Read Online Deadly News: A Thriller by Zooey Smith - Free Book Online

put into protective custody, somewhat unofficially, since both places I’d stayed at had been broken into in the period of a few days.”
    “But they didn’t know that yet,” the man with the suit jacket says.
    “Right. Not then. It wasn’t until the next morning, when Robert came back on—”
    “Who?” the thirteen-year-old asked.
    “Officer Delano. The one you thought was corrupt.”
    “Ah, right.” She made a rolling motion with her hand. “Continue.”
    Abby grinned. “Anyway, they took me to a hotel, had a cop stay with me—”
    “In the room? Was he hot?”
    “He was a she. And yes, in the room.” She put up her hand. “And no, before you ask, there were two beds.
    “The next morning, we were eating breakfast—room service—when Robert called and said they had something solid.”

Abby’s Tale, Continued
    “On video,” Robert said.
    “So you know who they are? Is Ecks all right?”
    “We don’t know. And, uh, we don’t know about Ecks either. There’s nothing obvious on camera. Only one of them got in the car, then we think pulled up to the front of the building. It was late though, no witnesses.”
    “So you don’t have anything.”
    “We have the video. Which I’d like you to take a look at. I’m going to have Fe bring you to the station.”
    “We’re eating breakfast,” Abby said, then regretted it. She didn’t know why she said it, she didn’t care about eating. She wanted to find Ecks.
    “Fine. When you’re done then.”
    “Okay,” Abby said. “Do you want to talk to Fe?”
    “Sure, put her on.”
    “Here,” Abby said to Fe, holding out her cellphone to her.
    The other woman took it. “Hey Delano. Sure.” She looked at Abby’s plate, then her own. “Yeah, almost done here. Thirty minutes?” She looked at Abby as she asked this.
    Abby nodded.
    “Okay, see you then.” She handed the phone back. “I’m done.” In response to Abby’s look, she added, “New diet, stop eating while there’s still food left on your plate.” She shook her head. “Seems wasteful though.”
    Abby frowned. “You don’t look like you need a diet.”
    “And how do you think I manage that? By eating whatever I want? Or by going on diets when I notice my weight start to creep up?”
    “I hadn’t… thought about it,” Abby admitted. “That makes sense though. Like preventative medicine.”
    “Exactly.” She got up with her plate, looked out the peephole, then opened the door and placed the plate outside it. “I’m gonna use the bathroom. Don’t open the door till I come out.”
    “Okay.”
    Twenty minutes later, having made it through traffic in a magically short amount of time, they were at the station, and Officer Robert Delano was fast-forwarding through several hours of surveillance video in which nothing happened. Fe was leaning on the edge of the table next to Abby. The video was playing on a moderate sized monitor, set against one wall. The room was either a small conference room, or a well-appointed interrogation room. Abby hadn’t decided which. Earlier in the video, an all-black car had pulled into view, then parked. Half of its rear end was visible, and the top was cut off, but something about it was familiar to her, she stared at the hyperspeed video, the car remaining stationary as the shadows shifted and the day progressed, and frowned.
    Delano was shaking his head as the video sped forward. “Real professionals to sit there all day. One hellova constitution.”
    “God,” Fe said, “don’t remind me about the existence of stakeouts.”
    Finally, the car doors opened and feet appeared from the driver’s side, and Delano fumbled with the mouse to stop the racing footage and play it at normal speed.
    Something clicked for Abby, and she leaned in close to make sure she saw what she thought she did. “That’s an Uber car.”
    Delano looked at her. “You like cars?”
    She frowned at him. Then she shook her head. “No, I mean it’s Uber, the company,