Page 80 of Very Special Forces

"How canwe?"

"I tookyour Prada purse and I damaged it. What? Now seemed the perfecttime to tell you!" squeaked Lily as my face fell.

"Theblack one?" I asked.

Lilynodded sadly.

"That'syours," I told her. "Your mom bought it as a birthdaypresent."

Lily'sjaw dropped. "Oooh. Well, lucky for you," she said, visibly happyagain. "Dessert?"

"Absolutely!"

"Do youwant to come over later?"

"Not ifit involves alcohol. I'm on cocktail hiatus until the wedding." Idecided that when I'd awoken on the couch, I was almost one hundredpercent certain I could stick to it... unless faced withtemptation. If faced with temptation, I would bescrewed.

"Soundsawful, but no, I thought we could make dinner and eat outside. Wecould use the grill."

"I willhave to take a raincheck. Solomon wants me working an oplater."

"Anything interesting?"

"Justsurveillance," I said, since Solomon had given me strictinstructions not to tell anyone, not even Lily. Often, that meant Itold Lily as soon as I could but in this instance, it was probablya good idea to leave her out of it.

"Are youwatching that ass, Bryce?" she asked.

"No,someone else. As soon as I finish with that, I'll need to interviewthis Jessica. I've been looking for her and I want to hear herperspective. If what she has to say matches my hunches, it'll beeven more compelling evidence to present to my client so she canhelp her friend."

"Do youfeel bad that you might bust up a relationship?"

"I'vethought a lot about that and if it's a bad relationship, and he'slying to her, then no, I don't feel bad at all. Plus, look what hetried to do to me! He’s a creep!"

"Wouldyou believe someone if they came to you and told you Solomon was abad guy?"

That wasa much harder question to answer. I had been told, several times,to be careful around Solomon, that I didn't know him nearly wellenough and few people did. Yet all that had changed in recent weekswhen Solomon got shot and I had to investigate his past life. Ifound out things he'd hidden and he turned out to be an even betterman than I thought he was. A man of morals and I admired that. "Theevidence would not only have to be compelling but also contains theelement that I already knew he had a bad side before I was told hedid," I said.

"I hopeyour evidence stacks up when you tell your client," saidLily.

"That'swhy I'm being careful and not rushing into it," I said as my cellphone rang. I reached for it. "It's my client," I said, then hit“answer.” "Hi, Jas."

"Lexi,hi, can you come over?" asked Jas. She paused and I heard distantshouts. "They're fighting. I mean, Julia and Bryce are fighting andit sounds awful. I can't make out what they're saying but Juliaisn't answering her phone or the door. I'm reallyworried."

"Haveyou called 911?"

"No. Doyou think I should?"

"Yes," Idecided. "Call the police now. I'm on my way over." I hung up. "I'msorry. I have to run," I said.

"Itsounds bad."

Inodded. "Could be. My client is worried and I'm going to run overthere and check up on her."

"Do youwant me to come too? I can be your backup."

"Notwith the baby," I decided, "but I appreciate youroffer."

I leftmoney for the check and hurried to my car, driving as fast as Icould and with as few traffic violations as possible to Jas'sapartment. I pulled up at the curb and she buzzed me in. When Istepped off the stairs onto their floor, she was already waitingfor me.

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