Page 119 of Date With Danger

“Find me that man,” I shout.

“Already on it.” She hangs up, as I swerve into the parking lot of the salon.

The lights are off down the whole street. Dang it, Amelia. Why did she come here?

And who met her? The rapid beating of my heart tells me it wasn’t a simple meeting with Leah.

I jump out into the rain and peer through the salon window, but there’s no one inside. The door is unlocked though. Someone was here.

I turn on my flashlight, holding it up with my gun. There’s a hairdryer on the ground and a toppled cart. I tiptoe further into the salon when something catches the corner of my eye. A plant is laying on the ground, surrounded by pieces of ceramic glass and blood.

I swallow down the lump in my throat.

Why did I ever leave Amelia’s side?

A picture comes through on my phone. The security guard, Sawyer. He’s younger in this photo, but it doesn’t hide his defining features. I’ve seen that face before. The first night I saw the box in Amelia’s possession, and again the night of Justin’s murder.

It’s Gary.

Chapter 49

Amelia

“Get out,” Gary says, gun aimed at my stomach. For the last twenty minutes, I’ve tried to remember every mystery show I’ve ever watched, every victim who was held at gunpoint while driving. How did Shawn Spencer talk his way out of messy situations over and over again with the ease of an arrogant idiot? Being held hostage is not all it’s cracked up to be.

I push the car door open. I’m tempted to run. But the fear of a bullet hitting my back keeps me in line. A shiver runs through my body at the thought.

Gary made me park under an awning next to the back entrance and away from the main office. No one is around to help. I can’t go into our apartment building with him, I’ll be as good as dead.

As if he can sense my need to run, he jabs his gun into my lower back. “Don’t even think about it or your little friend dies.”

Little friend? And why is he speaking with a Scottish accent? “What are you talking about?”

“I knew someone saw me kill Justin, but I wasn’t sure who until I accessed your messages on your laptop. Thanks for finding me the girl.”

“Okay, first of all, you know how to use technology?” Is everything I’ve previously believed a lie?

“I’m sixty-five, not dead. And yes, I have Leah, so you better walk.”

It was him all along. He forced Leah to call me.

Liam locked the salon door. The thought hits me like a slap in the face. I heard him lock it, but I never heard Gary come in. I didn’t hear the ding above the door announcing another arrival. Because he was already inside. He was the one who set the trap.

Gary sticks the gun in my handbag and holds it in front of him, so the gun is aimed at my back the whole way up the walk.

I do as I’m told. I won’t let another person die.

Besides that, I want answers. I deserve answers.

“You don’t have dementia,” I say. Along with finding Justin dead in my tub, that’s one thing that will haunt me forever. I took Gary in and cared for him. But it was all an act.

“Turns out dementia is easy to fake.”

“Is your name even Gary?”

“No, now shut up.” He moves closer as a person comes into view. I don’t know them, and they don’t care to know me because they don’t look up from their phone.

Gary cackles. “Gotta love technology.” We stop at his door and he orders me to open it. When it takes too long, he shoves the gun into my spine.

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