Free Ashes and Bones by Dana Cameron Page B

mother.”
    Oh, hell.
    “You know I hate this machine.”
    So I’ve heard. Repeatedly. Never stops you, though.
    “In any case, thank you so, so much for the yummy, yummy chocolates. You shouldn’t have. I mean, you know I’m watching my figure—”
    A refrain as oft-spoke as it was false.
    “—but it was too, too thoughtful of you. You know I love these little surprises, though it would have been even a nicer treat if you’d brought them yourself.”
    She giveth with one hand, and with the other, taketh away.
    “I’m saving a few to share together. I know you’re awfully busy with…whatever you’re doing this summer. I haven’t heard from you since the postcard you sent from Hawaii; lucky Mrs. Chang, she gets to see you.”
    Lucky Mrs. Chang.
    “Well, give me a call. Or you could visit. You know I live on your visits. Bye.”
    Live for my calls, my pale pink butt. Ma was never in the country long enough to sit around and pine for me. If I called, I was being needy; if I didn’t call, I was being thoughtless. And I recalled that the whole “I live on your visits” thing started just after she’d read Dorothy Parker in one of her many literature courses.
    I had to call now, though. Had to find out about the chocolates.
    But, as usual, Ma had called and gone, and who knew when she’d get back? She could be in Peru by now, which under other circumstances wouldn’t be such a bad thing, but this whole things-I-hadn’t-sent people thing was really creeping me out. I left a message: While she might hate my answering machine, she found her own invaluable.
    “Hi, Ma, it’s me. Look, I didn’t send you any chocolates, and it’s very important that you call me and tell me where they came from, what kind they are, whether you ate any. I’m sure it’s fine, but just in case…well, I’m thinking that someone is playing practical jokes on me and I wouldn’t want you to get hurt. You know, maybe they fixed them with Exlax or something. If you haven’t eaten any, well, don’t. And call me if you get anything else that says it’s from me. Call me right away anyway, okay? Talk to you soon.” I put the phone down, only to realize that my hands were shaking. The rest of me was shaking, too.
    Okay, if this is Tony, he wants me to see him, he wants me to know that he’s got an eye on the people in my life. That he’s got an eye on me. Everything so far, well, it’s been pretty benign. Flowers, chocolates, steaks. Sounds like courtship presents. Maybe that’s how his mind works. He’d been flirtatious with me, but I’d always just assumed that it was a ruse, a way of feeling me out, so to speak. Find out what kind of person I am. So maybe, in his weird take on things, this is a kind of gesture. Gifts to me, to my family…well, it could be worse. Hell, who am I kidding? It will get worse. But if he’s spiraling in, I’ve got the time now to start thinking about this, follow the leads, track him down before this gets really bad.
    I was home for the next call, the next morning. It was from my sister, Bucky.
    Someone had tried to burn down the Pollock Farms veterinary clinic.

Chapter 5
    I WASN ’ T THERE ,” SHE SAID. “I JUST GOT THE CALL from the old man. Excuse me, our senior partner.”
    “Was anyone hurt?”
    “One of the older dogs died, probably from smoke. But I don’t think the racket did them any good.”
    I took a deep breath. “I mean, none of your colleagues were there?”
    “No, a car passed by and the driver saw the smoke. Thank God for cell phones.”
    I waited for her to continue, and when she didn’t, I started to get scared. “I just need an hour to get my stuff together,” I said. “I’ll be down by noon.”
    Some of the sharpness returned to her voice. “No, no. Don’t bother. I just wanted to tell you.”
    I hated when she got like this. “Wanted to tell me. Bucky, someone tried to torch your office. I know that place means more to you than—”
    “Yeah, well, what are