Almost Dead (Lizzy Gardner #5)(8)

Hayley said nothing.

“You know, if I hadn’t sliced off that bastard’s head, I might be Mrs. Jared Shayne right now. Jared would be in Virginia discussing one case or another with criminologists and psychologists or whoever. Better yet, if I had quit this f*cked-up business . . . that’s all I had to do.” Still clutching the shot glass, she leaned forward, her eyes unblinking. “If I had any sense at all, Jared would be sleeping next to me tonight, holding me close, telling me he loves me. But, no, I’m a glutton for punishment. That’s how the sayin’ goes, right?” She frowned.

Lizzy sat up straighter and took a sip of Scotch. “This shit really is good. You should try some.” She sighed. “Enough about me. What are you up to tonight? Just making your usual rounds? Seeing who’s been naughty and who’s been nice?”

“Pretty much.”

“What’s the deal with you, anyhow?” Lizzy asked.

“What do you mean?”

“What goes on in that head of yours day after day?”

Hayley scratched her chin. “Not much. Nothing good, anyway.”

“So how do you keep going, you know, living day after day in this shit-for-nothing world?”

“I guess I don’t really know. It seems I wake up and before I know it, the sun disappears and another day has passed.”

Lizzy appeared to be letting that soak in for a moment.

“It’s not your fault,” Hayley told her.

Lizzy swayed a few inches to the left, then put the glass to her mouth and drank up. She slammed the shot glass hard on her desk and said, “Bullshit.”

“If it’s bullshit,” Hayley said evenly, “then everything you’ve been telling me for the past two years is also bullshit. If you could have prevented those deaths, then that means I could have prevented my mother’s, too.”

Lizzy looked sad. “Fuck. You’re right. I’m a bullshitter. Just what we need . . . another goddamn bullshitter in the world.” She folded her arms on her desk and laid her head facedown on top of her hands.

Hayley waited a moment before she said, “Lizzy?”

No answer.

Hayley came to her feet and walked around to the other side of the desk. She took Lizzy’s purse and shuffled around until she found the keys to her car. Then she went outside and looked in the trunk. Lizzy’s stuff was piled inside, just as she’d figured it would be. After transferring Lizzy’s things to her own car, she went back inside to get Lizzy and take her home.





CHAPTER 6

A sliver of wintry morning sun snaked its devilish fingers through the blinds, its bright light clutching at the comforter and crawling up the bed until it pierced right through Lizzy’s skull.

She pried her eyes open. Her efforts to lift her head were rewarded with more painful pinpricks to the brain. Where the hell was she?

The king-sized bed was covered in luxurious bedding. The headboard was cushioned with expensive cream-colored fabric that bordered on gaudy. The walls were painted a shimmering silver, making her feel as if she were in a Vegas hotel. The sheets and comforter were white and ultrasoft. The room was clean and neat, everything in its place.

The last thing she remembered was sitting in her office downtown, drinking a bottle of Scotch.

Hayley.

Bits and pieces of last night slowly came back to her. Hayley had shown up at the office at some ungodly hour. That’s it. That’s all she remembered.

A good fifteen minutes passed, maybe longer, before Lizzy was able to will her body out of bed. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror above the bureau. Not a pretty sight. Stringy, dirty-blonde unwashed hair, hollow cheeks and eyes: the ghost of someone she once knew. Wearing an extra-long purple T-shirt that she didn’t recognize, she plodded her way into the bathroom.

Hayley had gone to the bother of setting up her toiletries? The thought of Hayley organizing her toothbrush and toothpaste didn’t compute, which meant somebody else had done it. She washed her hands and brushed her teeth, then left the room in search of answers.

This was no hotel—it was a house. A ridiculously large house. Halfway down a long stretch of carpeted stairs, she got a whiff of bacon. Her stomach rumbled in a bad way.

Despite the never-ending square footage, the kitchen was easy enough to find. Kitally stood in front of the stove, flipping pancakes.

“You’re just in time. Bacon and pancakes. If you prefer eggs, I can make them to order.”

“Just coffee. I just need coffee.”

“Cream and sugar?”

“No, thanks. Black.” Lizzy walked past the kitchen table so she could see into the main living area. Everywhere she looked, she saw beautifully carved columns and a combination of rich wood and stone floors. Leather seating. Minimal furniture. No decorative items to speak of. “Is this your house?”

“Actually it belongs to my parents. Once I turned eighteen, they moved to a bigger place in El Dorado Hills and left this one to me.”

“You live alone in this mansion?”

“Not any longer. Hayley’s landlord is selling her house, so Hayley needed a place to stay. There’s plenty of room for you, too.”

“Thanks, but no thanks.”

“Why not?”

“I have my own house.”

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t be living at the office if you were ready to move back home.”