Page 123 of Seven Deadly Sins

The man scoffed. “No, you can’t.”

She could try. “Sir, you were one of Thompson’s main guys. You had your head on straight.” Debatable. “These new people are crazed. They’re killing under misguided intentions. We need your help to stop them.”

He stared at his folded hands. “You got any change on you? I could use a candy bar.”

“Sure thing.” Keeping an eye on him, although he couldn’t run with two guards in the room, she bought him a Snickers bar from the vending machine and dropped it in front of him. “Now talk.”

He sighed and ripped off the paper, taking a huge bite. “Oh, that’s good.” He closed his eyes and took another bite.

Harper waited until he’d wolfed down the bar before asking again. “Well?”

“I don’t know how fans will know this phrase, but Robert used to put an advertisement in the classifieds when he called a meeting. Most of the time, the message was geared to men only, and we’d meet at the club. At other times, it was more like a call to church and aimed at everyone.”

“I’d like the everyone, please.” She opened her phone to a writing app.

“If this doesn’t get me killed, then I’m going to live a very long time.” He clenched his hands together. “Wanted: People who yearn to be enlightened and change the world. If you’re one of these types of people, there will be a meeting at, insert address, signed the man with a quest to better our world.”

She stared at him to see whether he told the truth. Since he met her gaze straight on, she seemed pretty certain he told the truth. What did the man have to lose, after all? Locked up, he’d already lost everything. She thanked him for his help and bought him another candy bar before leaving.

At the office, she met Liam in the conference room where he talked with Black. “They’re leaving you on the case?”

“For the time being.” Black smiled. “I’m hoping I can help.”

She told them about the ad in the classifieds. “I’m going to get that in the paper straight away. What we need is a place for these people to show up at and the manpower to bring them all in.”

“I’ll look for an empty warehouse set a bit from the busy side of town.” Black reached for the laptop on the table.

“I’ll handle the manpower.” Liam picked up his phone. “Have you run this by the chief?”

“Darn. I’ll be right back.” She rushed to the chief’s office and filled him in.

“Good work, Detective. Let’s hope we can trust this guy.”

“If he’s lying, all we’re out is the cost of the ad and a few minutes of work now.” She returned to the conference room. “He’s good with it all.”

“Here’s an address. Used to be a church in a store front closed down.” Black handed her a sheet of paper. “It’s big enough for about fifty people. Heaven help us if there are more.”

“Thanks.” Trusting Liam to find the manpower they would need, she moved to her desk and typed up the ad, then sent it to the Oakdale and Langley papers with a meeting for Friday night at nine.Help us out here, God.

Hope, anticipation, a trickle of fear all swirled through her in a maelstrom of emotion. With Lucy out of the picture, if they were successful in taking Robert’s “fans” off the street, they’ll have succeeded in keeping a lot of people from being killed.

They were nearing the end of Robert’s crimes. She couldn’t wait. A vacation on the beach sounded wonderful. Hopefully, Liam would be able to go with her before returning to his home base. Oakdale would never be the same without him.

What if she followed him? She could transfer to another city easy enough. Could she leave being a small-town detective for a larger city? She shook her head. Now was not the time to think about the future. Until Robert was caught, a future might not happen.

She had to remember that her and Liam would be the targets when the man got on the sin of anger. She turned off her laptop and rejoined the men in the conference room.

~

Friday morning, Lucy pulled the IV from her hand. From her hospital bed, she could see the man guarding her room. A stupid rent-a-cop or hospital guard couldn’t keep her there.

She padded to the small restroom attached to her room and searched for a weapon. Anything she could use to get her out of there. Where were her clothes? Blood spattered or not, they were better than a hospital gown.

Not finding her clothes, she removed the toilet paper from the holder on the wall, then used the holder spring to break the bathroom mirror.

“Hey, what are you doing in there?” Rent-a-Cop pounded on the bathroom door.

“Be right out.” She grinned and yanked open the door. “I’m escaping.” She slit his throat with a shard of glass from the mirror, then did the same to a nurse that rushed into the room. Messy, but needed doing.

---