Reckoning: A Fallen Siren Novel Read Online Free PDF

the last six months.” He opens the envelope next, and fans four one-hundred dollar bills. “The next deposit?”
    The door opens. Mrs. Simmons knocks discreetly on the jam. “Is Gracie bothering you?” Mrs. Simmons asks.
    We turn in time to see the little girl dance out. “I helped. Right?”
    “She did.” I point to the furnace register. “We found something. Maybe we could go back to the kitchen?”
    “And we’d like to take Julie’s laptop with us, so we can examine it more thoroughly,” Zack adds.
    “Of course.”
    When Gracie is once more ensconced in front of the television, this time with a bowl of Cheerios, the four of us take our places at the kitchen table. I slide the checkbook across the table to Mr. and Mrs. Simmons. “Ever seen this before?”
    The astonishment reflected on their openmouthed faces answers more clearly than any words.
    “Why was Julie hiding someone’s checkbook?” Mrs. Simmons’ eyes zero in on the balance. She gasps. “Harry, there’s fifty-two hundred dollars here!”
    Before Mr. Simmons has a chance to reply, Zack opens the envelope and spreads the bills in front of them. “The account is in Julie’s name. And we found this.”
    Mrs. Simmons presses a hand to her mouth. “I don’t understand.”
    “Mr. Simmons?” Zack asks.
    His lips tremble. “This doesn’t make sense.” He rises from his chair, agitated, pacing. “How could Julie possibly get this much money?”
    There are a few obvious answers. None a parent ever wants to consider. “We’ve seen a lot of drug use in thisneighborhood,” Zack says. “A high demand for everything from marijuana to—”
    Mrs. Simmons gasps. “Julie dealing drugs? Never! She was against drugs.”
    “You did mention she once came home with alcohol on her breath,” I add quietly. “Maybe she was experimenting with other things.”
    “No.” The reply is heated, adamant, and immediate. “Not Julie.” Mrs. Simmons and her husband stare at each other, but it’s a look that lasts only a heartbeat.
    Zack clears his throat, then asks the next tough one. “Do you know if Julie was sexually active?”
    “We’re Catholic, Agent Armstrong,” Mr. Simmons replies, tight-lipped, as if that’s all the answer necessary.
    Mrs. Simmons snatches up the passbook. “She was holding the money for someone else,” she blurts. “I know it. And I know who it is. It’s that Johnson girl. Go ask her. Find out what she dragged my Julie into. This is her fault.” Her voice rises to a wail. “Julie has so many friends, we’ve never understood why she gives that girl the time of day. Talk to Rain Johnson. I guarantee you, she’s the reason our Julie is gone.”

CHAPTER 4
    We have only a few follow-up questions for Julie’s parents. They do not recognize the other two missing girls. Julie is indeed attending the Academy on an academic scholarship, a scholarship that would surely be threatened by rumors of illegal activity.
    We assure them we will exercise discretion when dealing with the school unless we find proof Julie is involved in something illegal. Zack slips the checkbook and envelope into evidence bags along with the laptop and gives the parents a receipt. Then we take our leave.
    When we’re back in the car, our eyes meet. His are troubled. I’m sure mine are, too. I release a breath. “What are we going to say to Johnson?”
    Zack places the evidence bag containing the cash in the glove compartment and locks it. He stashes the one with the laptop under his seat. “Do we have a choice? We have to ask him to bring his niece in for an interview.”
    He grabs his cell and dials the office. The call lasts less than a minute. “Johnson left for a lunch meeting.” He returns the phone to his jacket pocket. “He won’t beback until around two. I told his assistant to have him call us when he returns.”
    Lunch. “Hungry?”
    “Have you ever known me not to be hungry?”
    I smile. Never. Must be the wolf genes.
    The hot