If She Heard (Kate Wise Mystery #7) - Blake Pierce Page 0,51
But she was depressed and, as much as she hated to admit it, just wanted to get drunk by herself. In her mind, it was the best sort of therapy. She’d get drunk alone at her parents’ house, watching TV and texting college friends. Her folks were away to visit some extended family for an early Thanksgiving get-together. Darla had come home early, thinking she could hang with her friends at her parents’ place, but her asshole friends had opted for a club over an hour and a half away instead. So stupid.
It made her think drinking alone would be preferable. It sounded much better than what her other friends were doing, hitting up clubs in Charlotte and, in the case of one of those so-called friends, probably getting some sort of STD in the men’s bathroom. Or (and she felt very bad to even think such a thing) maybe they’d get pulled over and whoever was driving would have to take a breathalyzer and fail it. Happy Thanksgiving, bitches.
She fished twenty-five bucks out of her purse and handed it through the window. As she did, though, the lights to the Quick Stop shut off. She looked to the digital clock on her console and cursed. Somehow, it had already come to be ten o’clock.
“Are they seriously closed?”
He looked just as surprised as she was, but it was a look that was quickly replaced by a terrible shit-eating grin. “Yeah, that sucks.”
“Well, I guess we’re done here,” Darla said.
“How bad do you want it?” the guy asked, clearly amused by the double entendre.
“Oh, you’re priceless.” She was about to leave right then and there but her desperation was just that strong. Was she really that weak and hopeless?
Yes. Apparently, she was. “You got other ideas?”
“Yeah. The Kroger in Glensville is open twenty-four hours and sells booze until midnight.”
“You expect me to follow you to Glensville?”
“You don’t have to. I’ll go get it. There are some kids there I usually help out, too. The price will go up, though. Gas and all.”
“Of course it will.”
“You know, we don’t have to exchange money for it at all. There are other ways you could pay.”
He gave her a smoldering look that she assumed was supposed to make her melt. It did not. What it did was make her want to punch him. “No, I’m good. Cash is fine.”
“Forty bucks.”
“That’s extortion.”
“You could just sleep with me. Or just oral would be good.”
“Forty it is. Do I just meet you here?”
“Not after hours,” he said. “That’s way too easy for the cops. You tell me where to meet you and I’ll bring it to you.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You said you heard about me, right? I’ve been doing this a while, you know? I don’t get that sort of reputation for ripping people off. And look, sweetness….you’re cute as hell, but I’m not going to keep pushing. No means no. I get it. So give me twenty now and twenty upon delivery. Just tell me where to bring it.”
Darla thought about it for a moment, but she knew right away what she was going to end up doing. She handed him over a twenty-dollar bill. He reached through his own window and took it. He seemed to make an extra effort to make sure their hands touched during the exchange.
“Now where should I bring it?”
Darla told him and then rolled her window up right away. He gave her a glowering little smile as he tucked her money into his pocket, and then they parted ways.
As Darla drove out of the parking lot to cruise around her old hometown for a while, she shuddered at the eerie little chill that crept up her spine.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
When Kate arrived at the station, the disappointed look on Officer Smith’s face told her all she needed to know. Apparently, his search for the names of high school dropouts from over the last ten years hadn’t panned out. However, when he met her at the front of the lobby, he had a single sheet of paper in his hand. When he handed it over to her, he looked like a sad child, wishing he could have done more to impress his parents.
“What’s this?” Kate asked.
“Well, it was harder than I thought to find any a way to come up with the names of people that had dropped out. So I don’t have an official list. What I was able to do, though, was provide two names I knew for sure had