Page 2 of Gentle Fox

"Are you sure? What about other people? Have you seen anyone else go into her apartment recently?"

A nice place like this, someone would've noticed a door open for longer than a few hours. There was no way what was done to Annalee's apartment happened before today.

"No, I didn't." Her eyes gave her away.

"Mrs. . . .?"

"Mrs. Robbins. Betsy Robbins."

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Robbins. Did you happen to hear anything this morning? Anything loud or possibly banging?"

Betsy quickly shook her head. "The apartments are soundproof. That's why I chose this place despite the high rent. I liked that I wouldn't have to listen to my neighbors and I couldkeep my TV up loud at night when I take out my hearing aids without worrying that I'm bothering someone."

That was the first honest thing she told me since we started talking.

"It's nice you don't have to hear what your neighbors are up to." But it sucked for me. If no one heard what was happening, there was no way for me to narrow down a time frame. "Are you sure you haven't seen Annalee recently?"

"Nope, not at all." Mrs. Robbins was back to lying and it made me wonder if she was protecting her neighbor.

I pulled one of my new cards out of my wallet and handed it through the slit in the door. Mrs. Robbins was smart enough not to open the door all the way.

"If you do see her, can you please have her call me? She was supposed to interview for a receptionist position with my company, but she never showed. I just want to make sure she's okay."

Betsy squinted her eyes to get a better look at the card.

"You're from Willow Creek Security?"

That got my attention. "You know about my place of employment?" Maverick only recently started the company. We hadn't even been up and running for more than a few weeks, so there was no way this old woman in Louisiana could've heard of us already.

Unless Annalee told her about the job and possibly moving.

"Stay right there." Mrs. Robbins slammed the door and I was left standing in the hallway utterly confused as to what just happened.

CHAPTER TWO

Annalee

I stood frozen behind the door and listened as my neighbor spoke to the man who interviewed me over the phone for the job that was supposed to change my life for the better.

To be a fresh start.

"You need to go out there and speak to him," Betsy hissed. She was eighty-five years old but didn't look a day over sixty. She reminded me of Betty White and would likely live as long as the actress.

"No, I don't," I whispered back even though it was pointless. He couldn't hear us now that the door was closed.

When I had first looked for apartments, I thought it was great to find a newer building that offered privacy in the form of soundproof walls.

Boy was I wrong. It would've been nice if one of my neighbors could've heard my apartment being trashed. Then maybe the cops could've shown up and caught Dennis in the act without me being stuck in the middle of the situation.

"And why the hell not?"

"Hello?" I threw my arms out to the side. "Have you not seen what happened this week? Why the hell would I bring those types of problems to someone else's door? You and I both know he wouldn't care who I was working for, Dennis would find a way to make my life miserable."

"This is supposed to be a fresh start for you. You said so yourself," Betsy reminded me.

It was, and damn, I had been looking forward to it. I looked up the pictures of Willow Creek on their website and fell in love instantly with the small town. I could just see myself eating lunch at the Crazy Fox and picking out books at The Book Boudoir. Too bad one afternoon changed all that.

"That was before Dad's attorney read his will. Now it's nothing but a pipe dream."

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