Page 97 of Aftermath
“I can’t stop until I figure out what I’m missing,” I groaned.
“What about for a break to grab coffee?” she asked, batting her long eyelashes at me.
How could I deny that? “I suppose just an hour to clear my head could help.”
She grinned and hurried off to find her purse. I shut my laptop and met her by the front door, ready to walk down into town.
By the time we made it to the café, Len had already tried to get more details of the investigation at least five times. It physically pained me to keep it from her.
“Two iced vanilla lattes,” she told the barista when we made it to the counter.
“How’d you know that’s what I want?”
“Lucky guess,” she said with a wink. “I will say, I wouldn’t have guessed you were an iced coffee person before I knew you, though.”
“Lattes are gentler on my stomach, and they have less caffeine, so I can have more than one in a day,” I explained.
“I should have known there’d be a practical reason,” she laughed.
We grabbed the cups as they appeared at the end of the counter. Our walk back was mild, the weather not as scorching hot as when I first arrived in Briarport.
“I don’t know if I could deal with such drastic changes of seasons living up here. This summer has been brutally hot, and yet you all deal with obscene amounts of snow come winter.”
“I don’t think I’ll stay here forever,” she answered. “I like the snow, but the winters are long. I think I want to experience a change in scenery eventually.”
My ice rattled in my cup as I swirled the latte around, trying to mix in the vanilla syrup that collected at the bottom.
“Virginia is perfectly mild. We still experience summer and winter, but it’s a perfect balance between the two.”
“Maybe that will be my first stop when I finally get out of here,” she teased.
My heart jumped. I didn’t mean to let my hopes rise, but the promise of seeing Len again, even when this was over, was far too great to ignore. If I could hold on to that possibility, it would make the painful reality feel dulled.
“Then I’ll have to show you around,” I answered, trying to keep the desire from my voice.
For a moment, there was a pause in which she stared back at me, her eyes full of longing. Before Len could answer, her phone began to ring inside her purse. She grumbled at the noise and ignored it.
“You should really check that,” I said. “What if it’s your parents or Calvin with news on their visit?”
“Fine,” she sighed.
Her eyes widened the second they saw the screen, and I caught a glance over her shoulder at the number scrolling across it. I’d memorized it the last time they called. My hands scrambled for my phone and dialed Mags.
“Mags, I need you to trace a call on Len’s phone,” I said when she answered after barely a single ring.
Len answered her phone, and I knew Mags would already be well into trying to trace the caller. She’d need only a minute to find the exact location.
“Hello?” Len said, her voice hesitant.
“Keep them talking,” I tried to mouth as softly as I could.
“Did you like your gift?” a robotic voice came through the speaker, muffled.
Len looked to me for guidance. The killer was seeking her praise, almost like they relied on it. She was the key to this all; we just didn’t know how yet.
I nodded slowly.
“Yes,” she said, and I could tell the word physically pained her. “It was thoughtful for you to think of me on my birthday.”
