Thread of Hope (The Joe Tyler Series, #1) by Jeff Shelby Read Free Book Online Page B

“But yet you let me walk away last night, then have me escorted here today.  To you.  Why?  Why not just send me on my way last night?”
     
    He shoved his hands in his pockets and chuckled.  “Gina made a recommendation.  I followed it.  It allowed me to check up on you, understand why you were here. My courtesy has now expired.”  His smile dimmed.  “I’m done with you.”
     
    “You can kick me out of your office and off your property,” I said, heading for the door.  “But you can’t kick me out of San Diego.  I’ll stay here until I figure out what happened to your daughter.  Until I make sure everyone knows that my friend did nothing to her.”
     
    I’d reached the door when he said “A hearse.”
     
    I turned around.  “Excuse me?”
     
    His eyes were so hard they seemed metallic.  “You go near my daughter, they won’t take you away in an ambulance.  It’ll be in a hearse.”
     

THIRTEEN
     
     
     
     
     
    I left Jordan’s office pissed off, but at least I knew where I stood.  He could make all the threats he wanted–and I’d be wary of them–but I wouldn’t walk away from helping the one person who had never walked away from me.  It was time to pay Chuck back for that kind of friendship.
     
    I drove back to Coronado.  The high school was just letting out.  The expensive cars whizzed past me as I made my way toward the gym.  I wanted to shout a protest but I knew it would fall on deaf ears.  Teenagers live with a feeling of invincibility right up until that feeling is unexpectedly punctured.
     
    The gym was on the west side of the campus and I found a parking spot a block away.  As I got closer to the building, I heard the squeaks of sneakers and sharp voices yelling instruction.  It took me back twenty-five years to when Chuck and I were the ones in the gym, practicing with ten other guys, getting yelled at and working our asses off.  It was when we had cemented our friendship and as I pushed through the heavy closed doors at the front of the building, a strange sense of déjà vu overwhelmed me.
     
    And I was nearly run over by a girl in a hurry.
     
    She bounced off me and hit the ground, her large athletic bag landing on top of her.
     
    “Jeez, I’m sorry,” I said, bending down toward her.  “Are you alright?”
     
    She pushed the bag off of her and sat up. 
     
    The bruises were fading and the cut above her nose was still sewn shut with several ragged stitches.  Her hair was pulled back away from her face, hidden beneath a Coronado do-rag. 
     
    “I’m fine.”  Meredith Jordan ignored my hand and stood.  “Sorry.”
     
    I stared at her for a minute, contemplating.
     
    “Meredith, my name’s Joe,” I finally said.  “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
     
    She stepped away from me, her eyes immediately wary.  “How do you know my name?”
     
    I couldn’t think of anything other than the truth.  “Chuck Winslow is a friend of mine.”
     
    The fear left her face.  Now she just looked guarded.  “I have to go.”
     
    She tried to go around me, but I stepped into her path.  “Wait.  Come on.  He was arrested and now he’s in the hospital.  He didn’t really do this to you, did he?”
     
    She looked at me, surprised.  “Hospital?”
     
    “He’s hurt pretty bad,” I said.  “He can’t talk right now.  But when he can, he’s gonna tell me he didn’t do anything to you.”
     
    She hesitated again, pulling tightly on the bag on her shoulder.  Three other girls walked out from the hall behind us, chattering.  They quieted down as they approached, tried to discreetly keep an eye on us as they exited, then hurried along the outside walk.
     
    “Look,” I said.  “Something happened to you.  No doubt.  And I can help you if you want.  But I don’t think Chuck had anything to do with it.  And it’s not right that you’re telling everyone that he did.”
     
    She looked down at the floor and whispered