Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94686 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94686 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
“You mean Vicky? She was the first one who died.”
He covered up a yawn with his big hand. “I don’t know their names.”
“Vicky is the one who committed suicide.”
“Oh, yeah the chick that chugged the pills.”
“You saw her do it?”
“Yeah. The one named Lucy brought her some green smoothie and bored me half to death as she talked about all the health benefits. Chase was in the bathroom, brushing his teeth and fluffing up his feathers.”
“Leave him alone.”
“He’s a fucking pansy.”
“You just wish you had his finesse.”
“Thugs don’t have finesse.”
“Boy, please. What happened to the smoothie?”
“Lucy left it on her stand. That Vicky chick, took out her pills, swallowed three, I think with the smoothie.”
“Did she drink anything else?”
“No, but she had come back with the alcoholic hours earlier, so maybe she had a drink with her.”
“The alcoholic?”
“Wendy.”
Yeah. “Alcoholic” works.
I rested my head against the wall. “The coroner said Vicky died due to an overdose of Ambien and alcohol. Lucy must’ve done it.”
“Maybe or maybe not. I figured that and texted pansy boy. Chase said the smoothie glass was never tested because at the time—”
“They didn’t think it was a murder.”
“Yeah.” He pressed play.
“I’m so fucking tired of Dawn.” Still on the phone, Evelyn stomped to the corner table near a pale-yellow couch. Although she and I both lived in the same apartment, her decorating made it appear like two very different spaces. Yellow shined everywhere—sunny carpet, lemon painted walls, photos of juicy bananas hung everywhere, and bundles of sunflowers filled every vase on almost every surface. It was like a giant had sprayed urine all over the spot.
“Want to guess at what’s Evelyn’s favorite color is?” I smirked.
“Yeah. That’s a real hard one. And who the fuck puts up pictures of bananas, man? No wonder your boy is whipped with you. He’s only messed with crazy females.”
Bending in front of the small table, Evelyn popped open a door, pulled out a small box, opened it, and grabbed a tiny plastic bag with white powder in it. “I swear. I’m going to tell Chase this time. She’s an evil little witch.”
“There we go,” I said. “She’s definitely not talking to Chase.”
“Dawn is pretty evil,” Troy admitted. “Every time she comes on the screen, I cringe. She gives me the creeps.”
“You’re a scaredy cat.”
“I just don’t like to fuck with crazy-ass women. Something about an insane person with a vagina makes my testicles shrivel up and rot away.”
“I’m more shocked that you have balls in the first place.”
“You’re one to talk, screaming with that white boy like you caught the Holy Ghost in the middle of a baptism.” Troy closed out the video and pulled up a new one. “This is the last one who died, Yancy.”
“Ah,” I nodded. “She’s the easiest ex-girlfriend to remember. I think she had a gambling problem. Lucy claimed she spent her free days in Las Vegas, getting herself in debt to top casinos.”
“That must be why she’s always begging Dawn for money. Every video with Yancy she’s got her hand out. I just checked out a date night between Yancy and Chase. He came to her apartment for dinner. The chick didn’t even cook it herself. She got delivery, put the food on plates, hid the cartons, dirtied up a few pots, and served him the meal like an exhausted stay-at-home wife. When he got up to go to the bathroom, she dove for his jacket, yanked out his wallet, and took a whole load of cash out.”
“Did Chase notice?”
“Naw. She made sure he was busy when he returned.”
“Busy?”
“You sure you want to know how?”
My stomach bundled into knots. “No. Spare me the details.”
Sure, it was all before me. Years even, but that didn’t stop the jealousy from rising within my core. Chase and his women. It was funny how this trip to Italy had taken over my mind and placed me in this odd reality where Chase was all mine. After we discovered who was trying to kill me, we would need to sit down and talk about what he truly expected in a relationship. He’d named me treasure, in English and Italian, but did he truly understand the meaning? I wasn’t going to be one of his treasures. I had to be the only one. Selfish or not, sharing wasn’t my style, and he’d have to figure out a way to deal with it.
I swallowed down the sour taste in my mouth. “Let’s see the night that Yancy died.”
Troy frowned. “There isn’t anything. Chase said she was attacked. It happened outside of his building. Coincidentally, no cameras recorded the area where it occurred.”
“It’s funny how that coincidence came up in that moment.”
“Yep. Even stranger, all I have is this.” He press played on the video.
Dawn, Wendy, and Lucy lounged in the huge sitting from on the first level. Willow Park was massive, a mansion with five bedrooms. Gray bricks made up the big foundation. The property had originally been owned by the founder of Oshane City, a paranoid man who’d built all the apartments within the home and given each door a different lock. There were even secret escape routes all over the property. Chase’s apartment had a crooked stairwell that linked his closet to everyone else’s. According to the founder’s theory, whoever was trying to kill him would have to figure out which apartment he rested in that evening and somehow break in. Looney. That being said, Chase took advantage of the poor man’s madness. Every woman had her own apartment on the second floor. Chase lived like a king on the third, as if he just had to be on top, overseeing them all.