If She Heard (Kate Wise Mystery #7) - Blake Pierce Page 0,50

see what we can do for you.”

She ended the call, slipped on her shoes, and headed out. She walked down the little breezeway to the room next door. She knew DeMarco wouldn’t be asleep yet so had no qualms about knocking on the door. Ten seconds after knocking, there was still no answer so she knocked again, a little more insistent this time. Again, there was no answer. She looked into the window and though the curtains were drawn, she could tell that the lights were out.

Strange, Kate thought. She then walked to the parking lot and saw that their car was still parked there. Confused, Kate pulled out her cell phone and called DeMarco’s number. It rang several times and then went to voicemail.

Kate figured DeMarco could have gone to sleep early and was just refusing to come to the door or answer her phone. None of that seemed like DeMarco, though.

Maybe she went back to the station, too, Kate thought. If she did, maybe she was courteous in leaving me the car and taking a cab.

It seemed like a flimsy explanation, but it was the only thing that made sense. With a final look back to the window to DeMarco’s room, Kate got into the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Darla Dowdy blew a plume of smoke out of her car window as she watched the little pickup truck roll in beside her car. She was parked on the side aisle of the Quick Stop parking lot, where she had once come to smoke with friends in high school. The cold November air coming in through the window actually felt good. It was the one pleasant thing she had endured tonight. If she was being honest, it was the one pleasant thing she’d experienced since coming home four days ago for her fall break.

She’d been a year behind everyone in high school—not grade wise, but age wise. She’d always been a year younger than everyone, having a December birthday So when she graduated at seventeen, most of her friends had been eighteen. And now, three years later, she was the sole twenty-year-old remaining in her original circle of friends. It was a circle that had gotten smaller after she had left for college and even smaller now that everyone else was of drinking age.

She watched as the driver of the truck rolled down his window. He was a scuzzy-looking guy as far as Darla was concerned but probably a “catch” in the eyes of the local idiot women here in town.

Darla rolled her window down a bit more to speak with him. She was pretty sure she recognized his face—which wasn’t really saying much in a town as small as Harper Hills.

“Hey there, sweetness,” he said.

She rolled her eyes. “Nope. Don’t even try it. I do have to say, though…you’re like clockwork.”

“How’s that?”

“You’re that guy, you know?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Oh, I think you do.” As she spoke to him, Darla was really concerned about this current plan of hers. But all of her friends had essentially cut her out. They were all in Charlotte, hitting up some clubs. They could do that because they were twenty-one and that apparently made them much more sophisticated than her. It angered her more than she cared to admit. It made her want to drink, too. She’d even tried getting a few drinks at the bowling alley earlier, and they’d carder her and turned her away. She almost hoped that bit of information made it back to her mother. She’d have an absolute fit.

“Tell me, then,” the guy said.

“You’re the guy that buys cigarettes and beer for kids under twenty-one. You know, they say you come by here three times a night most weekends, and every night around closing. Just to see if anyone needs your services.”

“I do what I can,” he said with a shrug. “What can I do for you, sweetness?”

“You can stop calling me sweetness, first of all. And after that, just a six-pack.” She paused here and sighed. “Fuck it. A twelve-pack.”

“Any certain kind?”

“Nothing with the word Lite in it.”

“Twenty-five bucks,” he said.

She knew it was more than a twelve-pack cost, but she also knew he charged for taking the risk. She’d been hearing about this guy for about two years now, and wondered how much he made off of kids. She also wondered how young he was willing to go. She thought of this cretin buying beer for thirteen-year-olds and almost changed her mind.