Evil Never Dies (The Lizzy Gardner Series Book 6) by T.R. Ragan Page A

some sort of home for misfits?”
    Kitally’s eyes widened in surprise. “I don’t know. Is that what we are—misfits?”
    “I can cook,” Salma said, “and I—”
    Ignoring the girl, Lizzy turned around and walked into the other room, where Hayley was sitting on the couch, tapping away on the keyboard, absorbed in whatever she was working on. “We can’t talk openly if she’s going to be staying here,” Lizzy said.
    Hayley looked up.
    “What happened to your face?” Lizzy asked. “Who did that to you?”
    “It’s not as bad as it looks.”
    “Did Holmes see you?”
    “Yep. He saw us both.”
    Lizzy stood stock-still. Heat rose from her toes to her neck.
    “It was my fault,” Kitally said as she entered the room behind Lizzy. “I should have let Hayley handle things, but I got worried and screwed everything up.”
    “Yeah, well, it doesn’t really matter why or how,” Lizzy said. “We’re shutting this so-called operation down.”
    “Not yet,” Kitally said. “There’s still a good chance they caught Holmes with the porn that we planted inside his house and he’ll be locked up. In fact, he could be behind bars right now as far as we know.”
    “Don’t either of you get it?”
    Kitally and Hayley waited for Lizzy to tell them.
    “You weren’t ready,” Lizzy said to Kitally, angrily stabbing the air for emphasis. “I knew you weren’t ready, but I let you talk me into moving forward. And look what happened. He saw both of your faces. It’s over.”
    “You’re overreacting,” Hayley said. “Holmes can’t prove we were ever in his house. He has no idea who we are, and I bet you he doesn’t have a clue as to why we were there to begin with.”
    “Tell that to Detective Chase. He’s got his eyes on you,” she said to Hayley. “He’s got a file this thick.” She used her fingers to show her exactly how big the file was. “He’s got pictures and witnesses who say they saw you in the area where a dead man was found in his apartment—a man who supposedly put a bag over his head and committed suicide.”
    Hayley sighed and went back to whatever she was doing before.
    Kitally shot Lizzy a confused look. “What does that have to do with Hayley?”
    “That girl,” Lizzy said, ignoring Kitally and pointing in the direction she’d last seen Salma. “She’s gotta go.”
    “What happened to helping others whenever possible?” Kitally wanted to know.
    “Do you see those words carved on my fucking forehead?”
    “Wow,” Kitally said. “I get that you’ve got some major issues to deal with, but you don’t have to be such a bitch.”
    Lizzy took a breath, tried to calm herself. “I’m going to my room to grab a few things and then I’ll be out for most of the day.”
    “What about Shady Oaks Nursing Home?” Kitally asked.
    “What about it?”
    “You told me over the phone yesterday that you needed to talk to me about checking the place out.”
    “Yeah, well, figure it out. The file is on the desk in the office,” she said as she walked off.
    “I’ve never seen her so pissed off,” Kitally said after Lizzy walked away.
    Hayley shrugged. “She’ll get over it.”
    “Should I leave?” Salma asked.
    “ No ,” Kitally and Hayley both said at once.
    Tammy Walters and her four-year-old son lived in a one-bedroom apartment off Forty-Second Street. Long, unkempt dry grass and broken-down fencing surrounded the outside of the building, but the inside of the apartment was clean and neat, if sparsely furnished.
    Tammy sat on a sofa, and Lizzy sat in an overstuffed chair facing her. “What can you tell me about your sister Miriam?”
    “Do you mean what kind of person is she? Her hobbies, her goals?”
    “Sure,” Lizzy said. “Anything that might tell me what she’s like.”
    Tammy thought about it for a moment. “Miriam is my best friend. Although we have the same birth parents, you wouldn’t know it once you looked at the two of us together. Miriam is tall and