Bailed Out (The Anna Albertini Files #2) - Rebecca Zanetti Page 0,45
“I’m not sure. I fantasized about him for so long growing up, and now he’s here in person.”
“Hmmm. Well, pretend you didn’t know him before now. What would you think?”
“I’d think he’s sex on a stick with a side of overprotective badassness,” I said instantly.
Her chuckle eased something inside me. “You’re over-thinking this. Honestly. Are you picking out china?”
Well, we had been joking about that earlier, but not really. “No.”
“Then just enjoy the ride and see where it takes you,” she said softly. “He seems like a good guy, so long as he didn’t murder Danny. I don’t think he did, you don’t think he did, and you might as well either get him out of your system or see what you two could have.”
I relaxed and kicked my feet up on my messy desk. “You give the best advice.” My sister really was good with people and insights. She got that from our mom. “You’d make a great shrink.”
“Ha,” Tessa said. “That’d require years of school, and unlike you, I didn’t love school. At all.”
True on both counts. “Have they released your apartment yet?”
“No,” she said. “But I’m not ready to go back yet, anyway. I’m having fun at Donna’s with her wonderfully peaceful pool. You should come by for dinner tonight before my shift.”
Heat filtered into my face for no good reason. “Aiden is grilling dinner at my place.”
“Oh,” she teased, making the word sound like it had several syllables. “Aiden is grilling.”
“Shut up,” I said, my face heating more.
“You shut up,” she naturally returned. “Do we need to have the sex talk again?”
Considering the last time my sisters had given me the sex talk, they’d convinced me that somehow too much sex would make my nose disappear and I’d have a hole in my face. I didn’t think so. I was eleven at the time. “You guys were kinda mean, you know.”
“Look who’s talking. You might be the youngest, but you always came up with the best pranks,” she said.
I chewed my minty lips. “Keep that in mind, Contessa.”
She laughed. “Have fun tonight, and call me tomorrow. Bye.” She clicked off.
I felt better about everything after talking to her, so I turned back to work and managed to draft several pleadings and begin a response brief to a motion to suppress. My office phone rang toward late afternoon, and I absently picked it up. “Anna Albertini.”
“Um, hi, Anna?”
I paused as I recognized her voice. “Kelsey?”
“Um, yeah.” She cleared her throat but her words still slurred. “So, I, um wasn’t sure who to call. It’s, um, it’s my fault.”
I leaned forward, my heart thundering. “Kelsey? Are you okay?”
Something fell in the background. “Um, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have told them. You don’t understand.” Her voice trailed off.
I fumbled for my cell phone in my purse. “Kelsey? How much have you had to drink?”
She hiccupped. “I had Vodka. It’s Danny’s favorite. I was just mad at him about your sister, and I, um, shouldn’t have talked about everything. I was so stupid. I can’t live with this.” She hiccupped again.
“How much vodka?” I paused with pressing 9-1-1.
“Just a little.” She sighed loudly, and her voice trailed off. Something clattered. “Shit. My pills.”
Oh no. “Don’t take pills. Stop, Kelsey.” What was she doing? I punched in the numbers. “Are you at your house?”
“Yeah.” A loud clattering came across the line. Then dead air. Nothing.
The 9-1-1 operator came on and I gave Kelsey’s address while grabbing my purse and running out the door and into the late afternoon to my car around the building. I sped through town to the older part and arrived behind two patrol cars and an ambulance with their lights flashing red and blue.
Neighbors had already come out on their porches to see what was going on.
I parked behind a cop car and ran down the sidewalk and up the steps to Kelsey’s open door. “Kelsey?” I yelled
“Hey.” A strong hand clamped onto my arm and jerked me to a halt. “Hold it.”
I stumbled and looked up into dark eyes set in a square face. “Bud.” The uniformed cop was built like a linebacker and looked tough with his buzz cut and big muscles. “Um, hi.” Last time we’d worked together, I’d gotten him choked out and then shot.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, pivoting to put his body between me and the kitchen.
“I’m the one who called it in,” I said, craning my neck to see past him. “Is Kelsey okay?”