Page 80 of Evidence of Secrets

“I’m a journalist. I’ve been working undercover for a new online magazine highlighting the challenges women-owned businesses face. Yours was the second of four that I am working on.”

Laura gaped at Jaimie. What the hell? Why was she just finding this out now?

“Why? And what did you find out?”

“Laura, you run a tight ship. Except for Rich, the pastry chef, everyone respects you and works hard. Your challenges are no different than the last restaurant I worked at. Employees steal. They don’t come to work. Women are sometimes not taken as seriously in the field. All little things that add up to a lot,” said Jaimie.

“Ha. If there were anything to find, my friend Grace Winslow would have been on top of it.”

“Grace Winslow? The Grace Winslow?” Jaimie squealed. “I love her work.”

“Me too. I’ll introduce you. If we get out of here alive,” said Laura. And that was iffy.

“Ah, I have something else to tell you. Just in case we don’t.”

The good news just didn’t stop. What else could Jaimie possibly be telling her? She dated Ryan, and she was undercover in the bistro. Wasn’t that enough?

“Hmmm. I guess I’ll just blurt it out. We’re half-sisters. Your dad hooked up with my mom.”

Laura’s mouth opened, but no words came out. That wasn’t anywhere near what she thought Jaimie was going to say. She could only shake her head. What else could happen? They had already been cuffed, thrown into a freezer, and were probably going to die, and now this?

“How did you find out?” asked Laura.

“A few years ago, I used one of those ancestry sites. You know the ones?”

Laura nodded. Then she took a closer look at Jaimie. Brown hair same as hers. But Jaimie had blue eyes. Her father’s blue eyes. She could see the family resemblance now.

“I was curious about my father. He never married Mom and disappeared when I was young. Mom had little information about him. The census showed he was married and had a child.”

She had a half-sister! Laura was thrilled and wanted to hear Jaimie’s story and learn everything about her.

But first, they had to escape the danger they were in.

“That’s a lot to digest. I’d love to talk more about it with you. However, we need to get out of here soon. Ryan isn’t going to leave witnesses.”

“Agree.”

“You don’t have your phone on you, do you?”

Jaimie patted her pocket with her hands. “Yes. I don’t think I can get it out, though.”

Laura moved closer and reached over to pull it out of Jaimie’s pocket. It took her a minute to wiggle it out with Jaimie and her doing all sorts of contortions. Finally, she got it out, only to have it slip out of her hands and fall a few feet away.

“Crap,” said Laura.

Getting her hands free was most important. There wasn’t much Laura could do about the handcuffs on Jaimie’s wrists. At least Jaimie was feeling less dizzy.

Laura scooched up the wall. She leaned toward her hands and tightened the zip tie in her mouth as much as possible. Then Laura lifted her hands above her head and brought them down quickly into her stomach with her elbows flared, just like Sarina taught her.

The ties should break free. Not.

Laura groaned. She would take more self-defense classes if she ever got out of this mess.

“Try again, Laura. I know you can do it.”

They heard more banging and swearing coming from the storage room.

“Hurry.”

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