Page 22 of Hidden Ties

“Of course, you have a fucking candy drawer,” he muttered quietly under his breath as he tried opening it to find it stuffed to the brim with MoonPies and Nutty Buddies.

“I don’t see any!” he called out again in frustration when its contents only held items mostly from that Little Debbie bitch.

“The drawer on theotherside of the fridge!”

Already opening the other one, he found it, too, was stuffed but held items like Gummy Bears, Starbursts, and Snickers, along with her Twizzlers.

When he returned with the Twizzlers in hand, Valerie smiled.

“Sorry, that other one was my snack drawer.”

TEN

THE LOONEY BIN

Valerie chewed on her Twizzlers, deep in thought. After showering and putting on some fresh clean clothes, she felt a lot better considering she was worth two million dollars. Sal hadn’t left yet, still concerned she might pass out from her hot shower. She had half a mind to feel a little bit embarrassed about her tirade but, luckily for her, she no longer gave a fuck. Valerie had already experienced the most embarrassing moment in all her life when she’d gotten arrested, followed by her temper tantrum in the back of the cop car. It was hard to feel any embarrassment after that, not to mention she had already shown Sal her true imp self.

Taking another Twizzlers from the bag, she couldn’t believe her predicament. How the hell was she supposed to find out who was framing her without her computer?

The phone ringing in Sal’s pocket gave her a bright idea. She might not be able to use electronic devices …

But Sal could.

He definitely wasn’t as skilled as she was,but I’m sure I could talk him through it.

The hardest part was going to be the fact she was going to have to play nice with him for a little bit longer.

“I’ll bring her in.”

Catching the end of his phone call, Valerie grew worried. “Bring me in where?”

Sal gave her a smile. “That will ruin the surprise.”

“I-I don’t want to go back to jail.”

When he saw the worry in her eyes, he let her know he had no plans of taking her there. “I wouldn’t take you to jail. Besides, I’d get way too much enjoyment seeing you arrested again.”

With her eyes turning to slits, any fear of being taken back to a cell were gone, knowing he would, in fact, love to see that again.

She was about to tell him to fuck off and kick rocks but had to remind herself that she needed him.

“Let’s go.” He motioned for her to move toward the front door.

“You’re really not going to tell me where we’re going?”

Sal shook his head. “Nope.”

“Fine.” She got up, rolling her eyes, and headed out with him. It wasn’t like Salvatore Lastra was dangerous in any way,right?Officer Daniels’ fear and warning of Sal entered her mind, but then she almost practically laughed.Nah!Hell, he wore glasses, for Christ’s sake. Dangerous men didn’t wear glasses.

When an image of Jeffery Dahmer popped into her brain with those big fugly glasses, she decided to actually go into her destroyed computer room and pick up her bat.

Sal giving her an incredulous look made her say, “Just in case you do get any ideas, ’cause so help me God, if you do take me to the police department”—Valerie gave the bat in her hands a flourishing twirl—“they’ll be charging me with murder next.”

Sal swallowed. “Good to know.”

They walked out of the house; he headed for his Cadillac while she moved toward her car.

“Oh, and I’m driving. You can give me the directions as we go.”