Devil in the Deadline by Lyndee Walker Read Free Book Online

hand into a fist, spinning on my heel.
    â€œCan I help you?” I bit the end of my tongue, the words sharper than I wanted. No need to go looking for a fight.
    He jumped back three feet. “I’m sorry, ma’am,” he said, raising both hands in mock surrender. “I wasn’t trying to scare you. It’s just—this isn’t really a great place to take a walk alone.”
    I let a controlled breath out. “It’s the middle of the day.”
    â€œEven so.”
    I smiled. “I appreciate the thought,” I said.
    He eyed my shoes, his eyes traveling slowly up over my tangerine sundress. “Are you the lady from the hospital?”
    My eyes widened, Carl’s words floating through my thoughts. “ Flyboy provides the muscle. ”
    I put a hand out. “Nichelle. And you’re Flyboy?”
    Nodding, he shook my hand, his fingers rough on my palm. “Why are you here?”
    I softened my face and my tone. “Y’all called her Jasmine, right?”
    His face fell, his eyelids working overtime.
    â€œBut that wasn’t her real name.” I didn’t bother to inflect the question mark.
    â€œI don’t think so. I don’t really know.”
    â€œDo you go by your real name?”
    He snickered. “Flyboy? No. I used to want to do that. Fly. I was headed for the Air Force Academy, but—” He stopped, shaking his head and dropping his eyes to the dirt.
    â€œBut?”
    â€œIt didn’t work out that way.”
    I filed that away, afraid to pull out a notebook.
    â€œWhat can you tell me about her?” I asked gently.
    â€œWhat do you want?” He narrowed his eyes.
    â€œTo help you.” I met his gaze head-on.
    â€œHow?”
    â€œWell, I thought I might start by helping the PD figure out who killed your friend. Maybe keep them from doing it again.”
    He tipped his head to one side. “Why?”
    â€œBecause it’s the biggest story I’ve seen this year. Maybe ever. And it has the bonus effect of saving lives.”
    â€œYou think our lives are worth saving?”
    I blanched. “Of course.”
    He stopped blinking, and I shrank from the pain in his dark eyes. His face was younger than mine. His eyes were not.
    I stood up straight and arranged my features into a smile. “It’s not what gets done to you. It’s what you do with it.”
    He nodded. “Sounds like something my granddad would’ve said. Hard to remember sometimes, though.”
    â€œI’m sorry.”
    He scuffed a toe in the rocks. “Me, too.”
    â€œHow long were you and Jasmine friends? Or maybe a little more than friends?” I ducked my head and caught his eye. “Not that I couldn’t be reading it wrong.”
    â€œYou’re not.” He sniffled, looking around. “We’ve been together since last summer. We were going to get out of Richmond. Jazz—she kept talking about getting us the cash we needed for a new start. Bus tickets, a car, a cheap apartment for a while.”
    Solid plan. And finally, something I could work with. Where would a homeless woman get a big chunk of cash?
    Probably nowhere good.
    â€œAnd did she?” I asked. “Get the money you needed?”
    â€œNot yet. She said it was coming.”
    â€œBut she didn’t say from where?”
    â€œNo, ma’am.”
    Of course not.
    â€œWhere were you going?”
    â€œColorado. She loved the mountains. Said they felt like home.”
    I pulled a notebook and pen from my bag. “Do you mind if I take notes?”
    â€œNo cameras.”
    â€œOf course.” I nodded, scribbling about money and mountains. “Can you tell me what happened last night? When was the last time you saw Jasmine?”
    He raised his head, his eyes focusing on something behind me. “Friday afternoon. I got picked up to go on a crew to the Fan. Remodeling job at one of the big houses over there. I