Pure Temptation by Eve Carter Read Free Book Online Page B

two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
     
    Fuck, fuck, fuck! I’m dead meat.
     
    Someone must have thought she took the money and killed her. Who knows, maybe they even tortured the poor, skinny, blond in the purple dress to make her tell them where she hid it. But she didn’t have it, I did and if that was the case…tag, I was it.
     
    My stomach twisted and turned with a wave of nausea. The air in the room was heavy and my lungs struggled to pull in enough air. Oh my God, am I having a panic attack? Maybe it’s a heart attack…arrrgh.
     
    I’ll just give the money to the police. Yes that’s what I should do. But would that actually save me? Oh no, the police would question me and ask why I didn’t turn over the money last night, and surely the people who were looking for it would still come after me. Maybe they already were.
     
    A cold chill ran down my spine as the thought entered my mind that someone may have already been staking out my apartment.
     
    I picked up my phone again and called Jerry.
     
    It only rang once before I heard his angry voice say, “About fucking time, Dani…you could return my call. What the hell happened here last night?”
     
    “Didn’t Kathy fill you in? A guy died in Room 1215.”
     
    “Yeah, but she didn’t mention anything about this guy being connected. I just had two low life scum yelling and screaming at me about last night. They were fucking packing heat, and they weren’t cops if you know what I mean.”
     
    “Really? What did they want?” I hissed into the phone and cupped my hand around the bottom of it so no one could hear, then moved as far away from the bedroom door as possible.
     
    “What do you think? They wanted to know who worked the shift last night. They wanted to know who called it in.”
     
    “Fuck, Jerry. What did you tell them?”
     
    “What could I do? I had to tell them it was you. They threatened to shoot me on the spot. Sorry, Dani.”
     
    This wasn’t real, this wasn’t happening. I crawled into the corner of my bedroom and sat on the floor with my back against the wall. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I couldn’t comprehend it all. This was it. My life was about to be over.
     
    I took another deep breath and spoke more calmly this time. “When did all this happen?”
     
    “I don’t know. About an hour ago. I tried calling you, but you never pick up your god damn phone.” He paused and there was a moment of silence on the other end. Then he said, “Hey, listen. I wouldn’t go home if I were you.”
     
    “I am fucking home, you dipshit.”
     
    “Well, whatever, Dani, just be careful…”
     
    I ended the call and rubbed the palms of my hands on my face, pushing them up into my hair. My mind was racing as I glanced over at my backpack. Why did I take that stupid money? What the hell had I gotten myself into?
     
    The ringing of the doorbell shattered my already shaky nerves and I about jumped out of my skin. My whole body shook from the adrenaline rush as I tip toed out into the hallway. Squinting with one eye shut, I peered through the little hole in the door. Thank God. It was the cop. He was wearing a uniform. I opened the door a crack, still with the chain attached.
     
    “Miss Carrington?” he said.
     
    I nodded.
     
    “I’m Deputy Larkin. I’m here to pick you up to see Detective Anderson.”
     
    “Can I see your badge?” I asked.
     
    “The cop glared annoyed but held out the badge. It looked authentic.
     
    I unchained the door to let him in, but left it standing open…just in case…
     
    “Hold on a sec. I’ll be right back,” I said as I hurried into my bedroom to retrieve my backpack. I had no plans of coming back for a while.
     
    I was relieved, well sort of, now that the cop was here. I was carrying a shit load of stolen money and an even bigger shit load of guilt, but at least with a police escort, there would be no way any gangster-like thugs would approach me for the time