The Evidence Room: A Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page B

here for a haircut,” she said.
    “You’re right.”
    “So why are you here, Matt?”
    “Turner said you could help me out.”
    She nodded, pleased with this answer. “What do you need?”
    “He said you could get me started. Just something to tide me over.”
    Pea tucked a stray synthetic hair behind her ear, a girlish gesture . C’etait amusant , the tape said. That was fun.
    “Well, any friend of Turner’s is a friend of mine,” Pea purred, opening a drawer. “I’m sure he told you, we don’t keep any product here at the salon, but we could get you a sample, just to get you started.” She rummaged around and then pouted. “No more samples.”
    “That’s all right. I can come back tomorrow.”
    “Guess you’ll just have to see me again, Matt.”
    “Sounds good to me,” Josh said. “Same time tomorrow?”
    “I’ll be here, all by my little old self.” Pea returned to her seat behind the desk and crossed her legs. “ Je suis d é sol é e ,” she repeated with the woman on the tape in a singsong voice that was slightly unnerving. “I am sorry.”
    “Well, I’ll leave you to your French lesson, then,” Josh told her. “Good night, Pea.”
    “Good night, Josh.”
    The sound of his real name sent a sizzle of shock down Josh’s spine. He slid his hand into his waistband and fitted it around the gun, his eyes darting to every corner of the room, sure that any second Pea’s associates would be on him from all sides. How the hell had she made him?
    Pea approached, a wry smile on her face. “I guess I ruined all the fun, didn’t I?” She held up her hands in mock surrender and fluttered her fingers. “You could still arrest me, but I’m not the one you really want. And I think you’ll be interested in what I have to say.”
    Josh considered this. Pea was a smart woman; she probably knew the bigwigs of the operation. Maybe he could turn her, get her working for the narcotics force. It might be worth a shot.
    “I’m listening,” he said.
    “I know where Liana is.”
    The phrase hit him like a punch to the gut. Liana. He tried to keep the shock from rising to his face.
    “Bullshit.”
    Pea shrugged. “Believe what you want. I heard you were looking for her, saw that picture you put up at the fair, the ones around town.”
    “How do you know her?”
    “I met her when I used to live in Sarasota.”
    “And how do I know you’re not full of shit?”
    Pea rummaged in her bag and handed him a photograph. “She left town about two years ago, right when you came looking for her. I met her a little while after that. Here we are.”
    In the picture, Pea and his sister toasted the camera with oversized neon mugs. All these years, and he would still have known his big sister anywhere. Liana had always made goofy faces at the camera, pulling a face in all their family pictures, making their mother crazy. She had a hyena laugh and loved orange Popsicles and Kurt Cobain. She had punched Butch Sheridan in the face at the bus stop in second grade when he’d told Josh and Jesse there was no Santa Claus. A terrible longing flooded Josh, all the memories hurtling to the surface. Where had she been these seventeen years? Why didn’t she want to be found?
    “You know where she is?”
    Pea nodded. “I do,” she said.
    Josh felt the breath leaving his body.
    She tugged Josh’s phone free of his front pocket and began tapping the screen. “Take my number.”
    “What do you want from me?”
    “I’ll tell Turner to set up a buy for tomorrow, and your guys can bust him. That piece of shit broke my heart. I’ve got enough saved up. I can hop on the next flight to Charles de Gaulle.”
    “Pea. I can talk to the guys about cutting you a deal if you give us Turner. But I can’t just let you slip through my fingers.”
    She waved the Post-it note in his direction. “Would you rather let Liana slip through your fingers?”
    It was an impossible choice. You couldn’t trust drug dealers. In his pocket, the