“Trust your instincts, then follow them.”

Suspense/Romance, New Adult (19-29), Kindle
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Chapter 11- Here, or in Africa? (Excerpt)

Jean was filled with rage. “What were you doing over there?” she yelled at Njab. As she yelled she hit him over and over with her fists until Njab rolled into a protective ball in the corner of Jean’s bedroom.

“What were you after?”

Njab didn’t answer. He didn’t dare say; Jean would kill him for sure. Furiously, she beat on the man until she was exhausted. She was so angry she considered killing him, but she didn’t know how she could get rid of the body. And, then, she’d have to clean up a lot of blood. What if the girl came home early and brought her friends with her like she had before?? She took a breath and tried to calm down. Everything would be okay, she told herself over and over with every pounding heartbeat. Soon, Anney would be sleeping on her couch and Jean would have everything under control again.

When Jean told a battered Njab to get into the car, he whined he was hungry. He wanted a burger and some fries. She made him a peanut butter sandwich on stale bread with no jam to eat in the car on the way back to the yacht. What he held in his hand was far, far from what he was hoping for. Even if she hadn’t just given him the beating of his life, there was no way she was going to risk some burger joint’s security camera picking up the two going through a drive-through. What was the man thinking? She’d just beat the crap out of him and he had the nerve to ask for a burger and fries? He was lucky he still had a throat to swallow with. Jean could barely keep her hands off the knife drawer. She’d become very adept with a knife while she was in Africa. She had a gun—that would be less messy, but it was also noisier. This was a quiet neighborhood; someone might hear the gunfire. Njab ate the sandwich in tiny bites to keep his bruised stomach from throwing it back up. He had no doubt there would be no food on the yacht. Whatever they’d had was scarce and they wouldn’t have saved him any. They would have assumed that Jean had fed him.

***

Over at Jeremy and Paul’s, Anney was surprised at how hungry she was. She looked down at the plate Paul set before her that was loaded with grilled pork, pineapple, and zucchini with astonishment. “Paul! You cooked all this? It looks wonderful!”

“Thanks,” Paul said. “Jeremy got me a grill for Christmas and I started using it right away. I even grill when it’s raining,” he grinned.

“It smells so good it sometimes drives the neighbors crazy,” Jeremy said. “We’ve even had people go into the restaurant below us and ask what’s cooking. Now, he’s threatening to take the grill to Hawaii when we go so he can grill on the beach,” as he spoke, he shook his head no.

Paul playfully took Jeremy’s plate away from him but gave it back when Jeremy winked at him.
He listened with great interest to all the details of Anney’s problem. Once in a while, he’d look at Bentley and raise an eyebrow. Quietly, Bentley would nod in agreement. In agreement of what, she wasn’t sure. What’s more, she was too tired to care. It had been a long day and she couldn’t see the end of it. It could be hours before her head hit the pillow and, then, she’d be in someone else’s house. Not that she wasn’t grateful for Jean’s hospitality but, just like Dorothy, Anne felt there was no place like home.

Bentley’s cell phone rang a few times during the meal. Once, it was Jean asking if it was alright for her to let some guy from Anney’s store into her apartment to look for fingerprints. It was obvious that she didn’t believe they were accountants and that she was just playing along. “I could tell she wasn’t happy about it,” Bentley told his friends, “and she didn’t seem at all like the nice matronly lady you guys raved about,” he commented. Something isn’t right. What was she afraid of? He wondered to himself. Did she think that a government man would steal something? Or maybe that the guy would notice some kind of safety infraction? Seattle was hard on safety violations in rentals. That could be it. Some of the older Seattle homes were close together and a fire in one could easily spread to more before it was contained. Jack called Bentley right after that, so there was no time to speculate more about Jean’s reluctance about Anney’s visitors. After he got Anney settled at Jean’s, he’d call Jack back and talk to him about it. Most likely, he’d be in his office; he worked late. There was no one to go home to. Well, Jack did have a big cat he doted on…often, he and the cat visited Bentley’s office in the evenings to have a few beers and shoot some hoops.

At the end of the evening, the fingerprint expert called Bentley to let him know he was leaving the apartment and that he’d lock up. “What took you so long?” Bentley asked.

“Bentley, there were fingerprints everywhere. Especially around her lingerie drawer. It was kind of creepy. I couldn’t figure out what he was looking for but maybe he’s just some kind of sicko. All I know for sure is he didn’t bother to wear gloves!”

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Note: This is a scary topic but it is written to inform and entertain ages 19-29 yrs.

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Thanks for stopping by! Janelle

Photo was taken just before a performance of my Geronimo, Life on the Reservation show at Joel McCrea’s Ranch in Thousand Oaks, California. What nice people!

Rudy Ramos as Geronimo
Rudy is now filming Season 2 of Yellowstone with Kevin Costner
and a whole cast of wonderful actors. Written by Taylor Sheridan.