The Guilty Innocent Read Online Free PDF Page A

hair flowed down her back, her blue eyes sparkled.
    “Well, I'm looking for a friend of mine, I want to know if you've seen her. Her name is Annette Balfour?” I asked in a hopeful tone as I showed her Annette's picture.
    The lady seemed to be searching her memory, trying to put the name with a face. To my disappointment, she began to shake her head.
    “No ma'am, I'm new here, So I'm not quite familiar with the regular clientele yet. But you can ask Clair, she may know something,” the hostess said, then pointed to a tall woman with red hair dressed in a red skirt and low-cut black top. “Is there anything else I could do for you?” she asked in the same cheery voice.
    I shook my head. “No, thanks for your help.” I walked over to Clair.
    She turned and looked at me. “Hello, Can I help you?” She asked in the same cheery voice as the hostess.
    “I sure hope so.” I gave her the photo of Annette. I waited a few seconds for her to notice who was in the photograph. “Have you seen her around here in the past forty-eight hours?”
    She shook her head before answering. Her eyes looked up at me. “I'm afraid not. She hasn't been here in about three weeks. Is there anything else I can help you with?” she asked as she returned the photograph.
    “No. Thank you.” I glanced at Warren, he had stepped away, walking a little further into the spa, trying to catch Annette's scent. “Warren?” I asked, he turned around and started walking towards me.
    “Nothing?” he asked, I shook my head, we left.
    The next place we went to was a restaurant. Annette had taken me to this restaurant about six months ago, she loved the food they served. I must agree, the food was delicious, just a little too costly for my wallet. We walked into the restaurant and were immediately greeted by another hostess.
    “Welcome to Sandy's, will it be a table for two? Smoking or nonsmoking?” she asked, while holding two menus.
    I took the picture of Annette out of my purse and handed it to the hostess, who looked at it.
    “Have you seen this woman?” I asked as she further examined the photo.
    I watched her eyebrows crease, then to my despair, she began to shake her head. She handed me the photo, then asked if we wanted to sit down. I shook my head and watched as Warren sniffed out the restaurant. Once again, he did not catch a fresh scent of Annette's presence. We left the restaurant and drove on, visiting several more places where some of the employees had not seen Annette for some time, while others did not recognize her at all. After a few hours of searching, Warren was beginning to get hungry, even though he had eaten breakfast earlier. I was also starting to feel the pangs of hunger as well. So we stopped at my favorite fast food restaurant, Pirates of the Caribbean. I ordered a cheeseburger and fries with a diet pop, and Warren special ordered three triple-gyro-cheeseburgers, each the size of a saucer, two large fries, one large-size onion rings and an extra large strawberry milkshake. I looked at the spread of food, I could not believe my eyes, could he really eat all that? I decided to ask him.
    “Are you going to eat all that, Warren?” I asked as I gawked at the triple-gyro-cheeseburger he shoved into his mouth, taking a large bite. He smiled at me as he nodded his head, his lips greasy from the burger. He wiped his mouth with a napkin then took a few swallows from his milkshake.
    “Shape-shifters have a high metabolism,” he began after he swallowed. “We burn fat and carbs faster than you can imagine. Our bodies are like engines, we constantly need refueling. So...” He held up his burger, saluting me, before shoving it into his mouth a second time.
    By looking at the burger, I reckoned he would be done with it in three more bites. I shook my head in disbelief before finishing off my own meal. Warren finished his meal three minutes later, a pretty amazing record if you ask me. We left to continue our search until the sun