The Truth About Rachel by Deanna Sletten (free books to read .TXT) 📗

it. But if Jeremy keeps dragging his feet, especially after you get your DNA test back, then you have to do something. Contacting the media is a viable option.”

“Let’s see what happens first,” Rachel said.

By the time they were ready to leave, Archie and Jeremy were already gone. Avery drove her back to her motel, and they sat a moment in his car outside her door.

“Thanks again for dinner,” she said. “And for being such a good listener. I’d be going crazy if I didn’t have someone to talk to while I was here.”

“I’m happy to do it,” he said, smiling. “You’ve been a big help to me, too. No one wants to hear me go on and on about my mother’s death anymore. Thanks for listening to me.”

He ran around the car and opened her door, then reached for her hand as they walked to her room. She liked how his hand felt in hers. It was warm and comforting.

“Well, I hope I’ll see you tomorrow,” Avery said, looking down at her.

“I’m sure we can arrange that,” she said softly, smiling.

For a moment, they just stood there in the shadows of the dim light outside her door. It was quiet out, and a cool breeze chilled the air. Avery bent down as she looked up into his eyes. Their lips met for a brief moment, and when they parted, both were smiling.

Rachel pulled her key out of her jacket pocket and unlocked the door. “Goodnight,” she said.

“Goodnight.” Avery turned to leave as Rachel walked inside her room and flicked on the light.

Her scream pierced the silent night air.

***

Avery rushed inside Rachel’s motel room the instant he heard her scream.

“What happened?” he asked, looking around.

Rachel stood in the middle of the room, her face hot with anger. “Someone ransacked my room! Look at it! It’s been torn apart.” She ran to the table by the window and saw her computer had been tossed on the floor. Carefully, she picked it up, praying it wasn’t broken.

“Who would have done this?” Avery asked, dumbfounded. “What would they be looking for?”

“I don’t know.” Rachel placed the computer back on the table. Luckily, it wasn’t broken.

Avery stopped a moment and stared at the back of the room toward the bathroom. “Stay here. I’ll make sure it’s clear.”

Rachel’s heart pounded. She hadn’t stopped to think that the perpetrator could still be here, hiding. She watched as Avery pulled a small pistol out from underneath his jacket and head for the bathroom. She didn’t know what scared her most—the fact that there might be someone still in the room or that Avery carried a gun.

After checking the bathroom and the closet, he gave the all-clear and walked back toward Rachel.

“Why do you have that?” she asked, nodding toward the gun in his hand.

“Oh.” Avery snapped the safety on and slid it back under his jacket. “I’m afraid this isn’t the first time I’ve walked into a ransacked room. Someone did this to me a while back and then tore my office apart at the newspaper, too. I have a permit to carry if that makes you feel any better.”

Rachel sat in one of the chairs at the table. She felt like her world had turned upside-down. “I’ve never had trouble like this before. My life was easy—predictable—before I came here to ‘do the right thing.’ Now, I don’t even know what the right thing is anymore.”

Avery walked over and kneeled in front of her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and dropped her head on his shoulder. Gun or no gun, she felt safe with Avery.

“We should call the police,” Rachel said.

Avery pulled back. “Unless they were the ones who did this.”

Their eyes met, and Rachel knew immediately that Avery was right. “So, what do we do? Just ignore it?”

He shook his head. “Hey, wait a minute.” Avery walked outside, looking toward the office. “There’s a security camera facing this way. Come on,” he said, waving to Rachel. “Let’s do a little investigating of our own.”

They knocked on the office door, and eventually a young man came to the glass window, looking like he’d just woken up.

“Can I help you?” he asked, running his hands through his hair.

“Someone broke into my room tonight. Between six and ten,” Rachel said. “Is that a working security camera you have up there?” She pointed to it.

This woke the young man up. “Yeah. We have it hooked to a monitor.”

“Does it record?” Avery asked.

“Sure. I think we keep two weeks’ worth at a time.”

Avery smiled. “Great. Is there any chance we can see the tape from earlier tonight?”

It took a little convincing to get the guy to open the door, but he finally did and showed them how to rewind the stored video. The three of them sat in the cramped office and watched the parking lot’s activity from six o’clock on. Somewhere around eight, the video went dark.

“What happened?” Rachel asked, looking up at Avery’s frowning face.

He fast-forwarded the video, and around eight-thirty, the camera was working again. The rest of the video showed no one entering or leaving Rachel’s motel room.

“The person who broke into your room knew what he was doing,” Avery said. “He must have covered the camera from behind, so his face didn’t show, then pulled the cover off after he was done.”

They looked at each other, both knowing what the other was thinking. Jeremy.

Rachel turned to the young man. “Did you see anyone suspicious around that time?”

He shook his head. “I was working on my homework, so I didn’t notice anything. Then I fell asleep.” He looked sheepish. “Sorry, but nothing usually happens around here, and we have the camera…” his voice faded.

Avery sighed. “Yeah. A lot of good that did.”

“Well, thanks for letting us look,” Rachel said as they headed out the door.

“Should we call the police?” the kid asked. He didn’t look like he was in a hurry to do so.

“No. That’s okay,” Avery said. “But if you see