Free Last Grave (9781101593172) by Debbie Viguié Page A

her.
    â€œWho’s there?” he shouted. He tried to run, but he collided with Samantha, and they both toppled to the ground. Her gun went skidding across the catwalk.
    â€œWhat’s happening?” he screamed.
    â€œI release you,” Samantha hissed.
    She knew what it had to look like to him. One moment he was staring at air, and the next a woman appeared.
    He screamed and threw himself backward. His hand came down on Samantha’s gun and two shots rang out.
    Samantha froze and watched as blood spread across the front of Marcos’s jacket. He too looked down at it and then up at her.
    She grabbed her gun and tossed it toward Lance, then eased Marcos back down onto the metal of the catwalk. “Did you kill Winona?”
    â€œAre you an angel?”
    â€œNo, but you need to tell me if you killed Winona.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œThen why were you at the coffee shop?” she asked.
    â€œSomeone paid me to go get something from a lady. Cops saw me and I ran.”
    He started to convulse. He was slipping away, and there was no way for her to save him. “Who? What did they want?”
    But it was too late. He was gone.
    Lance handed Samantha her gun, and she tucked it back into her waistband. Lance reached down and pulled something turquoise colored out of the pocket of Marcos’s pants. A cell.
    He looked at it for a moment. “It’s got the texts to Jill. This is Winona’s phone.”
    â€œBut he didn’t kill Winona. So how did he get her phone?”
    â€œThe killer must have given it to him.”
    Her exhausted mind was working overtime to try to catch up and process everything that had just happened. “He said someone wanted him to get something from the lady.”
    â€œIt makes sense. If you had killed someone, you’d want to lie low too, hire someone else to get what you needed.”
    â€œYeah, but if the goal is to get the information and you’re afraid it might be a trap, why hire somebody the cops are likely to recognize on sight?” she asked.
    The answer hit her and drove her to her feet. She could see the same thought come to Lance.
    â€œIt’s a diversion,” he said.
    â€œShe wanted us to chase him so she’d have Jill to herself.”
    She raced toward the stairs. Jill was a sitting duck.

5
    Samantha raced down the stairs and outside the building. She headed for the Starbucks, where her roommate was sitting, alone and unprotected.
    Idiot! You should have seen this coming.
    The two police officers who had been inside the café were dealing with some injured bystanders. Fortunately it didn’t look like anything too bad. They all seemed to be in much better shape than Marcos. She kept expecting to feel a surge of energy, proof that another with powers was nearby. There was nothing.
    As she ran into the coffee shop, she suddenly saw why. The witch wasn’t here because she had called Jill to her instead. Her roommate was gone.
    Samantha blinked and then grabbed one of the patrons who was staring through the window at the chaos outside.
    â€œYou,” she said, shaking his arm.
    He jerked and looked up at her. “What?”
    â€œThere was a woman sitting in here, brunette, she was at that table,” she said, pointing. “Where did she go?”
    â€œI don’t know. Her friend came in and then they left together.”
    â€œHer friend?”
    â€œYeah, this smoking-hot chick with blond hair. She was dressed all in black.”
    â€œDid you see which way they went?”
    â€œNo.”
    Samantha turned and scanned the other people in the coffee shop. They all had their eyes glued on the events outside. None of them were going to be able to tell her what she needed to know. She walked back to the door and reached out and touched it. She could feel a lingering impression of Jill. Her roommate had been the last person to touch the door.
    But beyond that Samantha couldn’t feel