Page 179 of Triggered By Love
Go ahead. Pick another piece.
Eenie, meenie, miney, moe,
Can you tell who’s friend or foe?
There was no signature.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
“How amI supposed to know who to marry if he didn’t sign this?” Avery asked Jason on the way back to Joan’s apartment.
“There might be a clue on the microSD card,” Jason said. “After we look at the card, I’m going to pick up Ivanna and charge her with accessory to attempted murder.”
A chill tingled over Avery’s scalp. “I wanted to help Ivanna and Saul. I can’t believe I got taken in.”
“You don’t know what’s in their hearts.”
They didn’t stay long, only enough time to pick up the microSD card and assure Joan that the card contained Avery’s designs as well as favorite songs and video backgrounds for wedding ideas.
Ugh. She hated lying to Joan, but she didn’t want to endanger her further. If the crook believed she’d told Joan, or that Brando had told Joan…
Avery gasped at the realization. “It means my parents and brothers are also in danger, and that the suspect list includes every man who molested me, as well as their sons who might want to marry me.”
“Ivanna’s notebook. The ones with names and numbers,” Jason said. “I still have it.”
“What was she up to? And why did Saul think she was in danger?”
“She might have been the collection agent for the blackmailer,” Jason said. “She definitely knows too much and is in grave danger if she’s not in cahoots with them.”
“She’s in cahoots with someone.”
“Her super, Roland, says that the guy with aviator glasses hangs out there. I’m betting it’s the guy she’s painting.”
“But Harvey isn’t the one who’s dangerous,” Avery insisted. “He’s a gossip and a partier.”
Jason wasn’t listening, because she tapped him as he frowned, flipping through his phone. “Let’s get these images onto your laptop before we jump to any more conclusions.”
They raced to Avery’s apartment and stuck the microSD card into her laptop.
A slide show started with pictures of Avery, first as an infant, then at birthday parties. Soon enough, the pictures took a darker turn, and Avery slammed the lid of her laptop down when the first naked image of her with budding breasts popped up.
“I can’t let you look at any more of these,” she cried. “It must be Professor Leach’s video collection.”
“Who had access to them?” Jason flipped through his notes. “Larry, probably. Can’t rule out Harvey. The professor, for sure.”
“How about Tatiana?”
“Possible.”
“What do I do?” Avery’s skin flushed hot and cold with the creepy feeling of spiders and worms crawling and burrowing into her.
“We can’t turn it in to the police, because Grimes is compromised,” Jason said. “This is too hard for your parents to see, but every man on that memory card has a reason to kill you. Can you give a list to your father’s lawyer?”
Avery shivered, unable to warm up. “Those would be all the old men who molested me. I kept a diary, noting down their gifts and what they did.”
Jason’s eyebrows lowered and he growled. “One of those fuckheads wants to kill you. I’ll kill them all if I have to.”
“No, they’re trying to kill you and anyone I tell. I’m not trying to sound arrogant, but the old men like me. They enjoyed watching me grow up, and I don’t think any of them want me dead.”
