Devil in the Deadline by Lyndee Walker Read Free Book Online Page B

boy.
    She brushed her fingers against mine, not meeting my gaze.
    â€œI’m very sorry for your loss,” I said.
    She shrugged.
    Flyboy nodded. “We’re a family.”
    The way she gazed up at his jawline, Violet did not want the role of little sister.
    Her head bobbed like she’d read my mind. “Jasmine was the closest thing to a sister I’ve ever had.” Violet cast her eyes at the dirt, her voice monotone. Detached. Creepy.
    â€œBy all accounts, y’all were very close. I’m trying to figure out who she was. Make the story more about her life than her murder. But I need you to talk to me.”
    â€œAbout what?” She looked up at me, finally, a sparkle missing from her blue eyes.
    â€œHow old was she?” I asked.
    â€œA little older than me, I think. Twenty-four? Twenty-five? We don’t exactly throw birthday parties.”
    I glanced to Flyboy and he nodded.
    She leaned harder into his chest. He squeezed her shoulder and she smiled. I got very interested in my notes, because I didn’t have to be psychic—or even very perceptive—to see he was trying to comfort her, and she was reading way more into it.
    â€œHow old are you?” I asked, feeling my brow furrow.
    â€œWhy?” her voice found an edge.
    â€œI’m just—I can’t figure out how y’all ended up here. You don’t have to tell me anything, of course, and I don’t have to print everything you tell me, but I’m trying to understand what’s going on.”
    She glanced back at him, but he was drawing a pattern in the dirt with the toe of his sneaker. I knew he didn’t want to answer me. I hoped she’d want to talk about herself, and maybe then she’d talk about her friend.
    â€œI’ve been on my own since I was seventeen,” she said. “I put myself through school with scholarships, work study, and student loans.”
    â€œYou have a degree?” Landers’s words from the night before flashed through my thoughts. “In what?”
    She snorted. “Economics. Fat lot of good it did me. I graduated and got a job waiting tables. Then I got a second job pushing fast food. Then I started selling makeup.”
    The pen stopped moving, my eyes pulled up by the pain in her voice. “What happened?”
    â€œIt wasn’t enough.” She shrugged. “My roommates moved away, so my rent tripled. Credit cards. Student loans—most of mine were private, and there were so many bills. I lost my apartment, and then my car broke down and I didn’t have a way to get to work.”
    â€œYour family? There must be someone?” I forgot to take notes, my heart hurting for her.
    She shook her head. “There’s not.” Something in the tone told me not to push. “This is my family.”
    â€œYou’re all pretty close?” I asked, dropping my gaze back to the paper.
    â€œWe are. Were.”
    â€œHow did she end up here?” I asked. “Do you know?”
    â€œShe didn’t talk about her past,” Violet said. “Like, at all. Ever. She said the present and future were where the good in her life lay.”
    I got every word of that. Where the hell had this woman come from that living on the streets gave her hope for a better future? My fingers itched to call Aaron. Surely they had an ID by now.
    I glanced up to thank them and Flyboy smiled, his eyes welling up.
    â€œJust like Jazz. Always scribbling in her books.”
    â€œWhat books?”
    â€œShe kept journals,” Violet explained. “Never could be without a book and a pen. Even if it meant she didn’t eat.”
    â€œI didn’t let her go hungry,” Flyboy said softly, and Violet stiffened. He didn’t appear to notice.
    â€œDo you—” I paused, clearing my throat and fighting to keep the excitement from my voice. “Do y’all have her journals? And could I borrow them, maybe?” I