The Tessa Randolph Collection, Books 1-3 by Paula Lester (good short books .TXT) 📕

the intercom button as Gloria and Lark continue to speak softly. She waited impatiently for the officer to come let her out. It seemed like forever. She bounced impatiently on the balls of her feet and checked her watch every ten seconds. Finally, he appeared.

It took her a moment to explain to him that Gloria was staying but that she was ready to go. He finally let her out into the hallway and then relocked the door.

Tessa followed him back out to the lobby, but as he was opening the door, the handle flew out of his hand. A man on the other side had opened it at the same time. Tessa recognized him as the detective who had been afraid of the horses at the Green estate.

Recognition lit up his face as well. "You were at the will reading with Lark Jordan. Oh, you must be her representation.”

At least the guy was observant, like a detective should be.

"My firm is," she corrected. "I'm just a paralegal."

He nodded and looked strangely pleased to find out she wasn't a lawyer. "I'm still working on that investigation," he said. "Just trying to figure out the truth here."

"Good," Tessa said. "I'd hate to think the detectives on the case were just taking everything at face value."

"You got something to tell me?" he asked, studying her closely.

She shook her head. "Not yet, anyway."

He pulled out a billfold from his back pocket and scrounged around in it for a minute before producing a business card, which he handed to her. "Well, if that changes, give me a call right away." He shook his head and looked thoughtful. "Nathaniel Neilson had a strange cocktail of drugs in his system," he said.

Tessa tipped her head. "Really? Like what?"

He shrugged. "Sleeping pills, for sure. There was some other stuff there too—not the common stuff like street drugs or Tylenol or something. The crime lab had to send a blood sample to a private lab with the capability of doing more detailed testing. We’re still waiting on the report to find out exactly what the other substances were."

Now that was interesting. Tessa zoned out for a minute, trying to figure out what that meant.

Then she checked her watch again. “Oops. Gotta go.” She held up the business card. “Thanks for this.” Halfway across the lobby, she turned to find him still standing there, watching her. “Keep your phone close this afternoon, okay?

Chapter 19

TESSA JOGGED ACROSS the parking lot of Mist River Manor. Another glance at her watch told her she only had about forty-five minutes to get to the funeral in time, and she needed to change clothes. When the building's front door opened, she had a premonition of who would be coming through it, but she hoped to be wrong. She didn't have the time or inclination to deal with him at that moment.

But she was going to have to. It was Silas.

She'd always heard of people having long faces when they were sad or upset about something, but she never actually fully understood what it meant until seeing Silas in that moment. It was as though gravity was pulling on his facial features harder than it normally did. Like he was in a bubble that applied two G’s instead of the regular one.

Tessa came to a stop. There was no way she could get past him and into the apartment building without acknowledging his existence because he was staring right at her. "Hi," she said. "Is everything okay?"

She knew it wasn’t. And she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she’d played some hand in it. She was a one-woman wrecking ball.

Silas shook his head and stuffed his hands into his jean pockets. "Nope. I got booted out of my job today." He shook his head and looked at the ground. "I've worked hard here for years. One mistake and I get let go. I still can't believe it."

Tessa drew herself up, feeling shocked and scandalized on his behalf. "That's not fair!”

He shrugged, and at the end of it, his shoulders slumped even lower than they did before. "Yeah, well, life's not fair, is it?"

Tessa winced. "Silas, I'm so sorry. About everything. You were totally right—I should've trusted you with my secret. Then you wouldn’t have needed to follow me to Artemis Green’s house. This is all on me."

His eyes bounced up, and his gaze met hers. His features softened. "No, I get it now. It's a big secret, and I came on too strong. I never should've expected you to reveal something like that to me when we were just getting to know each other. I should’ve focused on the romance.”

She smiled. “I wish you would’ve.”

He pulled one hand out of its pocket and pushed a flop of hair out of his eyes. “I don't know what gets into me sometimes. I can just be so—" He paused, as though trying to figure out the right word, and then unexpectedly burst into laughter. "Well, my mom would've said bull-headed. I guess that's pretty close to right. I am a Taurus, after all."

Tessa was relieved to see him smiling. Her eyes moved toward the door behind Silas.

His gaze followed. “Where are you off to? Pepper need some food?”

She raised her eyebrows.

He shrugged. “I don’t have to worry about you having a cat anymore. Get a whole litter for all I care. In fact, you should. Give the owner’s new landlord hire a run for their money.”

Tessa shook her head. “No. I took Pepper to my mom’s house. But I do have to get going. I’m in a rush right now.” Another glance at her watch made her suck in a breath and take a step around Silas.

“Oh. I see. Something for . . . you know what?” He leaned closer and whispered, “The reaper stuff?”

“Sorta.”

He held up a hand. “Fair enough. I’m not going to be sticking my nose in where it’s not wanted in that area ever again.” He reached over