Almost Dead (Lizzy Gardner #5)(81)

I told you. I warned you all and what did you do? You ordered your men in blue to open the gates and let me out.

I sit here now with a lost soul at my side. It is easy to see she yearns for attention. We both think it is sad that it had to come to this.

Am I invisible? Shelby says NO. I am in control. I have the power. I think she is right.


Lizzy took a breath before reading the next paragraph, the paragraph that stopped her every time. She read each word slowly.


Shelby wants me to tell her parents she is fine. She is happy and there is joy in the world she says and also she thinks it is important to teach me the words to Gerammia Jeremiah was a bullfrog. She is verry annoying at times. She makes so many promises.


The letter went on, paragraph after paragraph—the rambling words of a crazed man. And yet it was obvious which parts Shelby had helped him with. Shelby was trying to tell them something.

Which was why Lizzy kept going back to that fifth paragraph.

Shelby had been taking her defense classes for five years. She’d been there the day Lizzy brought in a special guest, a woman who had been held captive for months before she’d convinced her captor to write a letter. The woman had told the class how her captor had felt as if nobody would listen to him, so she’d suggested he write a letter and send it to the media. Not only had he written the letter, he’d unwittingly allowed the woman to include clues that led the authorities right to her.

Shelby was a bright student—an exceptionally smart girl.

Lizzy stood. When she looked across the desk at Jimmy Martin, he hung up the phone and said, “What is it?”

“We need to talk to Shelby’s boyfriend, Ben. You need to bring him here now. He needs to see this.”

Jimmy didn’t question her. In the past, there had been far too many moments like this one for him to bother with mindless interrogations of her or time-wasting uncertainty. Instead, he pushed a button and made the call.





CHAPTER 59

It was late by the time Lizzy got home. She had stopped at a restaurant and asked for a grilled cheese sandwich to go, but by the time she’d arrived at the hospital, they weren’t allowing visitors. Even if her timing had been better, it wouldn’t have done any good. Detective Chase had gone from stable to critical.

She put the wrapped-up sandwich in the fridge, surprised to see Hayley and Kitally still up, grinding away on the Ambassador Club killer case. “Where’s Jessica?”

“She went to bed,” Kitally said.

“Smart girl.”

“Any news on Shelby?”

“No.”

“Every news station is talking about the letter he sent to the media. I know you can’t say much about what they know, but do they think she’s still alive?”

“I have to believe she is.”

The room fell silent for a long moment except for the clacking of Hayley’s keyboard.

“Eighteen of the thirty-three women on the list of Ambassador Club killer suspects,” Kitally said, holding up a list, “have degrees in something that could be considered connected to the medical field.”

She stood and handed Lizzy the list. “Here. I’m going cross-eyed.”

It was easy to see that Kitally’s night in the abandoned warehouse had done some damage—taken some of the light out of her eyes and the kick out of her step.

“Go to bed,” Lizzy told her. “I’ll take over from here.”

Kitally yawned. “We should all call it a night.”

“I’m not tired,” Hayley said without looking up from her computer.

“You do realize,” Kitally said before she disappeared down the hallway, “that this person could have a degree in mathematics for all we know. Hell, she could be self-taught.”

Neither of them responded.

“It’s a matter of crossing one person off at a time,” Lizzy said under her breath.




Twelve o’clock the next day, Hayley strolled into the kitchen. She found the grilled cheese sandwich inside the refrigerator and shoved it into the microwave to heat it up. After the microwave beeped, she grabbed a paper towel and took a seat at the table across from Jessica. “Where is everyone?”

“Good morning to you, too. Or should I say, good afternoon?”

Hayley shrugged and took a bite.

“Lizzy left a note.” Jessica slid it across the table.

Hayley read as she ate.


Girls—I wanted to get an early start on the Ambassador Club case. I decided to take the four names at the bottom of the list that Hayley and I came up with last night:


Jenny Pickett

Kat Remington

Julie Smith

Latochia Bell


The rest of you pick a couple names and see what you can find out. Let’s meet back at the house at six p.m. to see where we’re at. —Lizzy


Hayley took her time finishing her sandwich, then tossed the paper towel in the garbage. “I’ll grab my bag. Are you ready to go?”

Jessica looked behind her before saying, “Who, me?”

“You don’t have anything else to do, do you?”

“True, but—”

“And I don’t see Kitally around.”

“She went to get her car in El Dorado Hills. Tommy took her.”