Say It Again (First Wives, #5)(26)

“I’ll do that.”

Sasha noticed Linette’s office door open. “Next time, call my cell.”

“I tried. It told me you were out of a service area.”

“I’ll look into it. Take care of your wife.”

“Take care of you. Thanks for the advice.”

She hung up.

“Is your friend a father?”

Sasha grinned. “No, he’s a nervous mess. He thinks because I’ve been all over the world that I have more access to names.”

“I suppose you do.”

Sasha hesitated. “My phone isn’t picking up calls. Is there a dead zone here?” They weren’t allowed to have cell phones when she was a student. But her phone had worked fine when she first arrived.

Linette released a sigh and offered an apologetic smile. “Rolling blackouts. In case the students have managed to sneak something in. Social media will be the death of every student’s opportunity to obtain a decent job after graduation. The system catches new IP addresses sending signals and blocks them unless we have them on file. I should have said something when you arrived. You can give your phone to tech and they will free it up for you.”

Not in this lifetime. “I’ll do that.”





Chapter Ten



Reed tapped his foot against the side of his desk with the phone against his ear. The phone line did a double ring, indicating the call was going overseas. The top of his desk was covered in papers, printouts of newspaper articles covering the limited details of Amelia Hofmann’s death. A female jogger simply killed by three precision shots from a considerable distance. Two to the chest, one to the head. Her earbuds were still connected with the aux cable when they found her body.

Amelia had been an analyst for the UN. Working on clean water rights nationally and internationally. From the description of her job title, she worked with a team in South Africa. From what he could tell, the woman sat at a desk analyzing data on pollutants, rainfall averages, population, and evaporation. It sounded boring as hell. And nothing worth being killed over.

Except now there were three dead women.

Jocey Schuster-Miller, the PTA mother of two, parked in a remote area and ate a bullet. Only there was no suicide note and no history of buying the gun found in her car. There was some evidence of a struggle, so the investigation was open.

Keri Shrum’s boyfriend was accused of shooting out the tires of her car on a wet road in Wales, which resulted in her car going off a cliff. His slippery alibi and the lack of any physical evidence kept him from trial. While the case was still open, it appeared the police were trying to find more on the boyfriend and weren’t looking anywhere else.

All of these women went to the same school, only a year apart from each other.

If there was one rule Reed lived by, it was that there were no coincidences in life.

Since these women all died a world apart from each other, no one connected the dots.

Until AJ.

But then again, for AJ, it was personal.

Reed was about to hang up the phone when AJ finally picked up.

“Hello.”

“AJ. It’s Reed.”

“You got my message.”

“I did. We have a change of plans. There’s an estate just outside of London I need you to go to.”

“London? Why? Did you find Olivia?”

Reed clicked on the surveillance cameras at Blake’s estate. The only activity was the staff mulling about, doing what they did. Blake, his wife, Samantha, and their children were in their Malibu home.

“No. I haven’t located Olivia, yet. You’ll be safe in the UK.”

AJ was silent. “As opposed to my safety now?”

Reed didn’t answer. “Sasha will meet you there in a couple of days, tops.”

“You found something. What is it?”

“Another dead woman. The one in Arizona.”

“Jesus . . . I knew I wasn’t crazy.”

Reed told AJ the address and offered to make travel arrangements.

“What am I supposed to do in London? Sit around and wait?”

“Sasha works better alone. You’d just get in her way.”

AJ laughed. “Yeah, but Amelia wasn’t her sister. I’m not leaving without Sasha. I don’t know what kind of crap we’re uncovering here, but if there is a theme, it’s that Richter alumni are turning up dead like fish in bad water. Last I looked, Sasha is a possible target.”

“She is highly skilled to take care of herself.” Something Reed had seen firsthand on more than one occasion.

“News flash . . . so were the other three dead women. Yet their hearts aren’t beating any longer, are they?”

AJ had a point.

Reed’s foot bounced, making his knee move with it. Lori was two and a half weeks from her delivery date; there was no way he was leaving her side.

“Where are you staying?” Reed asked.

“Hilton, smack in downtown.”

“Okay. Sasha will probably contact you before she can talk to me without raising suspicion. When you talk to her, let her know the other name she asked me to look up came up clean. Perhaps a little too clean.”

“Who is it?”

“I’ll let Sasha tell you if you need to know.”