Page 160 of A Dead End Wedding

She looked at me blankly. "Painting your car? What are you talking about?"

"What about having that man call me and tell me to mind my own business or else?" I leaned forward. "Why did you do that?"

She shook her head, looking at me like I was the crazy one. "I don't know what you're talking about, Miss Vaughn. I called you once about Jake, and that was it."

"Call me December," I said automatically. Unless she was a brilliant actress, she wasn't faking it. She didn't know what I was talking about. My instincts told me I could cross her off the list for the car and the sinus stalker.

Which left me back at square one. Who would have written such nasty, personal things on my car? And why?

I realized she was still sitting there, staring at me, and I stood up and held my hand out to shake hers. "Welcome aboard, Gina. We're a bit of a leaky ship right now, but we're doing our best. Please talk to Max about the paperwork you need to fill out."

She shook my hand, hesitantly. "Thank you, Miss – December. I know I made a bad first impression. And a bad second impression. But I'll work hard. Thanks for helping me out."

As she left, I got the feeling that I'd just shoved the leaky ship in high gear and pointed it at an iceberg. But what could I do? It was the rib-cage twinge.

As I sat back down, my phone rang. "December, it's Addison Langley," Max said.

This ought to be interesting.

I grabbed a pen and waited till I heard the click. "Hello, Addy. What can I do for you?"

"Five million dollars to settle the Deaver case. Confidential, sealed settlement. You have twenty-four hours."

Click.

I'd been right. It was definitely interesting.

43

Ten minutes and eight phone calls later, I looked down at my notes. Here's what I knew:

Jake wasn't answering either of his phones.

Charlie wasn't answering any of his phones.

Mrs. Zivkovich wasn't answering her phone.

My contact at the FDA was out of the office.

My toxicologist was in the lab, unreachable.

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