Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
“Oh my God,” she said.
“I expect the judge to overturn the case and dismiss it,” Gwen said. “The evidence against your brother is weak. Plus, Detective Brown gave IA the name of the person who paid him to delete that message.”
“Freddy?” Devi guessed.
“Freddy. Unfortunately, the cops can’t find him. They’re all in an uproar over this, don’t think the Chief will keep his job. He’s condescending and a know-it-all anyway.” Gwen grinned, then did a victory dance. “We did it!”
Devi jumped up and hugged her tight with her good arm. “No, you did it, Gwen. You’re amazing. Does Rohan know?”
“I’m going to tell him now. Unfortunately, it’s not visiting hours so I can’t bring you with me.”
“Do you think he’ll be out in time for the exhibition?” she asked. It was still four days away. How long would it take for this to all get taken care of?
“I’ll try my hardest.”
50
“Can you believe this?” she asked Hayes a few days later.
They were standing in the parking lot outside the jail where her brother had spent months of his life, waiting for him to be released.
She squeezed his hand and did a dance, nearly tripping over a rock. Who put that stupid rock there, anyway?
“Easy, baby. Be careful. You don’t want to hurt yourself before he’s free.”
“I just can’t believe he’s finally free. And that this is all due to me writing threatening notes to Stein.”
“How do you figure that, little girl?”
“Um, because if I hadn’t written those notes, Stein wouldn’t have hired bodyguards, then I wouldn’t have met you, I wouldn’t have met Gwen and she wouldn’t have freed my brother.”
He shook his head. “The logic is crazy and yet it makes sense.”
She grinned at him and then she saw him walking toward them.
“Rohan!” she yelled, waving her hand at him. She tried to let go of Hayes’ hand to run to him, but he kept her back.
“No running.”
“Daddy!” she grumbled.
But when Rohan was closer, he let her go and she moved to her brother who picked her up gently and spun her before hugging her tight.
She could feel his heart racing against her ear. Could feel the way his arms shook.
“I thought this would never happen,” she sobbed. “I thought you were going to be stuck in there for years.”
“Shh, Dee-dee. I’m here. I’m safe. I’m here.”
She couldn’t stop crying, though.
“Here, you can hand her to me,” Hayes said.
“I have her. You’re Hayes, I’m guessing.”
Shoot. She should really stop crying and introduce them properly.
“R-Rohan, H-Hayes. H-Hayes, R-Rohan.”
“We have it, baby,” Hayes said. “Don’t worry.”
“I feel like I should interrogate you and tell you not to hurt my little sister. But the truth is that Gwen has been singing your praises and it sounds like you’re the best thing that could have happened to her. And I trust Gwen. That woman saved my life.”
“She’s a-amazing!” Devi wailed.
Rohan grinned down at her. “You gonna stop crying anytime soon?”
“I d-don’t think s-so.”
He laughed. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. But, I want a beer, a shower, and a decent meal. Not necessarily in that order.”
She wiped her hands over her eyes. “All right. We rented hotel rooms in Denver. So we’ll head there if that’s okay.”
“Denver? Hmm. I was thinking I’d stay here.”
“Where?” she asked in alarm. She stepped back, looking up at him. “What are you thinking of doing?”
Rohan’s face darkened. “Nothing for you to worry about, little sister.”
“Oh no! Don’t you do that to me. I know what you’re thinking. You’re planning to go after Freddy, aren’t you?”
It was growing dark by now and she shivered as a cold wind went through her. Hayes drew her into his body. Rohan studied them for a moment before he gave a satisfied nod.
“Glad you found a good man, Dee-Dee.”
“Nope. Don’t change the subject. What are you planning on doing?”
“Well, I’m not going to talk about it here. We need to go somewhere private.”
“All right, we’ll go to Denver,” she said.
“I was thinking of somewhere else.”
Devi wrinkled her nose as she stood and stared at the trailer.
“You’re not planning on staying here, are you?”
“No, I would be happy to never see this place again. I don’t know what was in the old man’s will. But you should sell this dump. Ferris might want to buy it.”
Ferris was the trailer park manager. They paid rent for the land to put their trailer on. Although she hadn’t paid that since she’d left so it would run out soon.
“There’s something in here that I want. Come on.”
What the heck could he want from in here?
“Uh, Rohan, it wasn’t left in a good condition,” she said. To her shock, though, when they walked in everything was tidy. There was no mess. It smelled a bit, but that was more from damp and mould.
“Oh.”
“Kent had someone come in and clean the place,” Hayes explained. “They threw out anything that was destroyed and left everything else.”