Read Online The Underdogs by Sara Hammel - Free Book Online

and bad cop. He didn’t need a partner.
    â€œLiterally the only thing that happened was I saw her in the pool hallway during the summer kickoff party, and then I went to talk to her, but she was gone by the time I got inside.”
    â€œInteresting,” Ashlock said. “Because my information is that you followed Annabel around like a lost puppy, but she wasn’t interested.”
    Patrick glared, drained his Gatorade, and slammed the empty bottle down on the desk. “First, she did like me. Okay? We’d kind of dated earlier in the month. We were both at the club late one night—I’d been working out and she’d been soaking in the hot tub. We got to chatting in the lobby. We talked for hours, Detective. We had a connection. So I asked her out, and she agreed to go to the movies with me.”
    â€œExcept the date never happened, did it, Patrick?”
    More glaring from the suspect. “We could never find a night when we were both free—that’s it. We still talked all the time.” The smile was back. All girls adore me, it was saying. All the time.
    There was a pause, and then Ashlock said provocatively, “I’m not so sure about that, Patrick. I think you were obsessed with her.”
    Silence, then Patrick sighed. Finally, he admitted, “Okay. I had spoken to her earlier that day, and she told me she was going to be at the club late working out. I invited her to the party, but she didn’t want to go. She said it wasn’t her style.”
    Whoa. Evie poked me. I don’t know what Patrick thought he was doing, but everyone knew Annabel didn’t work out. Ever.
    Patrick threw up his hands. “That girl was an enigma. She says she doesn’t want to go to the party, and yet I catch a glimpse of her peeking out of the women’s locker room, checking out the action.”
    â€œWait a minute,” Ashlock said. “She wasn’t a staff member. How could she have been there if, as you say, the party didn’t start until after the club closed?”
    â€œEasy. She was one of the people Gene gave a key to.”
    Ashlock cleared his throat, to stall I thought. I exchanged glances with Evie. I don’t think any of us knew about Annabel’s key. “Why were you so upset that night, Patrick? Something must have happened to get you riled up.”
    Patrick snapped, “I was upset because she blew me off, okay? Happy now? She totally dissed me and I was … annoyed. That’s it. There’s always another girl, Detective.”
    I imagined Ashlock rolling his eyes. “Fine, Patrick. So tell me: Who do you think we should be looking at for this?”
    Patrick looked startled. Ashlock did the silent routine again. I pictured him skeptical this time, raising his eyebrows as he leveled one of those cool gazes at Patrick.
    â€œWell,” Patrick said finally, “I don’t want to get anyone in trouble, but … you should be talking to Goran Vanek. He had a major crush on that girl.”
    Evie squinted at me. What the heck? I had the same exact reaction, because one thing was clear: Patrick was lying his butt off. Why was Ashlock letting him get away with such a weak explanation? What was his game?

 
    Before
    â€œIsn’t he beautiful?” Lisa swooned one day in late June, elbowing my mom. They’d stopped in the lobby to watch the action on Court 1 on their way back from grabbing some coffee at the café.
    Goran had one arm in the air, biceps curled, fist shaking in victory. He’d just hit a winner down the line that his opponent and best friend, Patrick, barely got a look at. My mom was way too old to moon over Goran, but Serene, nursing a can of cranberry juice with other elites taking a break, admitted of Goran’s legendary backhand, “That Missile is pretty hot.”
    Serene, an exotic beauty with thick, jet-black hair Evie coveted, had some hot shots of her own, notably her