Already Gone (A Laura Frost FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 1) by Blake Pierce (e book reader TXT) 📕

She kept her voicecalm and controlled in comparison, with just a hint of accusation. Enough tokeep him thinking that she and Nate had all the power—and that they weren’tgoing to believe his lies. Not enough to make it seem like she wasn’t trying tohelp.

“I…” Hunter hesitated. He seemed tosearch the tabletop for something, before looking up at her again with a painedexpression. “I thought it was just about the weed.”

Laura exchanged a glance with Nate. Hehad a cunning curve to his lips, as if he was amused by the story Hunter wasgiving them. “What weed, Hunter?” Laura asked.

“I…” Hunter struggled, looking downagain. The muscles of his jaw clenched and moved as he fought with his innerimpulses. “I stole the phones, okay? I did. I just—I don’t have anything to dowith any murder. I swear!”

“Why did you take the phones?” Lauraasked patiently. They were getting somewhere here, she knew. She believed thekid. He was nervous enough, frantic enough. It didn’t look like he was acting.But she also didn’t like the direction this was going—because she was startingto believe that he was innocent.

“I’ve been dealing pot on the side,” hesaid, examining his own hands as he said it. His face was flushed beet red, andhis eyes were welling up with liquid, but he managed to keep his voice steady. “Justbringing in a little bit of extra cash so I could get a new car. That’s all. Iused the prepaid phones to talk to buyers. That’s why I’ve been taking them.”

Laura shifted in her seat and glanced atthe file, a silent signal to Nate.

“If that’s the case,” he said, takinghis cue as he pulled out the phone records they had been able to gather, “thenwhy were these phones turned on, activated, and used to make only one call—bothof them right before the murder of a local woman?”

Hunter shook his head from side to side.“I don’t know, man,” he said. “I took more phones than I needed. I… I keep themwith my stash. Maybe I lost one or two of them somewhere. I don’t know.”

“We’re going to need something a lotmore convincing than maybe, Hunter,” Nate threatened. But Laura knew it was nogood. The kid was telling the truth. He really had no idea.

He was probably high at some point andleft the phones somewhere. She wouldn’t put it past him. Or maybe a wily clienthad pickpocketed him, only to wind up with phones rather than pot. Figuring outwhat exactly had happened to them could turn out to be impossible—and it wouldtake precious time.

Time they didn’t have. Because thekiller was still out there—and that meant that, even now, he might be goingafter the woman Laura had seen.

Laura stood up from her chair, noddingsilently to Nate as she did so. He returned the nod, with only the slightest twitchto his eyes to indicate that anything was amiss. He was probably itching to askher where she was going. But he wasn’t going to show in front of Hunter that hewasn’t in control of the situation. He wasn’t going to show a shred ofweakness. Always better for the suspect to think that the agents had a wholeroutine worked out between them, a routine he wasn’t privy to.

Laura left the room without sayinganother word. As she left, she heard Nate asking the question again—for Hunterto back up his story. Telling him to focus.

As soon as the door was closed behindher, Laura broke into a run down the corridor. She was done playing games. Theywere wasting their time with Hunter. The kid had no idea about anything. AndLaura knew the killer was out there tonight. She knew. She’d seen it.

The only thing she could do now to savethat woman was to see it again—and clearer this time.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Laura barged through the door into theirinvestigation room and shut it firmly behind her, walking over to the computerwith determination. Within a few clicks, she brought up the recording file andpressed play, turning the volume up. She pushed her hand flat against thespeaker without sitting down, feeling the vibrations through her hand. Shebreathed deep. She was going to do this. She was going to trigger the vision,if she had to sit here all night and play this damn recording over and overagain. Even if she had to contend with Nate trying to get her taken off thecase and committed for obsessive behavior. She was going to have a vision, nomatter what.

It was, paradoxically, sweet relief whenthe stabbing pain in her forehead began. It was as sharp as a red-hot blade,branding into her skin. Laura was sure that if she reached up and touched herhead, she would feel blood running down. Or at least some kind of—

She was above them again. The woman,fighting for her life. Yes. Laura knew it was the same scene that she hadvisited before, but this time it was stronger. Clearer. So much more real, shecould almost taste the air.

The woman was there, and Laura felt thevision moving in toward her face. She was choking, turning red, her eyesbeginning to bulge out with the stress of the strangulation. Her hands wereclawing at her neck so viciously that she scratched a line in the skin of herown face on the way down.

There was a piece of fabric around herneck. A familiar pattern. A dish towel, Laura thought. Yes—they were in akitchen. The white, shiny surface next to them was a fridge. The murder wouldhappen in the kitchen.

All right, she thought. Now show memore. Show me more!

But all she could do was stay frozen inplace, right above the woman’s face. Everything around her was fuzzy, some ofit dark, some of it completely blank. All Laura knew for certain was the woman’sface, and the towel around her neck. Her dark eyes were huge with fear, bulgingwith the strain to breathe. Laura watched as the woman kicked out with herlegs, her upper body bucking in reaction, how she reached out and attempted toscratch at the person holding the towel. It made no difference.

Laura wanted to reach out, to stop this.She wanted