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

help it if I get behind a tractor,” I lied, but didn’t feel bad. She’d never know. “What’s in the bag?”
    “You’re as nosy as an old hen and I’m not rude.” Her chin jutted out.
    “I didn’t mean you were rude. He’s rude.” I snarled. “He is definitely not from the south.” I made a mental note to never date a northern. “What’s in the bag?” I asked again hoping for an answer.
    “It’s medicine.”
    “What kind of medicine?” I asked. If she didn’t want me to know, she wouldn’t have told me.
    “Insulin.” She let out a long sigh. “I don’t know if I’m gonna use it. But the doctor told me if I didn’t, I wasn’t going to live much longer. I guess I want to live long enough to make my Christmas cookies this year. Everyone loves my Christmas cookies.”
    “So you are shooting to live long enough to see Christmas? Then what?” I asked sarcastically, “You don’t care. You stop taking insulin?”
    “Laurel London, I’m gonna tell Trixie you are getting to be too nosy.” She looked over at me. I looked at her. There was deep set worry in her eyes. Her crow’s feet deepened. “I guess I want to live.”
    “I guess you better take your medicine and start eating right.” I grinned.
    “I guess I better.” She shook her finger at me. “And don’t you go around telling people I’m dying or taking medicine. I don’t want anyone knowing my business.”
    “I won’t.” I used my finger to cross my heart.
    Sharon didn’t talk the rest of the way. I could tell she was chewing over all the information the doctor had given her, hopefully making the right decision to take better care of herself.
    “I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said to Sharon. I put the car in park and waited for her to respond.
    She confirmed with a nod, but no words.
    My phone chirped a text from Jax. Meet me at my office. Alone. Now .
    I pulled out of Sharon’s driveway and headed Jax’s way. It didn’t look like making it to the library was going to happen today. I had to see Sally Bent, and wait. Willie Ray was going to show up somewhere, but where?
    “Do you want to tell me about Willie Ray Bowman?” Jax asked as soon as I walked into the door of the office.
    He was alone. He took three steps toward me and stopped, standing there in a hush. Questions flickered in the back of his eyes.
    I could hear my own swallow.
    “I told you what I know.” I could feel my cheeks flush. If only I’d swiped on a little lip gloss , I sighed, a little embarrassed about how I looked just in case Jax decided to lay one on me.
    “You told Eric what you wanted him to know.” Jax scratched his hairline. His eyes shifted from the floor to my face. “Laurel, I can’t express how important it is to find him. He killed an FBI officer.”
    “I understand that.” I agreed.
    “To my understanding he was the bad boy of the orphanage. Got kicked out a few times. And you weren’t exactly on your best behavior as a child.” He shrugged. “It would seem likely that the two worst kids in the orphanage would probably hang out together.”
    Jax took a notebook out of his pocket and flipped a few pages.
    I took a deep breath. There was no way I was going to say anything about my past with Willie Ray.
    “He hasn’t contacted me.” I technically didn’t lie.
    The leather pouch might not have been Willie’s. It could’ve been someone who had used my Drive Me app to and from the airport. At least I tried to talk myself into believing someone else could’ve left it when I clearly knew it was the one I had stolen for Willie.
    I knew and Willie knew I would remember it.
    “When I talked to a few Walnut Grove citizens, they clearly remembered Mr. Bowman hanging out with Derek Smitherman and you. Sometimes Gia.” He read from the notebook I wanted to shove up his you-know-what. “He is a little older than you. The day he robbed the bank, you, Derek and Gia had skipped school.”
    Curly Dean. I glared at Jax. It was clear Jax