Free All I Need Is You by M. Malone Page B

steps, heading for his truck. “Thank you Mr. King for your cooperation.”
    “Hey!” Jeremy yelled after him. “Are you going to tell those cops that I’m innocent?”
    “I’m going to try to catch the other guy. If I can catch him, that will only help your case.”  
    Elliott jogged back to his truck and pulled out his phone as he swung up into the cab. Tank’s voice mail picked up after four rings.
    “Hey, it’s Eli. I need you to run some names for me. Tanya Cook and Elise Able. Jeremy King claims he was paid to send letters to them, too. I want to find out everything about these girls. Where they live, what they do for a living, what they do for fun. If we can find a connection, maybe we can figure out why this guy focused on the three of them.”
    He hung up and put the truck in gear. Just before he pulled out, there was a flash of movement from his left side. A man, medium height and build, stood watching him from across the street. His oversized hooded jacket obscured his face completely. While he watched, the guy turned and started walking.  
      His head was down and he walked at a normal pace, but there was something about him that set Eli’s instincts ringing. So he glanced in his rearview mirror and then pulled out, prepared to follow the guy. When he got a hunch, he always went with it. It had saved him more than once.  
    However, when he pulled out into the street, the guy was gone. He sped up and looked down the next street to see if he’d turned the corner.
    Nothing.  
    If he told the story to anyone else, they’d likely think he was overreacting. A shadowy figure watching him. One that disappeared before he could get close. It sounded like a thriller novel. But Eli just knew . He’d started something by coming here. What, he didn’t know. But whatever it was, he had to be ready.  
    He shook his head and then pulled off, driving a little faster than he would have normally. He suddenly needed to be near Kay, hear her voice and see her smile. He hadn’t come here expecting to believe Jeremy King, but now that he did, it was more obvious than ever that whatever was going on was bigger than he’d imagined.  

    A FEW HOURS later, Kay examined her outfit in the mirror one last time. The flowing peasant top she’d settled on was feminine without showing too much cleavage. Something she always had to think about since her “girls” tended to struggle out of most tops. She sighed and tugged at the neckline again. Maybe she should have stuck with the black sweater she’d originally chosen.  
    She turned from the mirror, disgusted with her own indecision. It wasn’t that she was nervous. Well, not that much. Ridley, Raina, and Mara would all be there. How bad could it be? It would be a low-key, no-pressure kind of date. Just dinner with a bunch of mutual friends was no big deal.
    Although Kay had a feeling Eli wouldn’t see it that way.
    That afternoon, Tank had come to stay with her while Eli took care of something. Whatever he’d been doing must have really thrown him for a loop because he’d been distracted and distant ever since. She’d told him they were having a girl’s night out and he hadn’t questioned it, but she knew his distraction was only a temporary thing. Once he got past whatever he was brooding about, he’d start asking his usual questions.  
    Kay couldn’t even begin to guess what he’d do when he realized their girl’s night out was really just an excuse for the girls to fix her up.  
    Eli appeared in the doorway. “Are you ready to go yet?” He’d been waiting for her to finish dressing for the past half hour, but he seemed to have run out of patience.  
    “Almost. I just need to fix my hair.” Kay avoided his eyes as she rushed into the bathroom. Curly black ringlets stuck out in every direction, so she pulled them into a high ponytail and fastened down any strays with pins. That would have to do.
    “You look really nice,” Eli commented when she