Love Inspired Suspense April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Laura Scott (speed reading book .txt) 📖

This was going to be another tough conversation, but if the SD card was around, they needed all hands on deck to find it.

“Georgia,” he said before they walked up to the front porch, “you haven’t said much, but I know you’re feeling anxious. Afraid. Weak. Even uncertain about the future, but I want you to know that I think you’re the bravest woman I’ve ever known. Your house is in a heap of ashes, and here you are fighting for others and for truth, which kinda sounds comic-book heroic as I hear it coming from my mouth, but it doesn’t make it less true.”

Georgia paused on the first step of the porch. “I feel like I’m hanging on by a thread. I like to believe that thread is Jesus’s strength, or it’s going to snap and I’ll free fall forever.”

They didn’t have time to talk this out at the moment, but they would later. “Jesus won’t let you fall...and neither will I. Please don’t blame yourself for my getting hurt. I’d do it again, you know. Run into a burning building or take a bullet. You need to know that.”

She didn’t seem to find any solace in those words.

“No,” she murmured, “I don’t need to know that.”

“What do—”

Gerald opened the front door. “Come in, you two. Mercy.” He studied Colt’s crutches and bandaged foot along with the few abrasions on Georgia’s forehead and hands. “Y’all look like you should, I guess. I’m so sorry to hear about your house, Georgia.”

He welcomed them into the kitchen, where Amber and Karen sat at the farm table with steaming cups of tea, but the hint of coffee reached Colt’s nose. Karen offered them each a choice of drink. Colt accepted coffee, and Georgia declined anything. He’d read anxiety cut appetites; she’d picked at her breakfast.

“Cut to the chase, Colt,” Gerald said after everyone was seated.

“All right.” He relayed the new developments in the case tying Chance and Scott Hazer to Jared through the pictures at the Magnolia Motel and their meeting at Rascal’s. “Which brings me to Alice Parker.”

“Alice?” Karen asked. “Why Alice?”

Colt explained Chance’s story and that Alice hadn’t mentioned seeing Jared that night in her statement. “Why wouldn’t she come forward with that pertinent information?”

“Maybe she forgot?” Gerald offered weakly. “She worked from eight to five, five days a week, for me and Friday and Saturday nights at Rascal’s. To say she was tired is an understatement. I can’t see her purposely withholding information. Why?”

Karen set her teacup on the saucer with shaky fingers. “Alice is a good person and a friend. She must have a good reason. It did somehow slip her mind or Chance Leeway is lying.”

Possibly. “We’ll know more after we speak with her. But first we have a favor to ask of y’all.”

“Anything,” Gerald said and reached for Karen’s hand.

“We need to go through Jared’s things that you might have boxed up.” He explained that the SD card was missing. “We need to see those photos. See who Scott was dealing drugs to. Could it have been Alice?”

Gerald and Karen both laughed. “Hardly,” Gerald said. “I’d know if one of my office employees was on drugs. Alice was not a druggie.”

“What about her son?” Georgia asked. “Wade?”

Gerald’s eyes squinted. “I don’t think so, but I didn’t see him often. He lives in Florida now. Has since he got married.”

They needed to call him. He might not tell the truth, but if he had been a teenager who dabbled in pot and then straightened up as he matured, he might be willing to come clean.

“Amber, he would have been in your grade. What do you think?” She sat ramrod straight, face pale and eyes wide. Did she know something she wasn’t divulging? That was Colt’s gut reaction the first time they’d spoken. But this was her brother. She should want to cooperate.

“I didn’t know him well. I never heard any rumors about him using.”

But? She was holding back, fidgeting in her chair.

“Can we poke around in anything left of Jared’s?” Georgia asked. “It’s a long shot, but we might find something.”

Karen stood. “Of course. All of his things are in boxes and labeled in the attic. I didn’t let go of anything except his clothing to a boys’ home. I don’t remember finding any little SD cards, though.”

If he’d hidden it, she may not have. Could be in a book, a baseball glove...anywhere. It might be a lost cause, but they had to try.

They followed Karen upstairs into the attic. Not too hot for fall. They could have been doing this during the summer months and melted. “I’ll help,” Karen offered.

“Me too,” Gerald said. “More hands, the faster the work.”

Amber said nothing, only crept off in the corner.

They combed through boxes for over an hour, reminiscing through laughter and tears, sharing Jared stories as articles that belonged to him ignited memories.

Colt’s cell phone rang and drew him from his deep thoughts. He answered.

“Hey, Colt. It’s Marcy from the Jackson lab. I got a hit on that print. Sorry it took so long.”

“You did?” Hope bloomed in his chest, and he covered the receiver and spoke to Georgia. “Marcy at the Mississippi forensics lab. Prints on Jared’s watch popped.”

Everyone went on full alert. This could be a huge break.

“Who does it belong to?” he asked Marcy.

“An Alice Parker. Familiar?”

His gut roiled. “Yeah. Thanks.”

“Well?” Georgia asked and Karen, Gerald and Amber took a collective step forward.

He shouldn’t say it to the family. Her fingerprint didn’t prove her guilt. But given she’d worked at Rascal’s and Gerald and Karen were adamant she had nothing to do with drugs or Jared... “Alice Parker.”

Karen clamped her hand over her mouth, and Gerald stood stupefied, the blood leaching from his cheeks. Amber gasped.

“I don’t understand,” Karen said in a wobbly voice.

“There must be an explanation,” Gerald demanded.

This wasn’t a road Colt wanted to travel down, but all avenues needed driven. Jared had been his