A Reagan Keeter Box Set: Three page-turning thrillers that will leave you wondering who you can trus Reagan Keeter (most difficult books to read TXT) 📖

“It’s all right. You’re safe now. There’s nobody outside the building.”

Alice started sobbing, and Liam tried to comfort her as best he could. He wished he could be there in person. When she settled down some, he told her he would come see her as soon as possible and asked her to put the concierge back on the phone.

“Yes, Mr. Liam?” the concierge said.

“Call her mom please. Alice knows the number. If you can’t reach her, take Alice home yourself, okay?”

While Liam was certain Rick was working alone and that he was long gone, Alice wasn’t in any state to be left on her own and, frankly, Liam couldn’t bear the thought of it. She was too upset. She needed somebody with her. And, most important, even though he knew she was as safe on her own now as she’d ever been, he didn’t feel like she was safe. Perhaps that was his parental instinct working overtime—no surprise after what he’d been through. But until he could hold her in his arms and see for himself she was all right, somebody had to keep an eye on her.

“Sure thing,” the concierge said.

Liam hung up. For the first time since finding out Alice had been taken, he was no longer scared or sad. He was angry. Rick had taken everything from him. He didn’t need to log into his accounts to know Rick had wiped them out. That would mean the end of his business. And his freedom, that was gone too, wasn’t it? And Rick had been there, pulling levers in the background every step of the way, guiding his downfall.

He knew Elise. He’d worked with her. He’d set Liam up to take the fall when he robbed Chris. He’d abducted Alice. Then it clicked into place. He’d killed Elise.

That had to be right. Rick was at the center of all of this. He had to have killed her. But how did he get from Ava’s to her place to do it before Liam arrived? And why? Why do it? Why do any of it? Was it just for the money?

Only one person could answer those questions and, dammit, Liam was going to find Rick and make him. He was going to get his money back and clear his name. It was time to make everything right.

Liam looked at Chris. “Let’s go get Rick.”

Liam Parker

Liam’s burner couldn’t support Ava’s app, so he downloaded it to Chris’s Android via a private URL. He’d had to jailbreak his iPhone to install it; no such problems here. He logged in and requested a seat at tonight’s game. He filled Chris and Arkin in on who Ava was as he worked. “I have a plan,” he said. “She’ll help us.”

A few minutes later, he got a barcode and a six-digit PIN. “We’re in business.”

The three men piled into Chris’s SUV and Liam directed Chris to Ava’s building. They parked in the garage, used the barcode to unlock the elevator. Liam pressed the button for the ninth floor. He typed the PIN into the keypad beside Midwest Design’s front door. The lock clicked softly.

He led Chris and Arkin through the lobby to the private room in back. “Stay here a minute,” he told them.

“Hold on,” Arkin said. “If you think we’re letting you out of our sight—”

Chris placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “It’s fine,” he said to Liam. “We’ll be here.”

Liam stepped through the door. Ava was sitting in her usual chair. Except for the bodyguards that flanked the door, she was alone. The light above the poker table was off.

One of the bodyguards patted Liam down. Ava was already on her way over by the time he was done. “So?” The last she’d heard about Rick was that Liam was going to visit his apartment. She was asking for an update.

“What’s going on? Where is everyone?”

“Rick was supposed to work tonight. He didn’t show up, so no game,” she said, and Liam noticed, as he often did, the subtle inflections of the French she’d spoken as a child. She repeated the one-word question. “So?”

“He wasn’t there.”

“I’m not surprised.”

Liam glanced at the bodyguards, then gestured to the door. “Can we talk privately?”

“Sure.”

“I’m not alone,” Liam said as he opened the door. “Turns out there’s someone else looking for Rick.” Even as he spoke, Chris and Arkin became visible through the widening crack in the door.

One of the bodyguards jumped to attention. “It’s fine,” Ava told him. She stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her. The four instinctively moved deeper into the dark space to be sure they wouldn’t be overheard. They huddled close to a table covered with sketches of something that looked to be an atrium.

Liam told Ava about Alice’s abduction and the thefts Rick had perpetrated against him and Chris. “That’s not the worst of it, though. I think he killed Elise. I’m not sure how, but he seems to be at the center of all of this, and we need to find him.”

“I don’t know how I can help,” Ava said. “I sent the two men in there to see Eduardo after we talked. Apparently Rick made a point of meeting him one night after he left here and paid him to get into my place as a dealer. Rick told him it would just be for a few weeks, said when he was done Eduardo could have the job back. Easy money. Nobody had to know. But Eduardo doesn’t know how to get in touch with him. Rick was always the one to make contact.”

Liam could hardly believe that Eduardo came right out and said all that, so he asked.

Ava shrugged, as if to say No, he didn’t, and Liam could fill in the blanks.

“But Rick’s been here for months,” Liam said.

“He kept paying Eduardo to stay on longer.”

“Do you know why?”

“Eduardo never found out. It sounds like you might have pieced some of that together though.”

Liam wasn’t so sure about