Free Courting Trouble by Lisa Scottoline Page B

the Kleenex. The detectives, apparently sensing that the sobfest was over, were heading back inside, the smoker flicking his cigarette butt into the gutter.
    “There’s no Kleenex anywhere,” Judy said, checking the top of the TV. “There must be a bathroom, with toilet paper you can use. In trinities like this, it’s usually upstairs, at the top of the stairs.”
    The bathroom! Yes! It’s here! Behind me!
    “Good idea,” Mary said, and headed for the stairs.
    Without thinking twice, Anne turned, ducked inside the bathroom, and closed the door.

 
 
7
     
    J esus, Mary, and Joseph!” Mary gasped, just before Anne clamped a firm hand over her mouth and backed her against the bathroom door. Mel’s tail curled into a question mark against the small pedestal sink, where he’d been dumped.
    “I’m alive, Mary!” Anne whispered. She yanked down the Uncle Sam beard. “See? It’s me, Anne. I’m alive. I’m not dead!”
    “Mmph!” Mary’s reddened eyes rounded with shock, and Anne’s hand pressed down harder.
    “Shhh! I don’t want the police to know.”
    “Mmmpu!” Mary shook her head, her eyes like brown marbles.
    “I’m going to take my hand from your mouth, but don’t say anything, okay? The cops can’t know I’m here.”
    “Mmph!” Mary nodded vigorously.
    “Don’t be upset, okay?”
    “Mmph!”
    “Everything’s all right.”
    “Mpphuo!”
    “It’s really me, and I’m alive.” Anne removed her hand, and Mary started screaming.
    “HELP! HELP, POLICE!!!!”
    No ! “Mary, shhhh! What are you doing!?”
    “I saw you dead! On the table! You’re a ghost ! A devil !” Mary blessed herself in record time, and Anne looked around in panic. She could already hear shouting and footsteps clattering up the stairs. Loud, like clogs.
    “Mare? Mare?” Judy shouted. “Is that you?”
    “HELP! JUDY!” Mary hollered. “POLICE! ANYBODY! HELP! BENNIEEEEEE!!”
    I can’t believe this . “Shut up! I’m alive! It’s me! It was my cat-sitter who got killed! See the cat ?” Anne pointed behind her at the sink, where Mel’s tail had straightened to an exclamation point.
    “No, you’re dead! I know it! I saw you! Dead, dead, dead! You had on your shirt! You were shot downstairs! Blood—”
    “It was my cat-sitter, her name was Willa. I lent her the shirt!” Anne grabbed Mary’s shoulders. “It wasn’t me!”
    “DiNunzio! I’m coming!” Bennie yelled, joined by the detectives.
    “Miss DiNunzio? Miss DiNunzio?” They were almost at the landing, the voices were so loud.
    Anne freaked. She’d run out of time. The damage was done. The doorknob was turning. She whirled around, jumped into the bathtub, and pulled the shower curtain closed just as the bathroom door swung open. Nobody would be able to see her through the shower curtain. It was opaque, a fancy flower print from Laura Ashley with a thick white liner. If it got her out of this, maybe it was worth the forty-six dollars. Mental note: Shoes, clothes, and makeup were allowed to be overpriced, but shower curtains had to prove themselves.
    “Mary, Mary, are you all right?” It was Judy, alarmed.
    “Miss DiNunzio!” It was the detective’s voice. “What is it? What’s the matter?”
    “DiNunzio? You okay?” It was Bennie, who must have burst into the room and flung open the door, because the shower curtain billowed. “Why did you scream?”
    Please, Mary, don’t blow it . Anne held her breath behind the curtain and stayed perfectly still against the white tile wall.
    “Uh . . . I don’t know,” Mary answered, her voice shaky.
    “But you screamed,” Judy said, then laughed. “Oh, I see. The cat.”
    Bennie laughed, too. “A cat!”
    The detectives laughed along. Everybody was ha-ha-ha ing. It was suddenly a bathroom party. “The cat startled you.”
    Mary, get a clue. They’re feeding you lines.
    “Yes, that’s it,” Mary said finally. “The cat. It surprised me. When I came in, it was sitting in the sink. Just