I've Died Here Before novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: The Diner

The diner was in Queens, under the elevated train, and it was the least romantic place in the world to meet a man who had tried to drown me.

I picked it.

"Rule two," Holden said in the car. "Do you want to hear him?"

"I want to hear what he's selling."

"I'll be in the booth beside you."

"You'll be on the outside seat."

"Of course," he said. "I'll be on the aisle side."

The detective from the hospital sat two booths down in a Mets jacket, with a newspaper and a coffee.

I did not recognize him until he lowered the paper and winked.

Dean came in at noon.

He was in a gray sweatshirt, unshaved, with no coat and no polite smile.

He slid into the booth across from me, and Holden sat down at the end, so his shoulder blocked the aisle.

"Hello, Mr. Courtland."

"Dean."

"You went into the river after her friend," Dean said, and looked at me. "I threw her in because I didn't think you would."

"You were wrong," I said.

"I was wrong a lot, this week."

The waitress put down three coffees and left.

Dean didn't touch his.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Out."

"Of what?"

"My sister's plan," Dean said. "She wants me to stand in front of a judge and say I did everything alone. I took the van, the boat, the girl in the garage. She'd pay my debts afterward."

"And?"

"And I looked at her bank accounts this morning." He laughed, ugly and short.

"She's been paying my bookmaker's man with my money for two years. The man in the Mets cap."

"Last week he gave me thirty days to clear my debt, Miss Whitlow. He's not joking."

"Where is your sister's money?"

"She has none. She never did. There's no late husband's fortune. She has the Courtland name, and she wants the rest by Christmas."

Holden's jaw moved.

"So you came to sell her," I said.

"I came to sell me, cheaper." He leaned forward. "I have a second phone. I never trusted her. I kept every voice note she ever sent me."

← Chapter 17 · All chapters · Chapter 19 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend