You Can't Run by Hope Davis (best way to read books .txt) 📗

“Perfect timing.” He greeted as he grabbed his keys.

“Was everything okay?” Naya hushed her voice, knowing her brother was still awake.

“Yep, just a little shaky on the walk into the room, but he had a few beers and relaxed with us.”

Naya felt apprehensive about Vance drinking. She watched Trevor head for the door, she gave him a little wave as he walked out and grimaced as she was reminded of her awkward goodbye to Kevin.

She was torn between checking on the kitchen or Vance first, but ultimately chose Vance and softly knocked on his door.

“Come in.”

She slowly pushed the door open, to see her brother sitting up in his bed and he looked like he had been about to read, a book was sitting open across his lap. He didn’t look drunk. “Hey, just wanted to make sure they didn’t get you too drunk.”

Vance chuckled. “Is that what they told you? I only had two beers, I was just a little shaky, when I stood up, just tired I think, so Trevor insisted on helping me to bed.” Vance rolled his eyes in feigned annoyance, she knew he appreciated his friends. “So, how was the big date?”

Naya tuned red. “Going right for the jugular I see.”

He shrugged. “Kevin’s a nice guy Naya, I really think you two could be good together.”

She smiled sheepishly. “Sounds a bit weird coming from my big brother who used to threaten to beat up any guys who would dare to even look at me.”

Vance grinned wide at his antics. “Well, that’s because I know Kevin, and I know he would never do anything to hurt you. He really is a great man.”

“I’m glad you approve.”

“I do.” He picked up the book on his lap. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to read a bit before bed.”

Naya was taken aback when she suddenly noticed what he was reading. “Wait, is that the Bible?” No one in her family had ever been religious.

“Yep, figured it was high time I see what all this mumbo-jumbo is about.”

“And?”

He chuckled. “It’s mumbo-jumbo alright. I think I might try the Quran next. Or maybe the Torah.”

Naya rolled her eyes. “Isn’t the Torah the same as the first few books of the bible?”

“Maybe, but it’ll be quite the challenge to read it in Hebrew.”

“At least learning Hebrew is more constructive than playing video games.”

“Goodnight.” Vance replied in bluffing rudeness, the smile still on his face. “Have to get back to the good word.”

Naya said goodnight back and closed the door with a laugh, heading up the stairs to her room. She decided she could worry about the kitchen tomorrow. As she got undressed, she couldn’t help but smile as the events of the evening came back to her. Vance was right, Kevin was a nice guy.

As she slid into bed, she pulled out her phone to set an alarm for the morning she saw her mother’s text. It said her and their father would be coming to town on Tuesday. That would be perfect.

With a sigh she remembered that Derek would be bringing the second aide, Elliot, with him tomorrow and she had forgotten to mention it to Vance. Oh well, she would just leave him a note in the morning and she slipped into a dreamless sleep.

CHAPTER 15

NAYA

Naya stifled a yawn as she shuffled the stack of papers on her desk. Paperwork was the worst and most boring part of being a cop, and she dreaded it. All they did was checkout a simple house on Saturday, and now they were required to write an entire essay of what they found, which hadn’t even been anything of value, just a sparsely furnished house of a man they weren’t even sure was connected to anything.

Atlas who had been away from his desk was suddenly standing right next to her.

“Guess what I have?”

“Hm?” She asked without looking up she assumed it was something mundane.

A paper-clipped stack of papers suddenly landed on her desk where she had been working. It was the autopsy report on Shanice.

“Wow! That was quick.” She picked it up and began to rifle through it.

“Captain called the lab to ask for a favor, even after I asked for a rush on it since this guy barely had a cooling off period, and you know his carries more weight.”

Naya huffed, flipping to the page she wanted. “Damn”

Atlas already knew. “Yeah, now the blood thing really does make no sense.”

“Nothing unusual, so what reason would he have to drain one but not the other? Did he just not have to drug Shanice?” Naya rested her head on her hands as she scanned the document.

Atlas rubbed his chin. ““My guess? I think one of them was a mistake, and the other was exactly what he wanted.”

“So, we need to figure out which abduction went as planned and which one didn’t” Naya surmised and scribbled a few notes on a sticky note and attached it to the autopsy report. “And I hate to say it, but we might have a tie breaker soon if he keeps his pace.”

He grimaced. “I hope not, but you’re probably right. Did you see the cause of death?”

Naya flipped back a page. “That’s odd. A heart attack?”

“Yep. I’m not sure if it happened during the abduction or while this guy was doing whatever he does, but I have a feeling Shanice might’ve died before he could do what he wanted.”

“You’re probably on to something.” Naya looked at the coroner’s notes. “It does say she was in tip-top shape and that a natural heart attack would be unlikely?”

“But whatever could’ve caused it is no longer in her blood, she came back completely clean.”

“Maybe it was something her body metabolized?” Naya ran through