Devil’s in the Details by Sydney Gibson Read Free Book Online Page B

left nothing to chance.
    Pulling out on to the main road that would take me to the freeway, I looked up at the street sign as I sat at a red light, instantly recalling the brunette. Alexandra's apartment was less than two blocks away. Tapping my fingers on the steering wheel, I debated it. Debated driving to her apartment and seeing if she was alright from a distance. Her discharge papers had been in the file Dani sent me. I knew she would be home, and I suddenly wanted to go and see if her apartment was safe since the neighborhood she lived in wasn't.
    I sighed, "Don't get involved, Victoria. Go home. Make a milkshake and go to bed." I murmured the words in the quiet of the car. "You've already done too much."
    The light turned green and I started driving towards the freeway. I clenched my jaw in awkward silence, my thoughts twisting together as to why I should and should not being doing this until I smashed the radio power button, chasing out the silence and my thoughts with today's top 40 hits. Chasing away the white noise before my heart and my gut forced my hands to turn the car back around and drive to her apartment.
    I couldn't get involved.
    I repeated that phrase over and over in my head the entire drive back to my house.
    I couldn't get any more involved.
    But I knew I would, it was only a matter of time before I did. A matter of time before I searched out why her face would show up every time I closed my eyes in the last forty-eight hours.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 3

    "Let your mother do her thing. You know she won't stop." Bill spoke softly as he sat kitty corner from me at the small dinner table in the kitchen. I moved in the chair, trying to smile and not wince as I pressed on very sore and angry bruises.
    "I know. I just don't want her to worry." I looked over at my mother, plating the giant sandwiches she was making for Bill and I, rambling nervously about what the neighbors were up to and whatever gossip she felt was necessary to pass on.
    "She is going to worry, kid, and looking at you in person, I'm kind of worried too." Bill sighed and leaned forward, picking up his glass of water. "You said you were mugged?"
    I turned to look in the soft, yet concerned hazel eyes of my mother's longtime boyfriend. I could see how gruesome my bruises and cuts were in the way he ran his eyes over them, cringing at spots.
    Bill had been a part of our lives since I was nineteen and had oddly become my step father even though my mother never wanted to remarry. Bill was good to me, better than good, but still tended to tread lightly. It’s as if he knew he wasn't my father and didn't have the right to act like one. I shrugged, patting him on the shoulder, "That's what the police tell me. All I remember is waking up in a strange car, then waking up in the ER with my coworkers hovering over me."
    Bill smiled tightly, "The police have anything?"
    I shook my head as my mother whisked over, setting her massive creations down in front of us. "Not really. There’s a rookie detective on the case. A real stiff woman that has no tact, but I can tell she has nothing to go on." I motioned to the sandwiches, "Let's eat. We can talk more after dinner." I winked at him and turned to my mother to compliment her on the size of the turkey and cheese sandwich in front of me.
    After lunch, and after Bill and my mother embarked on their hour long Sunday afternoon walk with the Scotties, Annie and Barney, I snuck out to the back patio with my laptop. Sitting on the cushy chaise to stare out at the massive backyard. The view was my favorite part of my mother's house, sitting on an acre of land that rolled up into the high mountains of Sperryville, Virginia. It was still cool, but there were hints of spring starting to settle in as the treetops were filling in with green leaves. Making me want to take deep breaths of the cool, clean mountain air and continue to chase out the stink of the