Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 138522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Chapter seventy-three
Abbie
We exit through a side door of Gabe’s building to avoid the press, and do so with the help of Adam, a tall man with wavy hair, who works for Walker Security.
It’s a trouble-free effort and soon Gabe and I settle into the back of an SUV with Adam in the passenger seat and another man behind the wheel. “Kenneth had women,” I say as we start moving. “Any one of them could have put a hit on him and set me up.”
“Do you know who any of these women are?” Gabe asks.
“A few.”
“Make a list. Give it to Reese.”
I reach in my purse and start writing down names for no reason but keeping my mind busy. The list is five names long but there were more. Gabe takes it from me, stares at the names and then looks up at me. “You knew these women?”
“Yes.”
I point to the names. “Secretary one. Secretary two. Client. Client. Fitness trainer.”
“Yours or his?”
“Mine.”
His jaw clenches and he leans over and kisses me. “This is one of those reminders where I promise you I’m not him.”
I realize then that I said too much earlier. “And I’m not her,” I say, saying what I should have then.
“No,” he says. “You’re not.” He pulls me close and every ounce of tension we’d felt before leaving the apartment slides away. He’s not Kenneth. I’m not Kendall. We’re not them. We’re us and us is good.
A few minutes later, the three of us—me, Gabe, and Adam—walk into the lobby of Reese’s office to find Reid waiting on us.
“I thought you had a meeting?” Gabe asks, skipping the hello.
Reid scowls an intense scowl and still manages to look like a Ken doll, all pretty and perfect. “Like I’d read a text like the one you sent me this morning and not show up.”
“I told you to call Cat.”
“I did,” he says, eyeing me. “Which is why I’m here.”
“I wasn’t there,” I say, objecting to the accusation in his look. “I didn’t kill him. I was with Gabe that night.”
“And between the two of you, the police are going to think you’re both guilty and lying.”
“I have security footage to prove we’re not,” Gabe states.
Adam steps into our newly formed circle. “Reese is ready for you.”
Reid ignores him. “The woman was a redhead.” He looks at me. “Your mother—”
“Was at the shelter. I remember that night. There will be witnesses. It wasn’t her.”
Reid’s eyes meet Gabe’s and something passes between them. I don’t like it and I’d say so but Adam clears his throat and Gabe tears his gaze from his brother’s. We walk a long hallway and Cat meets us at the door of a conference room.
“Before you ask,” Gabe says, “Abbie was with me. I have security footage to prove it. We’re certain Abbie’s mother was at the shelter with witnesses to prove it.”
Reese hurries down the hall and joins us. “I don’t have much time, Abbie. This is spiraling and I need time to talk to the police before I head to court. I need you alone for a few minutes. So let’s talk quickly.”
“Alone?”
Gabe glances down at me. “It’s okay. I’ll join you in a moment.” He kisses me and I have the oddest impression that he doesn’t want to be in this meeting with me.
I don’t understand and I want to yank him along with me. I want to object, but there isn’t time. Reese is in a rush. We enter the conference room but I still manage to hear Cat say, “Dad did this, right? He set her up?”
“More like he’s setting us up,” Reid snaps.
“Let’s sit,” Reese says, shutting the door.
I sit down at the long table and the minute Reese claims the seat across from me, I explode. “I heard. They think their father set me up?”
“They think their father kills babies and feeds them to demons,” he replies, “but he may well be involved. If so, if that was his intent, he did a shit job. Blake already pulled security footage from Gabe’s place. You’re covered. As for your mother, Blake also got security footage from the shelter parking lot and then the ranch in the Hamptons. We’ll make this go away.”
“Will it be that easy? It was a redheaded woman who left Kenneth’s apartment the night he died.”
“Probably wearing a wig,” he says. “And we know very little, but forensic reports could dispute the killer as female. It’s going to depend on the details of the crime. I’ll flesh it all out when I meet with the police tomorrow.”
“I thought they wanted to meet me this evening, after your court hearing?”
“Thanks to Blake, I feel comfortable putting them off until after my trial. I want to be focused on just you.”
“And yet you needed to talk to me alone?”
“I’m not going to represent your mother or Gabe.”