Page 131 of Out on a Limb
No wonder my granddad and Alan were trying to get in this thing.
It took what they wanted everyone to believe and blew it out of the water.
My phone started to ring. I fished it from my purse as I slid the papers back into the envelope, dropping them into place as I answered Andrew’s call.
“Everything okay?”
“You’re going to shit your pants.” I shoved the drawer in its designated slot. “I’ll be out in just a minute.”
I rang the bell and in less than thirty seconds the woman was back. “Ready?”
“Yup.” I didn’t even try to be like Elaine.
It was never going to be my style.
Once the door was locked I headed back into the lobby, holding my purse close as I stepped out the front doors.
I waited for a van to pass so I could go tell Andrew everything I found.
And what it all means.
But instead of passing, the van stopped right in front of me.
The side door slid open.
I didn’t have time to scream. Didn’t have time to run.
Didn’t even really have time to look at who was inside, before a black bag went over my head and I was grabbed by rough hands.
And thrown to the floor of the van.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Andrew
WHO IN THE hell parked a candy van in front of a bank?
I shifted in the seat, leaning one way, then the other, trying to get my eyes on Collette as she came around the white, windowless, unmarked Econoline.
The thing had definitely seen better days. The body was banged up and rusting, but instead of putting money into fixing that, the owner tinted the front windows.
Probably to make it a shaggin’ wagon.
Finally it started to move, taking off from the curb it had been parked at for less than twenty seconds.
The sidewalk behind it was empty.
I turned to look up the passenger’s side of the Jeep. Collette must have come around the van and I missed it.
She wasn’t there.
I spun in my seat to look out the back window, scanning the lot for any sign of her.
There wasn’t a soul there.
I grabbed my cell and made the same call I’d made less than five minutes ago.
It connected after less than one ring, but there was no ‘hello’ in her sweet voice to calm the sense of dread freezing the pit of my stomach.
