Too Far Gone Read Free Page A

let me know. And don’t leave town. We may need to question you again.”
    “Wait.” Lauren shook her head. “What about the woman? Who was she?”
    He scratched his head. “I guess I forgot to mention that the only body we found was your boyfriend’s.”
    “That’s impossible. The man who ordered Desmond’s murder, ordered his thug to shut her up.” Had there been a third gunshot? When she’d started to run she hadn’t looked back. Was it possible they hadn’t killed her? The bottom dropped out of Lauren’s stomach. Had she left that woman to fend for herself?
    Treadwell shrugged. “We found no visible indication that anyone else was in that office. Fact is, we’ll be analyzing evidence and going through finger print databases for days, but right now we got nothing except your story and a dead body.”
    Lauren gritted her teeth to prevent ranting at the man. He’d made her relationship with Desmond sound sleazy and managed quite well to make her feel like the scum of the earth. Now he was accusing her of lying. She got the distinct impression he’d saved this bombshell just to get her reaction. “Are we done here?”
    “For now. Officer Cooper will see you to your car.”
    Lauren couldn’t get out of the room fast enough. Treadwell instructed the officer who’d been the first on the scene, after the firefighters, to escort her out of the building. She was grateful it was Cooper. He was the only cop she’d encountered in all this who had been nice to her. The only one who seemed to care that she was in danger.
    As they moved quietly toward the precinct entrance, she tried again to put her finger on what felt familiar about the woman’s face. Whatever it was, it niggled at the back of Lauren’s mind. She had seen her somewhere. Then again, she met dozens of other actresses and wannabes every week. Maybe it would come to her. Lauren prayed the woman wasn’t dead or being held hostage. How could she have just left her there?
    Face it, Lauren, there was nothing else you could have done
.
    “Treadwell can be a jerk, but he’s been doing this a long time,” Cooper said as they walked to her car. “He’s got a good record of closing cases.”
    “I’m glad to hear it’s only his people skills that are lacking.” Whatever illegal business Desmond had been involved in, he deserved justice. So did the woman who was likely guilty of nothing more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
    Cooper hesitated at the driver’s side door of her car. “Do you have a private security team or a bodyguard?”
    She sighed. She was so damned tired. “Desmond,” she began, hating how her voice cracked on his name, “he and I talked about it a few times, but never followed through.” No follow through was the story of their entire relationship, she realized. “It’s never been an issue.”
Until now.
    “Maybe this will help.” Cooper handed her a business card.
    “The Guardian Agency?” She studied the gold shield logo centered over a website address and toll free phone number.
    “It’s a private group. They might be more help to you than the department at the moment. I have a friend they helped once. The Guardian Agency is the best.”
    “Thank you, Officer Cooper.” She fished out her keys and hit the unlock button.
    Cooper opened her door. “You take care now.” When she’d settled behind the steering wheel, he closed the door and gave a wave before walking away.
    Lauren slowly buckled her seat belt, wondering what to do and where to go next. She couldn’t bear the idea of hiding with a friend and putting someone else in jeopardy. She stared at the business card.
    What did she have to lose?

 

Chapter Two
    Venice Beach, California
    Wednesday, December 10, 5:30 a.m.
    Mike Stone jerked awake and struggled to draw air into his lungs. He closed his eyes as the sound of children screaming echoed over and over before fading with the images that still haunted him. “Just a nightmare,” he