Out of Time (Nine Minutes #2) Read Online Free Page A

When she reached the stop sign, she looked in her rearview mirror. The vehicle she’d almost hit was a courier van and it was now pulling into her driveway. Doesn’t matter, she thought. Whatever it is, Tommy can sign for it.
    She turned on her car radio, punched the button for her favorite station, one that played music from the seventies. “Nights in White Satin” by the Moody Blues was playing. She turned it off, took a quick right into a strip mall and found a shady parking spot under a tree. She put the car in park, draped her arms across the top of the steering wheel, laid her head down.
    And sobbed.
     
     
     

Chapter Two
    Thirty Minutes Earlier,
    Offices of Loving Lauderdale Magazine
     
     
    “But the love story. That’s what I really want to play up. The love between the hardened criminal and the sweet, innocent girl. That’s what the readers want, a love story, and I need something to make the conclusion pop.”
    Leslie cradled the phone against her ear as she spoke, trying to make her voice as convincing as possible. What she’d failed to mention—and didn’t intend to reveal—was that she already had her conclusion and, boy, would it pop. But did Ginny know?
    She knew she was just pushing the envelope here, stretching the boundaries of this interview. She wasn’t just being nosy. She was being downright greedy. But she had to push.
    “That signal he gave you,” Leslie prodded. “It must have meant something. Can’t you give me anything here, Ginny?”
    Ginny’s sigh was audible over the speakerphone. “The only thing I can tell you, Leslie, is that I’ve spent three months letting you interview me and the real love story was right under your nose the whole time. You just didn’t see it. A story about a man who has loved me from the very beginning, from the first glance. The man who always was and still is my soul mate. That’s the only love story now. Yes, I loved Grizz, that’s true. But that story is over. Don’t romanticize it. I’ve built a new life with—”
    That was it—there was no way in hell Ginny knew her husband was Grizz’s son. Leslie was certain of that now. Nobody was that forgiving. Leslie cut her off and went in for the final kill.
    “She doesn’t know, does she, Tommy?” Leslie asked sweetly, knowing full well Tommy was sitting right next to Ginny. “You haven’t told her yet?” She tsk-tsked. “Well, I suggest you do so before she reads it in my article.”
    But instead of the torrent she’d expected, there was nothing but silence. Leslie waited a beat, then two, for Tommy’s answer. There was no reply. She’d been disconnected.
    Damn! She’d wanted to get the story behind that signal Grizz had given Ginny; she just knew there was something to it. But nobody would tell her a thing. Truthfully, she was a little surprised to realize Tommy had never revealed to Ginny that Grizz was his father. In her experience, most people couldn’t keep secrets like that to themselves.
    Leslie didn’t purposely set out to be mean or rude, but she liked having the upper hand in an interview. She probably came across as pushy, but she didn’t care. Especially now—this article was too important to her career. It could be her big chance with a popular, renowned magazine. She had told a white lie when she’d originally approached Ginny about the interview. She didn’t actually work for the magazine in question, but she knew that after submitting this story she would have a shot at it.
    And Leslie had proved to be a good investigator. She knew how to coerce people. How to get them to talk to her. That’s how she got this interview. She did her homework and went to the one person who could influence Ginny to open up. Her daughter, Mimi. Yes, she knew Grizz was Mimi’s father. Leslie was surprised when she realized the fifteen-year old, unbeknownst to her own parents, knew it, too.
    Leslie swiveled back to her computer screen and did some final edits on the article. It