Page 127 of The Innocent

Jekyll knew exactly what Sal was inferring without saying the actual words.

Oh, don’t you worry, Sal, he’s gonna be permanently removed. From this fucking earth.

Inez continued to berate her for another ten minutes, but once again Sal interjected, and he suggested Imogene go back to her apartment after her traumatic night.

They still had to finish up the meeting, but Jekyll walked her over to her place. There wasn’t any time for him to share his feelings about what had gone down. I’m gonna save that for later.

“You’re coming back to Killcreek.”

“I have to work.”

“Imogene.” He growled, and she rested her hand on his chest.

“I have a shift at the library tomorrow. I can’t call out.” She lifted her chin. “I won’t. It’s the job I love, and I’m not messing it up, Jekyll. But I get off at four. I can drive up after work.”

Imogene would be sitting in traffic for hours at that time.

“Come up the day after.”

She smiled, but Jekyll was still holding onto his residual anger.

Her days in Lawry were coming to a close.

Officially!

Chapter Twenty-Two

Imogene had her one-on-one meeting with Judy, who didn’t seem nearly as surprised or shocked when Imogene broke everything down. Judy was extremely sympathetic and assured Imogene she would handpick all her clients and vet them going forward. When Imogene argued that she shouldn’t get special treatment, Judy said it wasn’t up for discussion.

After her shift at the library, she headed straight to the animal shelter. It had been a long day, and she was eager to get back to her apartment, have dinner, and go straight to bed.

She walked in and headed to the woman sitting behind the desk. Imogene couldn’t recall her name, but she’d been the one to go over all the information for Hank’s adoption. She smiled, scanned her face, then frowned.

“You want to surrender him, don’t you?” The woman tossed her pen on the desk and shook her head. “I knew this was going to happen.”

What? Surrender who? Hank? As much as he would probably love to be rid of her forever, Imogene was holding out hope he’d eventually warm up to her. But even if he didn’t and she remained his archnemesis until his last breath, she wasn’t giving him up.

“Eden asked me to come down.”

The woman squinted. “To surrender Hank?”

“No.”

“Really?”

Eden came rushing out from the back. “I got this, Joanie. Hi, Imogene.”

“Hi, Eden.” She waved.

“You can come in the back.”

Imogene followed her down a long hall, passing the office where she’d originally filled out the paperwork for Hank. Eden opened the back door, holding it open for her as they entered the yard. This is where the paperwork is?

When the door closed, she turned. Eden’s face was pale, and she was biting on her bottom lip. She was clearly nervous.

“Are you okay?”

“I lied to you. There is no paperwork for you to sign.” Eden grasped her hips. “I needed a reason to get you down here.”