Page 19 of Run for Her Life
“Oh, that’s company property. We are in data storage. Due to the nature of our work, we don’t allow employees to take computers home.”
“Are they allowed to use it for personal correspondence?” Lisa asked.
“No, but many of them do. It’s hard to stop them. Social media websites are blocked but there’s always email…”
“Then we’ll need to take a look,” Zoe said.
He let out a shaky laugh. “That won’t be possible. It contains confidential information—our product specs, demos, contracts, everything.”
“We aren’t interested in that. We are looking for any correspondence that Annabelle may have had.”
“I’m sorry but we can’t take the risk. Millions are at stake.” His eyes were clouded with panic.
“Come on, David,” Lisa chimed in with a friendly tone. “You have my word. We don’t care about that. We’ll just retrieve Annabelle’s private communications and give the laptop back to you.”
David brushed past them, deeper into the house. “I’m sorry, Lisa. Nothing comes before the company.”
Zoe followed while Lisa continued to urge David. “Mr. Harrington, if you don’t cooperate, then we’ll have to get a court order.”
“Then do that.” He wiped his lips, his eyes shifty. “Now, please. I’m a busy man.”
The temperature in the room suddenly plummeted. Lisa frowned in surprise as David busied himself in the kitchen, his face set hard in stone. But Zoe didn’t miss the tremor in his hand as he poured himself a drink. After he gulped it down in one swig, Lisa gestured to Zoe to head out, perturbed by David’s lack of cooperation.
But Zoe wasn’t. She knew that when the choice was between money and justice, money always prevailed. If proxy wars were still being fought in different corners of this world for money,then no one was going to care about some Annabelle Stevens in a small town like Pineview Falls.
“Court order,” Zoe mouthed at Lisa, who nodded grimly.
They turned on their heels to leave when Zoe noticed a large picture above the fireplace of a young girl in her teens with reddish brown hair falling on her forehead and braces pulling together crowded front teeth.
“Who is that?” Zoe asked.
David followed her gaze and his face fell but his eyes flashed with hatred. “The shadow that follows me everywhere.”With that, he disappeared into a den.
Zoe was turning his words over when Lisa’s phone chirped again. She checked it and her breath hitched. “We just got a hit on Annabelle’s credit card.”
TWELVE
Zoe felt the ground shake first. The vibrations reverberated up her body. The tracks clanked against each other and the wheels chomped on them, the sound of metal screeching filling the damp air underground to a crescendo. The loud, disjointed creaks and metallic growls thumped inside her head, matching the drum of the rage that beat inside her like another organ.
Only one thing could control the rage—pain. It had evaded her since Viktor from Red Trigger had left her bruised in a motel room. Now she was scrambling, trying to hunt for that release like a crackhead desperately raking through a dumpster for more drugs.
On the platform, a man stood next to her chuckling on his phone, “Women are like used cars, ride them for a while, and when they start acting up, trade them in for a newer model.”
Her head snapped up to look at him. A pudgy, middle-aged man with a face no one would remember.
He checked his watch. “The wife is gonna whine again. She’s got two jobs—looking pretty and shutting up. And she’s failing at both.”
Zoe imagined what it would feel like to drive her fists in his face. She would break his nose first and relish the sound ofthe bone cracking. Then she would punch him again, this time harder to dislocate his jaw and forever distort his smile.
The man continued his telephone conversation, gleefully making fun of his wife. His voice grated and she zeroed in on his throat, imagining all kinds of creative ways she could injure his voice box. He would scream and shout and beg. Blood would run down his face, covering Zoe’s hands. But she wouldn’t stop. Because he would deserve it. Because people saying and doing wrong things shouldn’t get away with it. Unlike whoever killed her mother and left her in a bathtub.
His blood would be sticky first and then become flaky. He would learn a lesson the hard way—the only way to learn anything.
What was she thinking? When did it get so dark? She rubbed her eyes, as if trying to wipe away the image she had conjured. She didn’t recognize this person—she liked sugar and babies and carnivals. But then where did this sinister thread of darkness come from? Sometimes she wondered if it was her fault. If she had suppressed everything that had happened too soon, so it slowly and silently grew inside her, now screaming to be let out.
What if this temptation to inflict pain on those who deserved it became too strong to resist? What if it gnawed at her for the rest of her life? Her thoughts drifted to Aiden. He had offered to help her a long time ago, but she had been too afraid to accept.
With shaking fingers, she shot another message to Benny.
