Free The Devil She Knew by Rena Koontz

being in his backseat. He’s not even man enough to take her to a motel. If I were you, I wouldn’t get mixed up with him.”
    She avoided looking at Rosie. “I’m not mixed up with him. I met him at the Greenbrier store. He’s in most mornings. He was riding by the bus stop when I got off and he picked me up.” Did that sound convincing? Rosie wasn’t listening anyway.
    “Well, you might just want to walk next time. You don’t know what kind of man he is.”
    Those words replayed in her mind the rest of the day. Rosie was right. She didn’t know what kind of man Clay Cestra was. What kind of man took in a total stranger? Offered to haul furniture for her? Chanced his own career so she could collect her meager belongings from a crime scene to sleep some place safe?
    Indeed, she had felt safe last night. For the first time in months she’d fallen asleep on the couch and not awakened in the middle of the night perspiring. What kind of a man was Clay Cestra?
    “You have to trust somebody, Cassidy. It might as well be me,” he’d said. But she didn’t know him. And something her mother taught her once always stayed with her: “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.”
    She knew her demon. He was wealthy, politically connected, a suspected mob guy, a killer. She knew who she was running from. She didn’t know Clay Cestra. If she trusted him, who was she running to?
    Could she afford to trust him? Did she dare let her guard down, let someone get close to her? Would he be willing to help her? Could she hope for more? Would she want more?
    Another unanswered question plagued her — was he involved with Amber?
    Two months of solitude were taking their toll. She’d relied solely on herself for so long, she was confused by Clay extending a helping hand. Should she reach out and take it? Would she be putting him and Amber in danger, too?
    Whatever his relationship with Amber, it didn’t seem wise for him to pick her up in front of the store for Rosie’s spying eyes to see. As soon as she found the chance, Cassidy dialed the Greenbrier store.
    “Amber, I have a favor to ask, but I don’t have time now to explain why.”
    Amber laughed. “If you want me to kill Rosie, I already know why.”
    “Do you know how to reach Clay Cestra?”
    Her question was met with silence.
    “I can’t tell you why, but he planned to pick me up when my shift is over. Except, I don’t want him to and I especially don’t want Rosie to see. I need to get a message to him. I’ll take the bus. I don’t want him to come here this afternoon.”
    “Well, chickie. I can probably get a message to him, but it’s going to cost you.”
    “Please, Amber. It’s important.”
    “If you didn’t sound so serious, I’d make you tell me now. You work at Greenbrier next week and you are going to spill the beans about this. Deal?”
    “I’m at Greenbrier next week with you?” At last, a bit of good news.
    “Yeah. Didn’t you see the new schedule? You’re here all month. I gotta hang up, we’ve got customers lined up to the door. I’ll try to get a message to C.C.”
    Maybe Rosie was right. If Amber knew how to reach Clay, conceivably they could be involved. That didn’t matter right now. She couldn’t believe her good fortune. She’d be working the whole month with Amber and not Rosie. Perhaps that explained Rosie’s acerbic mood.
    With Rosie watching, she clocked out at two o’clock and headed toward the bus stop. Just one block from the store a horn blew and she spotted Clay’s emerald green truck parked at the curb. He leaned across the seat and pushed open the door.
    “What are you doing here?” She hesitated then climbed into the truck.
    “Your message said not to pick you up in front of the store. Did the old biddy give you grief this morning?”
    “I didn’t … yes, she made some sour remarks.”
    “I’ll bet. What’d you tell her?”
    “I said I rode the bus and you picked me up from the stop. I