”
    The saying held true. There was nothing like a woman scorned. Not only did he leave me at the altar. He left my bed the night before and climbed right into bed with Sally Bent. That bitch.
    I bet he had given her a calling card like he