Page 79 of Little Dark Deeds

She blew a lock of hair off her face and glared at me.“Do you have any idea what time it is right now?”

“I’m aware.I need to speak with Chad.Where is he?”

“He’s in the bathroom, lady.Look, I don’t know what you’re doing here in the middle of the night, but he’s busy.To make myself clear, he’s not accepting visitors right now.”

She’d made herself clear.

Now it was my turn to return the favor.

I leaned around her, shouting, “Chad, get out here.Now.”

Unhappy, the woman spread her arms, and the sheet fluttered to the ground.For a moment, she looked embarrassed, and I thought she’d pick it up.

She didn’t, though.

She stood her ground, and part of me respected her for it, but if she thought she was going to prevent me from entering Chad’s apartment, she was about to learn a new life lesson.

“I’ll give you one chance to get out of my way,” I said.“You should take it.”

“Oh, yeah?Or what?Like I said ...you’re not coming in.”

I grabbed her arm, wrenching it behind her back as she yelped in pain, and I wasn’t even pulling, not hard.I pushed her to the side and entered the apartment, releasing her arm as I said, “Don’t even think about coming at me.”

But she’d already thought about it, and she rushed toward me, fists raised.As she attempted to land a punch, I jerked back, and she stepped forward, tripping over my heeled shoe and falling over the back of the couch.

“I warned you,” I said.“Do yourself a favor and stay down.”

I didn’t think she’d heed that advice, but before she had the chance to make another bad decision, Chad rushed downstairs.

“What in the ...Georgiana?What are you doing here?And Lacey, why is your naked body bent over my couch?”

Lacey brought herself to a sitting position, grabbing a couple of couch pillows and placing them in front of her to cover up.She shot me dagger eyes, saying, “It’sherfault.She’sthe crazy one, not me.Who is she, one of your ex-girlfriends?”

“Uh, no,” I said.“Not even close.”

I walked back to where the sheet had fallen and picked it up, tossing it at her.

“Gee, thanks,” she said.

Then I glanced at Chad.“We need to talk.”

“We need to talk, all right.Showing up at a person’s house in the middle of the night just because you’re working an investigation is not cool, not cool at all.”

“What are you talking about?”Lacey asked.“What investigation?”

Chad squeezed his eyes shut, sighing.“Remember me telling you about my ex-girlfriend, the one who was just murdered?Georgiana is one of the investigators.”

Lacey raised a brow, her expression softening.“You’rethe friend.”

“I’m the friend,” I said.

“Well, hey ...ahh, sorry about Tiffany, but Chad’s right.You shouldn’t barge in at this hour.”

“It’s not something I do often.This couldn’t wait.”

“Whatcouldn’t wait?”Chad asked.

“We should talk in private.”