Free The Spider Bites by Medora Sale

Susanna started to run. Angela sprinted forward and grabbed Susanna’s arm. Susanna screamed.
    When I came out of the Coffee Corner, Greg was lunging at Angela. That was a mistake. She kicked him hard, where it hurt. He fell to the ground, curled up in pain. She dragged him to the sidewalk. Susanna jumped into the truck then. She sideswiped the patrol car and lurched east on West Central, accelerating fast.
    That was when she must have seen something in the intersection. Tony said it was a woman pushing a stroller. But he’s a sentimental kind of guy. I didn’t see anything. I was too busy hanging on to Greg. I figured it was one of the cops from a second car that turned up.
    Mark said it was a couple walking hand in hand. Susanna swerved to avoid whatever it was. She can’t have noticed the huge SUV heading into the intersection, speeding west. She ploughed head-on into it.
    She wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.
    * * *
    â€œThanks for your help,” I said to Mark Davies, shaking his hand.
    I wasn’t sure I meant it. He still seemed much too interested in Angela. And I had serious plans for change and reform in that direction.
    â€œI appreciate your help too,” he said. “You’ve saved us money and a lot of embarrassment.”
    â€œHow?” I said. “You’ll pardon my asking, sir, but who are you?”
    Angela burst into laughter. “Really, Rick. Didn’t you know? He’s my boss,” she said. “Remember? I have a new job.”
    â€œWhat exactly do you do?” I asked her.
    â€œI work for an insurance company,” said Angela. “Imperial and Northern. Investigating fraud.”
    â€œAnd she’s very good at it,” said Mark. “I’m here because Cheryl was insured with us. But I wanted to talk to you anyway. And I appreciated being able to watch you work. Angela’s told me a lot about you.”
    â€œShe has?”
    â€œYes. We need another investigator. It would be good to have someone on the team who speaks Spanish.”
    He took a business card from his pocket. “Think about it. Call me if you’re interested.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

ANGELA: ONCE MORE
    T he business of giving statements had taken the better part of the afternoon.
    They let me observe Greg’s interview. It was interesting.
    â€œI never wanted to have anything to do with it,” he said. “I loved her and I just wanted to marry her. I told her I was making enough money for both of us. She could have quit work if she wanted. But this guy had offered her a lot of money if she would help him out. And to do it, she needed my truck.”
    â€œWhat did she want you to do?”
    â€œDrive over to the jail on Friday morning,” he said.
    â€œThat’s it? Just drive over to the jail.”
    â€œWe met this guy. Paco. He was there to pick up a friend who had no place to stay. So Susanna was going to let him have Rick’s apartment. Just until he found his own place.”
    â€œWas this person Fred Hancock?”
    â€œThey called him Freddie. No one ever told me his last name. He seemed scared to death. He climbed in the back. We went and picked up groceries and took him to Susanna’s house. Cheryl was at work.”
    â€œTell us about Wednesday.”
    â€œI picked her up at noon from work,” he said in a low voice. “We met this Paco again. He picked up some stuff and put it in the back of the truck. We drove to Susanna’s place. Cheryl was home, and Susanna made us all some lunch. Except Paco. He went down to see Freddie. Cheryl got really sleepy, and we helped her to bed…” He started to sob. After several minutes of that, the interview was terminated.
    I left feeling sick.
    * * *
    Now I was standing in the living room of Angela’s apartment. I was not sure what to do next. Until these last three days, Angela and I hadn’t seen each other since May. That night in May, we had gone