Crash and Burn by Allison Brennan, Laura Griffin Page B

man who sprinted much faster than she. He jumped in a sporty Honda and pealed out of the parking lot. Scarlet got the plate number and went back to Valerie’s apartment.
    “Are you okay?” she asked her.
    Valerie, huddled in the corner of the couch, nodded. She looked anything but okay.
    “Stay here. Do not open the door for anyone until your mom gets here, okay? I’m going to track down Detective Bishop and Chase and make sure no one hurts you.”
    She called Krista.
    “Yep,” Krista answered, half asleep.
    “I need your help. Can you babysit a rape victim until her mom arrives? The guy who may have raped her just showed up at her apartment, and I need to find him. But I don’t want to leave her alone.”
    “What’s the address?”
    Scarlet rattled it off.
    “I can be there in forty minutes.”
    “Thanks, buddy. I owe you.”
    Krista snorted. “I’m not keeping score.”
    Scarlet cut off the call and said, “My partner is going to stay with you. Let me make you something to eat.”
     
    ~ ~ ~
     
    Scarlet had gotten Valerie to eat half a bagel before Krista arrived. Scarlet told Valerie to pack a bag in her bedroom, and when she was out of earshot, Scarlet filled her partner in. She showed her photos of Chase Flores and gave her a basic description of Skip Oliver. “I doubt Chase will return, but might if he’s watching the place and sees me leave.”
    “Got it. No problem. I don’t need tile in my bathroom.”
    Scarlet rolled her eyes. “Right. Like you were really planning on working on your house today.”
    “I was thinking about making a list of what I need to tile the bathroom,” Krista said. She gave Scarlet a half-smile. “I printed out instructions.”
    Scarlet laughed. “Baby steps.”
    “It’s not like we’ve had a lot of time lately.”
    That was certainly true. They took every job they could get to build their name in the business.
    Scarlet made sure Valerie and Krista were secured in the apartment, then left and called Bishop again. Again, voice mail. She gave him the one-minute version of what happened at Valerie’s and ended with, “I have a theory. It’s rough, but we need to talk.”
    Her phone beeped that she had a call coming in, and she answered immediately, hoping it was Bishop.
    It wasn’t.
    “Scarlet, Jim Douglas. I need your help.”
    Shit. The last thing she wanted to do was mediate between Jim and Wendy. As far as she was concerned, they were both crazy.
    “I’m in the middle of something.”
    “Wendy followed you here! She’s sitting outside my building right now, in her car, watching my door. I think she’s been there all night!”
    Damn, damn, damn!
    “I’ll be right there. I’ll talk to her. Stay away from her.”
    She hung a U-turn at the next light and sped back into Irvine. Ten minutes later, she was at Jim’s place.
    She drove around the block once to ground herself with the situation. Wendy was parked across the street from the apartment complex, sitting in her damaged car. She wore large sunglasses and her blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but it was clearly Jim’s ex.
    Scarlet parked several spots behind her, then approached the vehicle as if she were doing a traffic stop—with extreme caution.
    Wendy had her driver’s side window rolled down. She wasn’t moving. For a brief moment, Scarlet thought she was dead, but her body was perfectly straight, her head turned toward Jim’s.
    “Wendy,” Scarlet said. She looked for Wendy’s hands. Both were visible in her lap.
    “Go away.”
    “You shouldn’t be here.”
    “He called me last night.”
    Well, shit. He called her.
    “He told me that he didn’t love me anymore, that he didn’t want anything to do with me. That you said if he read the letter I would stay away from him.”
    “That’s what you told me.”
    “No I didn’t!”
    If Krista wasn’t protecting Valerie, Scarlet would have called her. If Scarlet had been a cop, she would have called for back up. The woman had