Page 84 of Spooked

Brax figured that if he caught her off guard and half-asleep, she wouldn’t have time to think up a story. That way, he’d get the truth.

“Arrest warrant? Huh? Who got arrested?”

“Nobody yet. There’s a warrant out for your arrest.”

Her face was a picture of absolute horror. “I… Why?” Then she gasped. “That man is such a jerk!”

“What man?”

“My ex-landlord. I signed a lease for a year, but there were roaches. There were roacheseverywhere. The bathroom, the closet, under the bed. I poured cereal one morning, and a roach fell into the bowl, and that was the final straw. He threatened to report me—well, Meera—for breaking the lease, but I didn’t think he’d actually do it. Will it go on her record? How can I fix it?”

She spoke the truth. Nobody could fake that level of disgust.

“What were you doing last June? Where were you?”

“Uh, here in LA, mostly. I left Massachusetts on the…uh, on the third.”

“Were you working in June?”

“From the…the ninth, yes. No, the tenth. The interview was on the ninth, and they said I could start right away.”

“Where?”

“Silver’s Gym. It’s in the Warehouse District. Why? Why does that matter?”

“What days did you work?”

“Wednesday through Sunday.”

“Can you prove that?”

“Maybe? I can’t remember exactly what my contract said. There was a shift schedule on the wall in the break room. Possibly my boss would recall? Probably not, though.”

“Why did you leave?”

Indi grimaced. “I was a little too forthright with my views on steroid abuse. I was only trying to help—I mean, what man wants shrunken testicles, erectile dysfunction, and an increased risk of prostate cancer? But anabolic steroids can also cause mood swings and aggressive behaviour, and it turned out they didn’t want my advice.”

“Did they hurt you?”

“Oh, no. My boss just yelled a bit and told me I wasn’t a good fit for the role. But why all these questions?”

“Your father filed a police report saying you stole a watch from his safe.”

“From his safe? How would I do that? I don’t even know the combination—he changes it every month, and it’s not as if he’d trust me with the details.” Indi’s voice got higher in pitch as the news sank in and she began to panic. “And why would I take a watch? I already have a watch.”

“So you could sell it, probably.”

“If I was that desperate for money, I’d have taken the cash he keeps in his desk drawer. There’s a false bottom he thinks I don’t know about. And I didn’t even go back to freaking Springfield before I left Massachusetts. I just sold all the stuff I didn’t need and got on a bus in Boston.” She buried her head in her hands. “Every time I think this can’t get any worse, it does. Is someone coming to arrest me? Should I get a lawyer?”

Brax believed her.

“Not right now. At some point, we’ll have to deal with this, but we have more important things to worry about today.” Brax glanced at his own watch. “We have to leave in thirty minutes.”

“What if I get arrested at the airport? What if—”

“You won’t be.” Alexa had said she’d find a workaround, and although she was a pain in the ass who paid lip service to the law most of the time, Brax trusted her. “I promise you won’t be.”

CHAPTER31

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