Room for Doubt
Page 24
I recognized the authoritative voice on the other end of the line instantly. I started to blurt out her name, then stopped myself. My voice catching in my throat. I didn’t dare call Andrea Reddings by her name. Nobody in the group used names. Instead, I ignored her request and repeated the message DJ had given me.
“Can you tell me if a package from Doris Jean arrived safely?”
Her reply came sternly. “May I ask who gave you this number?”
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that.”
She laughed softly. “No. Of course, you can’t. We all exist in such secrecy, don’t we? Although I probably wouldn’t know the name of the sender if you were to tell me. Anonymity has its benefits in this business. Wouldn’t you agree?”
I didn’t answer.
“But your voice, miss, it’s familiar. Would I be correct in assuming we know one another?”
I looked in the mirror and pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. Did I even know who I was anymore? So much had happened in the last couple of weeks, I felt as though the face staring back at me was no longer my own. In a sense, it wasn’t. The world of good and evil had changed. The lines had blurred. I was no longer an innocent bystander unaware of backdoor deals and the evil doings of a crazed world. I was part of it. I had secrets. Secrets that could undo careers and lives with a slip of the tongue, and I was choosing to hold mine.
“Yes. I think we do,” I said.
“In fact, wouldn’t you agree, when we last met, we had a kind of understanding?”
“If you mean I could expect your help as long as your name wasn’t attached to it, yes, I’d say we did have an understanding. A very good understanding.”
“I imagine you’re a bit surprised, finding me here, answering the phone.”
“Last I heard you were off inspecting properties. Is this one?”
“You might say it’s part of a charity I support. A safe house, known only to those who’ve had need of it.”
“And how did you know to go there? Now of all times?”
“I got a call from my housekeeper here. She keeps the place up for me. Heaven knows I’m seldom around. She called to tell me she had heard from a former guest. However, I had no idea who she was. Nor did I care. What I did care about, however, was what that my housekeeper said this former guest had arranged for a VIP to visit. And I might like to be here to greet her. The name of that visitor was, as you might guess, not revealed to me. But I suspected.”
“And that’s why you left LA in such a hurry?”
“It was. And you’ll be delighted to know, the package you called to inquire about arrived early this morning. Safe and sound.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. It was behind me now. At least the physical act of helping someone elude the law was no longer something to concern me. The rest of it, helping someone who I knew was guilty of murder, would take a while to get used to. I looked back in the mirror. I was different.
“Thank you.”
“Mahalo, Ms. Childs.”
About the Author
Nancy Cole Silverman credits her twenty-five years in news and talk radio for helping her to develop an ear for storytelling. But it wasn’t until after she retired that she was able to write fiction full-time. Much of what Silverman writes about is pulled from events that were reported on from inside some of Los Angeles’ busiest newsrooms where she spent the bulk of her career. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Bruce, and two standard poodles.
The Carol Childs Mystery Series
by Nancy Cole Silverman
SHADOW OF DOUBT (#1)
BEYOND A DOUBT (#2)
WITHOUT A DOUBT (#3)
ROOM FOR DOUBT (#4)
Sign up for Henery Press updates
and we’ll deliver the latest on new books, sale books, and pre-order books, plus all the happenings in the Hen House!
CLICK TO SIGN UP
(Note: we won’t share your email address and you can unsubscribe any time.)
We’d love to hear what you thought about this book. No matter how brief or how long, reader reviews make a difference. Thank you!
Henery Press Mystery Books
And finally, before you go...
Here are a few other mysteries
you might enjoy:
TELL ME NO LIES
Lynn Chandler Willis
An Ava Logan Mystery (#1)
Ava Logan, single mother and small business owner, lives deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, where poverty and pride reign. As publisher of the town newspaper, she’s busy balancing election season stories and a rash of ginseng thieves.
And then the story gets personal. After her friend is murdered, Ava digs for the truth all the while juggling her two teenage children, her friend’s orphaned toddler, and her own muddied past. Faced with threats against those closest to her, Ava must find the killer before she, or someone she loves, ends up dead.
Read all about it at www.henerypress.com.
CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE
Annette Dashofy
A Zoe Chambers Mystery (#1)
Zoe Chambers, paramedic and deputy coroner in rural Pennsylvania’s tight-knit Vance Township, has been privy to a number of local secrets over the years, some of them her own. But secrets become explosive when a dead body is found in the Township Board President’s abandoned car.
As a January blizzard rages, Zoe and Police Chief Pete Adams launch a desperate search for the killer, even if it means uncovering secrets that could not only destroy Zoe and Pete, but also those closest to them.
Read all about it at www.henerypress.com.
KILLER IMAGE
Wendy Tyson
An Allison Campbell Mystery (#1)
As Philadelphia’s premier image consultant, Allison Campbell helps others reinvent themselves, but her most successful transformation was her own after a scandal nearly ruined her. Now she moves in a world of powerful executives, wealthy, eccentric ex-wives and twisted ethics.
When Allison’s latest Main Line client, the fifteen-year-old Goth daughter of a White House hopeful, is accused of the ritualistic murder of a local divorce attorney, Allison fights to prove her client’s innocence when no one else will. But unraveling the truth brings specters from her own past. And in a place where image is everything, the ability to distinguish what’s real from the facade may be the only thing that keeps Allison alive.
Read all about it at www.henerypress.com.