Vicious Valentine by Patti Benning (best fiction novels to read txt) 📗

at him sharply, he raised his hands. “I’m not saying anything against women, I know you’re all perfectly capable of doing anything you want to. I just mean, well, Vanessa said that Corbin was beaten pretty badly. I’ve never met the guy, but most men outweigh women and are stronger than them. Wouldn’t it be difficult for a woman to beat a man that badly? Rory was stabbed, so that’s another physical attack. It just seems like something a man would do more than a woman, if you ask me.”

“You don’t know Helena,” Vanessa said. “I’ve thought for a long time that she is off her rocker. There’s no telling what she could do if she really set her mind to it.”

“That’s fair. I take it you’re going to the police with all of this?”

“I’m going to call them after breakfast,” Vanessa said. “But I don’t know if that will be enough. Maybe I should confront Helena, see if she will admit anything to me.”

“That wouldn’t be safe for you,” Caroline said.

“I guess I’ll need your help, then, won’t I?”

They spent hours plotting and planning, with Hannah even calling Ben to bring him in on it. At last, they had something resembling a solid plan – which they put the finishing touches on right before Hannah had to go to work.

“Feel free to stay here, just lock up when you leave,” she told her friends as she prepared to go. “Call me if anything else happens or if you need me. You know where I’ll be.”

Chapter Eight

It was rare for her to feel a true desire to skip a shift, but she felt that today as she drove into town. She wished she could call Brian and ask him to take over for her, but he was already scheduled for the morning shift tomorrow, and he had gone so above and beyond what was expected from him during her date with Ben that she would have felt bad calling him in on a day off.

Besides, she told herself, Caroline and Dean can handle it. Vanessa will be fine. Even if someone is after her, they wouldn’t dare to attack her with all three of them in the house.

She was the first one at the restaurant, as was normal on the days that she opened, and was feeling a bit better as the clock edged toward eleven, when they would open. She checked the schedule to see who she would be working with and frowned when she saw that Audrey had scratched out Shayne’s name for the morning shift and had replaced him with Nadia instead, with the note that he had called in sick again. She wondered if something was truly wrong with him, or if he was simply using an illness as an excuse to get out of work like Helena had.

The thought of Helena made her press her lips together, bringing back all the worry she felt for Vanessa. Their plan wasn’t foolproof by any means, and she doubted that Helena would admit to anything even if she was behind what had been happening to the people Vanessa knew, but at least they would be doing something. She only had to wait a few more hours until it was time to put the plan into motion.

The hours went by, and Hannah sank into the rhythms of the kitchen. It took Audrey two tries to get her attention, but eventually at the sound of her name, Hannah looked over. “This to-go order has been sitting out for a while,” the hostess said. “I tried calling the woman who ordered it, but she didn’t answer. I don’t want to leave it sitting out for much longer.”

“When was it supposed to be picked up?”

“Nearly an hour ago, now”

Hannah glanced at the clock. It was almost three. The time had started passing quickly when she stopped dwelling on her personal issues and focused on the job. “All right, give me the order slip and I’ll give her another call. We can put the order in the fridge and if it isn’t picked up by the end of the day, one of you can take it home.”

“Right. Here you go.”

Audrey placed the to-go bag on the counter, and handed the pink slip to Hannah, who looked down and froze at the sight of Vanessa’s name and number.

She checked her phone and spotted a message from Caroline. I’m heading home. Vanessa is going to the police station to tell them about the car you saw at your house and Corbin. See you tonight.

The message was from an hour and a half ago. Vanessa must have made the order on her way to the police station. The thought made her worry less than she might have otherwise. Most likely, Vanessa’s discussion with the police had just taken longer than she expected. Still, she ought to make sure everything was okay, just in case.

Vanessa didn’t answer her call, so she left a text message and made a mental note to check again in half an hour. She put the to-go bag in the fridge and turned her attention back to the kitchen, though she couldn’t regain the focus she’d had before. Some part of her brain was still thinking about Vanessa and how she really should have been done talking to the police by now.

Once Hannah’s self-imposed limit of half an hour had passed and Vanessa still hadn’t answered, she finally gave in and called Caroline, trying to juggle being on the phone while caramelizing a pan of onions at the same time.

“Hey,” Caroline answered. “I’ll be there in about an hour. Are you holding down the fort all right?”

“It’s not about the restaurant,” Hannah said. “It’s Vanessa. Have you heard from her?”

“No, she said she was going to the police station,” Caroline said. She sounded distracted.

“That was almost two hours ago. She called a to-go order in and never picked it up.”

“Wait, what?” Caroline said. “Sorry, I’m trying to get some laundry done. I