Free The Best Victim (Kindle Serial) by Colleen Thompson Page A

pocket to reread the message that made the world spin around her each time her thoughts glanced off it. So after breathing a quick prayer that the rogue agent would take Dumpling and her bags to the hotel he’d suggested, she swallowed back the threatening nausea and went inside.
    After taking an elevator to the third floor as signs directed, she found an empty waiting area painted in shades of institutional oatmeal and tapped at the frosted window with a knuckle. When no one answered, she knocked harder, praying that the office hadn’t closed early for some reason.
    Moments later, the glass slid to one side, revealing a jowly, middle-aged woman whose dark unibrow made her look permanently annoyed. “May I help you?”
    Her heart stumbling, Lauren could barely force the words out. “I, uh, I was asked to come here, to identify a—they think it’s my sister? Rachel Miller? But I can’t imagine she would…”
    The receptionist’s expression softened. “Ah, yes. Rachel Miller. I was asked to keep an eye out for you, Miss…?”
    “It’s Miller, too. Lauren Miller.”
    “You’re here alone?” The woman rose slightly from her seat and craned her thick neck to look out into the waiting area.
    The wariness in her expression made Lauren suspect that she’d been asked to watch for Brent Durant as well. Would he have been arrested, as he had feared, if he had come inside? Would they send someone to lock him up if she told them to check the Sheraton?
    Yet Lauren simply nodded, too nervous to answer all the questions such a demand would entail. Not until she got through this part, anyway.
    The receptionist pushed a clipboard toward her. “If you’ll fill out this information and let me see a photo ID, someone will call for you in a few minutes.”
    Lauren took the form back to a chair and completed the required blanks before fishing her driver’s license from her wallet. After returning to the counter, she peeked into the open window. But the receptionist had left her desk, so Lauren, unable to resist the impulse, pulled the cell phone from her pocket and opened the messages.
    Her pulse pounding like a war drum, she stared at the name on top of the screen. Her sister’s name, which meant that the text had been sent from Rachel’s phone.
    The text containing six words that sent fresh fault lines snaking through Lauren’s frozen heart. NEED TO TALK TO YOU. SOON.
    To be continued in the next episode. Your book will be automatically updated with Episode Three and you can continue reading from this page.
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