Free Girl Undercover 4 & 5: Ariel & Financial Devil by Julia Derek Page A

charge was made the day before or early Friday morning. So it seems your man’s telling the truth.”
    “Really? Wow… I could’ve sworn this guy had killed Ariel.”
    “How about I give you his mother’s name and you can talk to her yourself to verify he was with her the entire night?”
    “Yeah, maybe he just dropped her off and then went back to New York. He could’ve paid the hospital bill over the phone. What’s her name, address and phone number?”
    George gave it to me and then we hung up. By the time I had fallen asleep again, the birds outside my window had begun to sing and it was almost time to wake up.

Chapter 7
    I was sitting on my couch, eating a bagel and drinking coffee that I had picked up from a cart on the street, my head pounding due to lack of sleep when I received a text from Ian: Call me when you get a chance. There is a new police report about Ariel’s case.
    Swallowing the big chunk of bagel in my mouth, I put the coffee cup down and called Ian.
    “That was quick,” he said, having answered after the second ring.
    “Well, it sounded like it was something important in this report. What is it?”
    “They got an anonymous tip about Janine Eastwood and investigated her. You don’t happen to know who this anonymous person is, do you?”
    “Yeah, it was me. I thought I should give them a push in the right direction. What did they find? Does it look like she’s involved?”
    “Not directly at least. According to the report, she has a solid alibi for the entire evening. She was at the opera with her husband and another couple.”
    “Okay. Though I don’t know how solid it is. She could’ve left the opera and done it, couldn’t she? Strangling a person doesn’t take long.”
    “That’s true, but the opera they went to was in Washington D.C. I think they would have noticed if she was gone hours.”
    “Oh. Well, I guess it’s pretty solid then. I’m currently investigating someone else I think is the perp.”
    “Really? Who’s that?”
    “A guy Ariel used to train that stalked her and was thrown out of the club a year ago.” I proceeded to tell Ian the details of the story, including what had happened yesterday. “I’m planning to contact his mother today to see if he was actually with her the entire evening. He might’ve just dropped her off and paid the hospital bill over the phone.”
    “You’re calling her?”
    “No, I think I’ll get a much better response if I go there in person.”
    “That’s probably true. You could also just leave another anonymous tip for the NYPD and they can do it for you. Much safer. After what you did to Hutchkins, I’m sure he’s looking for ways to take his revenge on you. The man sounds like he has a really bad temper. If he’s suspecting you’re on to him, he might not only have prepped his mother to give you the answers he wants, but he might also be waiting for you when you get there.”
    “Don’t worry, I’m bringing my gun. I think I’ll be able to solve this case more effectively than the NYPD. If he’s prepped his mother, I’ll probably notice. I can also head to Pennsylvania Hospital and ask around there.”
    “That sounds like a lot of work, Gabi. You should just leave it to the NYPD.”
    “No, I want to do it.” I really did; in addition to feeling personally responsible, I enjoyed solving cases too much. Catching the bad guy had always given me tremendous pleasure. Even if Hutchkins might not be the one after all, I wanted to make sure I had covered all bases before I wrote him off. Besides, if Rolf had done as he promised, the NYPD would soon be doing their own investigation on Hutchkins anyway. I was just saving them some time. If it turned out Hutchkins had lied to me when I spoke to his mother, I’d leave the NYPD a message and inform them Hutchkins was their man.
    “Okay, just be careful. See you at 11 a.m?” Ian had his training session scheduled for then.
    “Absolutely.”
    Twelve hours later I was on