Chapter 71
Flynn
When it came to Anna, Felicity didn't know dick.
I crossed my arms. "Is that so?"
She gave an enthusiastic nod. "Oh yeah. Back in high school? Get this. She actuallywantedto be locked up, like in prison."
I gave Felicity a hard look. "Are you done?"
"Not hardly," she said. "Just listen…There was this guy named John who she must've had a real thing for..."
I froze.What?
Back in the day, John had beenmyname. Technically, it still was if I went the middle-name route. But Felicityknewthis. Or at least, sheshould'veknown if she'd been paying any attention.
Then again, John was a common name, and paying attention to anything beyond herself had never been Felicity's strong suit.
Now she was saying something about Anna having a thing for losers and criminals – as if the people Felicity dealt with were any better.
I cut her off in mid-sentence. "So this John guy, you get a last name?"
She frowned. "No. It was redacted. You know, crossed out?"
"Iknowwhat redacted means."
"Plus, most of the file was sealed," she said. "Apparently, he was a minor."
I frowned. If she was talking about me, Anna would've been a minor, too. I didn't like the idea of anyone digging into her business – or mine for that matter. I said, "And you 'know' all of this, how?"
She glanced away. "I hired someone."
By someone, she obviously meant a private investigator. Whoever it was, they couldn’t've been too good if they were missing key pieces of the story. But hey, that was Felicity's problem, not mine.
I made a show of looking disinterested even as she launched into a long rambling explanation of how "concerned" she was that I might be making, in her words, a "huge mistake."
When it came to Anna, I'd made mistakes all right, but not in the way Felicity meant.
After laying the groundwork for her snooping, she asked, "And do you want to know the rest of what they found out?"
Knowing Felicity, she'd tell me regardless. So I gave another shrug and let her make of that what she would.
Sure enough, she said, "So this John guy, apparently, he was all kinds of trouble."
If I weren't so pissed off, I might've laughed. Yeah, "he" was. He'd been in and out of foster homes for most of his misspent youth, during which he'd gained a reputation for being more trouble than he was worth.
And by the time he finally pulled his head out of his ass and started to "apply himself" in school, he'd been busted for something he didn't do, which had led him to do other things, especially when it came to Anna Burke and her family.
To Felicity, all I said was, "He sounds like an asshole to me."
She smiled. "Oh, he was. For sure."
No kidding.
When I said nothing else, she continued. "But that's just the background. Therealthing I wanted to tell you is this." She leaned forward. "That little townie of yours? She asked to switch places with him."
I shook my head. "No."
