Promises I Made Read Online Free PDF Page B

because of me. He didn’t care about the grifter code. If he could have sold Cormac and Renee down the river to save himself, he would have. And I didn’t blame him. But he knew I’d gotten away, and he had no idea what had happened with Renee. He probably thought I was still with her and Cormac, and he would never do anything to put me in danger.
    My stomach twisted. I needed to get word to him that I was in town. That I was going to help him. But first I needed to figure out what to do.
    I looked at the name on my screen. Raul Castillo.

Five
    I took a bus to the Galleria later that afternoon. There was another mall that was closer, but I wanted to get as far away as possible from the hotel. I knew the cops couldn’t track the disposable phone to me through an account, but I didn’t know if they could track its location. I was covering my bases, just in case.
    When I got to the mall, I took the elevator to the roof of the parking garage to make sure I had a solid signal. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the piece of paper where I’d written the phone number. Then I dialed.
    â€œGood afternoon. You have reached the Playa Hermosa Police Department.” A recorded voice filled my ear. “If this is an emergency, please hang up and dial nine-one-one. Please listen carefully, as our menu options have changed. If you know your party’s extension, you may dial it at any time.If you know the name of your party, please press one now.”
    I took the phone away from my ear and pressed the 1 key.
    I followed the directions to enter the first three letters of Raul Castillo’s last name. A moment later I heard a soft click, followed by a tinny electronic voice:
    â€œRaul Castillo, extension four-twenty-three.”
    I made a mental note of the extension number as the phone started to ring. A few seconds later, a purposeful male voice spoke.
    â€œYou have reached voice mail for Raul Castillo, detective with the Playa Hermosa Police Department. Please leave your name and number, and I’ll return your call.”
    I was frozen by the beep. Seconds ticked by in silence before I finally spoke, afraid the voice mail would disconnect without some kind of noise indicating I was still on the line.
    â€œUh . . . this is . . . this is Grace Fontaine. I want to talk about Parker. Parker Fontaine.” I hesitated, then finished in a rush, worried about staying on the line too long. “I’ll call you back.”
    I disconnected the call, my heart bumping against my chest like a wild bird in a cage. I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself down enough to figure out what was next. I had been stupid to think Detective Castillo would pick up on my first try. Everyone had voice mail, and cops probably weren’t at their desks a whole lot, especially cops investigating a high-profile crime like the Fairchild theft.
    It was after four in the afternoon, but detectivessometimes worked late, didn’t they? And maybe it would be better to catch Raul Castillo when most of the people in his office were gone. Would he wait for my call when he got my message? Would he even get it tonight?
    I finally headed into the mall. I wasn’t anxious to go back to the four walls of my hotel room, the taupe paint and bad art a reminder that it was temporary shelter, that I’d have to find another place to stay soon.
    I wandered around for an hour, looking in the windows of the stores Selena and I had visited together, remembering how it had felt to have a friend, to laugh about clothes and guys and forget myself for just a little while. At the time, it had felt unexplainably like a beginning. Like the mistakes of my past had been wiped clean and I was finally getting a chance to start over. That’s what people say when you’re young, isn’t it? That it’s okay to make mistakes, that you can afford to make them because there’s always time to set things right?
    I knew now