LYING EYES EXCERPT

Excerpt - Lying Eyes and Alibis

Prologue

“What would you do if you knew something very illegal and very bad was going on?” Janelle Hart typed, then hit the enter key to see it instant message in thick red font.

“Tell the police,” appeared in the message box in blue Arial italic font.

“Would you still, if it meant you would be hunted down and killed?” She typed in the question and reached for her glass of wine. Taking a healthy sip, she knew that the red liquid inside was not going to last long and would soon call for her to pour another.

“Jan, what is going on? Are you in trouble?” the blue font asked. It was almost as if Janelle could hear the worry as she read the typed words quietly under her breath.

A small box appeared on the left hand corner of the screen, indicating that she had just received an email. She opened the new window and saw that her friend, Alex, had sent her the pictures of herself that she had asked him for. She let out a sigh and forwarded them to the owner of the blue font, still waiting for her to answer his question. Finally, she moved her fingers over the keys. “I don’t think I’m in trouble,” she typed in response. “Not yet, anyways,” she whispered to the empty room, but kept that thought away from her typing hands.

Janelle had talked to Josh on the internet for almost two years now, and what started out as a fun banter had eventually turned into friendship, despite him being in Moab, Utah, and her miles away in Albany, New York. He was gone during the week, but as soon as he came into town, he always took the time to chat with her. He had hasseled her for months to send him a picture of her, now she finally could.

She picked up her wine glass, finished the red liquid, stared at the screen, then down at the enter key with a slow exhale. What if he didn’t think she was attractive? What did it matter? He was miles away and it was not like they were going to ever meet anyway. She pursed her lips together and hit enter. Jan exited out of her e-mail account and glanced at the new typed font in blue.

“Are you there?” it read.

She smiled and started to type. “Yep, just sent you the pictures you wanted. Just remember, I hate having my picture taken,” her thick red font responded. Being a redhead, she always used red font. It was like a trademark, a hint to the woman behind the screen.

If her boyfriend knew she was talking to Josh, he would have a fit. Then again, it mattered less and less what Dominic Mecelli thought of the things she did. He went into chat rooms and to parties where chatters met and played single, while she was at home with her daughter, Shelby. She was also just an after thought to Dominic behind his chatting, his carousing, his time with the boys and every other dirty little deed he was up to. Lately, there were lots of them, and things were getting bad. People she didn’t know were calling, wanting money, and not just small amounts. Every time she turned around, there was talk of him being charged with fraud? Never had she ever thought things would be like this.

“You’re cute! Has anyone ever told you that?” Josh’s blue font asked.

A small breath of relief escaped Janelle. “Not lately,” she typed back, smiling.

“Well, damn it, woman, you are,” flickered across the screen, followed by a little happy face with the tongue hanging out. “You have no idea what you’re doing to me.”

“Thanks,” she typed, and glanced at the picture of Josh that was on his message box. She gently let her fingers touch the screen.

And you, Josh, are so unbelievably sexy!

There was something so inviting about his eyes. She could close her lashes and still picture him vividly.

Josh’s blue font flickered across the screen in the instant messaging box. “So, tell me, cutie, if you’re not in trouble, what the hell is going on?”