Armed With Steele Read Online Free Page A

never not answer a call from her again.
    * * * *
    “I don’t see what the big deal is, Jess,” Matt said as we walked out to our vehicles. “So her purse was open?”
    My little legs strained to keep up with his long strides. “Matt, look at this bag. It’s ginormous. The last thing a woman who carries a purse this size wants to see is its contents scattered all over the floor of her car. We stomp on the brakes too hard one time and wham!—stuff’s flying everywhere.”
    Matt stopped beside my Civic and stared at me, a vacant look in his eyes.
    “Just trust me, alright? Grace never, and I mean never , leaves her purse unzipped.”
    “I don’t know,” he said, and raised a hand to rub the back of his neck. “Seems like a minor detail to me. My guess is that Officer Steele did it, looking for her ID before I got there. Or maybe she unzipped it to dig around for something while she drove. Hell, maybe that’s what caused her to go off the road.”
    “I hope you’re right.” I climbed into the driver’s seat and peered into her purse. “Hmm, nothing seems to be missing. Cell phone’s here. Her wallet. But…”
    “But what?” Matt swooped in for a view. “What is it?”
    “It’s a mess .” The status quo for my purse, but never for hers.
    “Her car rolled into a ditch! What did you expect?”
    I shook my head, adamant. “Yeah, I know. But look at this—all her zippered interior pockets are open, papers and receipts everywhere... No, something’s not right. You know Grace—she’s an organization freak.”
    “Jessica,” Matt said, his voice softer now. My inquisitive gaze left the Coach and traveled back to him. “I know you’re having a hard time dealing with this. We all are. But you analyzing the condition of her purse isn’t going to change anything. It was a freak accident. We may never know what caused it. All we can do now is be there for Gracie when she’s ready to wake up.”
    I dug my fingernails into my palms and blinked back the tears now stinging my eyes. Sure, at first glance what happened to Grace looked like a simple enough one-car accident, but something in my gut told me there was more to it than that. Clearly, Matt was not of the same mindset.
    I took a deep breath, flashed him the best attempt of a smile I could drum up, and set her purse down on my passenger seat. And then I began a dangerous new trend: I lied. “Yeah, maybe you’re right.”
    He nodded, and rested his hand on the frame of my door. “You going to be okay on your own tonight?”
    “I could ask you the same thing,” I said with a half grin. With it being Friday and all, even if Grace hadn’t been in the hospital, I wouldn’t have expected to see her until midday Saturday. She’d been staying over at Matt’s place more and more often these days.
    Even in the dim, unnatural lighting of the parking garage I saw color flood his cheeks. “Yeah, not exactly how I planned to spend the evening. At least you got what you wanted.”
    I stared up at him, shocked. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
    Matt chuckled. “Easy, killer. I just meant that all this,” he said, motioning toward the hospital, “got you out of your blind double-date.”
    I gave him a sheepish grin. “Oh. Yeah. What did he say when you called, anyway?”
    “That he was relieved it was a legitimate excuse…and that he can’t wait to reschedule.”
    “Not if I have anything to do with.” Getting back into the dating scene meant setting myself up for more heartache. Thanks, but no thanks. “Maybe I’ll get lucky and Grace will forget all about it.”
    “Grace? Forget something?” Matt shook his head. “You, of all people, should know better than that.”
    My gaze flashed back to the hospital entrance. Would this coma rob Grace of her memory, her sense of humor, or any of the other hundred things I loved about her?
    * * * *
    Fifteen minutes later, I walked through the back door of our little rental house and yelled out of