Read Avenged for Free Online

they’d rented an apartment by the beach. Andi’s friendship had been a haven for Carly during the year she and Nick were apart.
    “Hey, Andi, what’s up?”
    “What’s up with you? Will the city be embroiled in a gang war, and will ace reporter Alex Trejo miss all the action?”
    “Ah, you look a little too gleeful at the mention of a gang war.”
    “Just channeling my sweetie, Alex. You know he’d love covering a story like this.” Alex, Andi’s current love interest, was the local police beat reporter and Carly’s former nemesisturned friend. He’d also been a part of the investigation into the mayor’s murder and had helped Carly when Joe’s infant son had been kidnapped.
    “Yeah, I do,” Carly said. “And to tell you the truth, I missed him this morning. How is he doing?”
    “Chomping at the bit to get back to his newspaper crime beat. He’s gotten over the shock of his mom dying suddenly, but he hurts. And his dad is a basket case.” Andrea shrugged one shoulder and ran a finger around the rim of her cup. “The short answer is, he’s having a tough time. He was never close to his dad; there’s a lot of bad history there. But the man is so lost since his wife died that Alex can’t believe he’s the same father he grew up with.”
    “Does he know when he’ll be back?”
    “Maybe in a week.”
    Carly told her about the shooting and how everyone thought it looked staged. “The thing is, two gangsters are dead. You know there’s going to be payback.”
    Andi nodded. “And you’re worried about Nick.”
    “Don’t remind me. Tell me about your day; get my mind off things.”
    Her friend rolled her eyes but complied, filling Carly in on all the latest hospital happenings.
    Carly sipped her coffee and listened while Andi talked. She sat facing the door, a habit from her rookie days when training officers drummed into her head the need to be aware of her surroundings and the people in them. It was Monday night, and the shop was virtually empty. There had been agroup of four college students at a table in the back when she walked in, but they left about the same time she settled in with Andi. She figured she and Andi would be the last people Erika kicked out.
    The front door opened, and Carly looked that way from reflex. When she saw the man entering, Andrea’s voice faded into the background and every alarm bell in Carly’s head went off. His stride, the way he carried himself, said trouble, and Carly feared she was about to witness a robbery. She groped for her backpack and the security of the weapon inside.
    Andrea stopped midsentence. “What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Andi started to turn but Carly stopped her.
    “Don’t turn,” Carly hissed. Her backpack was in her lap, gun within reach, but she didn’t want to overreact by yanking it out. Without taking her eyes off the man, she told her friend, “Keep talking but get out your phone and call dispatch. Tell them to send a car here for a suspicious person.”
    “Suspicious person? You look as though you see Freddy.” But Andrea did as Carly asked.
    Carly kept her eyes on the man, calming a bit when he placed both hands flat on the counter. No gun. Eyes narrow, she studied him, feeling more relieved when she saw nothing to convince her he had a concealed weapon.
    He wasn’t Freddy, but he was fresh out of prison—of that Carly was certain. Ex-cons had an air about them, and it was strongest right when they got out. Their posture, how they wore their hair, even how they dressed gave them away. It wasa by-product of the institutional lifestyle, where they were monitored and directed by someone else 24-7.
    He wore a long-sleeved black shirt, buttoned up all the way, and black chinos with a sharp crease in them. His head was shaved, and dark, prison-style tattoos snaked up his neck from beneath the shirt collar toward an ear that looked half–chewed off. He’d given the dining area a once-over, so he knew Carly