Page 73 of Bad Seed

“Wolfgang Outen.”

Her eyes widened. “You’re kidding me.”

“No. He heard the hotel might be for sale. It was a fishing expedition for sure, but he did ask for first refusal before I put it on the market.”

She grinned. “What a boon that would be for all concerned.”

“Agreed,” Ray said. “I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.”

***

Ollie Prine arrived in Jubilee, Kentucky, after midnight, rented a little cabin at Bullard’s Campgrounds, and slept until midmorning. But before he pulled a trigger anywhere, he had some recon to do. He had a location, but no room number. He didn’t know her routine. He had to see her face to know for sure she was still on the premises, and when he did, there would be no hesitation. The silencer on his gun would muffle the act, and the bullet would do the rest.

***

After Rusty sent Harley’s file to Special Agent Howard, she began digging into Tipton Crossley’s background on her own. The one thing Rusty could do from her end was look into the forged papers. Harley had included photocopies of a couple of samples of paperwork withWilhem Crossley’s legal signature and some copies of the forged signatures. What she now needed was an example of Tipton Crossley’s signature, and the quickest and easiest place to look for it was at the DMV.

She was in the act of pulling up the Pennsylvania DMV website when she heard a crash, then a shriek, and then the sounds of running feet and the click of Ghost’s nails on the hardwood floors.

“I got it! Nobody’s bleeding. We’re good!” Cameron yelled.

“Thank you!” she shouted back, but it didn’t stop the tattling. Mikey reached her first, but Ella was right behind him, her little toddler legs running almost as fast as her brother’s.

“I had a accident,” Mikey said. “Scared Sissy, but I didn’t hurt her, okay, Mama?”

Rusty swiveled around in her chair and picked both of them up in her lap. “Accidents happen, buddy, and I know you would never hurt your baby sister. But what broke?”

“It might have been that old bowl on the kitchen table. The one with the apples in it.”

She hid a smile. “Might have been, or for sure was?”

“For sure,” Mikey said, and laid his head on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Mama.”

Rusty hugged him. “It’s okay. I’m not mad. Accidents happen.” Then she addressed the tears still on Ella’s cheeks and started wiping them away. “Look at me, Ella. We need to wipe those tears off your cheeks because wedon’t need them anymore, do we?”

“Don’t need ’em,” Ella said.

Rusty hugged her, too. “Right. Mikey is sorry you were scared. Wanna give him a hug so he isn’t sad anymore?”

Ella leaned across Rusty’s lap and hugged her brother, who instantly reciprocated with a hug and a kiss.

“Sorry, Sissy,” Mikey said.

“Sorry I cry,” Ella said.

Rusty hugged and kissed them both. “Okay now, Daddy probably has it all cleaned up by now. You both go tell Ghost you’re sorry, too. He worries when you two are upset.”

They slid off her lap and ran out as fast as they’d come in.

She sighed, then refocused on the website, found a photocopy of Tipton Crossley’s driver’s license, then copied and pasted it to a file, added a scan of one of the forged papers, and sent them to her contact, along with instructions as to what she needed to know.

She hadn’t heard back from Jay Howard. For the time being, there was nothing more she could do.

***

Josie Fallin’s fan club event was in full swing. She started off by giving the attendees time to come in, get their gift bags, find the seating chart with their names on it, andvisit with each other before she made her appearance. But the moment she entered and stepped up to the microphone, the room erupted into rounds of applause.

Josie smiled and waved. “Hi, y’all. I’m so happy to get this chance to meet you. We’re gonna have so much fun today. Karaoke for the brave, all kinds of goodies in your gift bags, and just so you know, this whole event is being videoed, and each of you will all be receiving a link of the entire event to save to your devices at a later date. Now, before we get started, I’m going to address the question I’ve been getting on social media. Yes, my brother, Alex, is healing better than expected, considering how close he came to dying in that wreck. I had planned for him to be here today, but he’s not up to a party yet, so I’ll give him your love, okay?”

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