Free Devious Minds by Colleen Helme Page B

out.”
    “Exactly.” He and I both knew that the consequences of a federal agent finding out my secret would be catastrophic. Not just to me, but to our whole family.
    “Why don’t you go home?” he said. “I’ll be there soon and we’ll figure this out together, okay?”
    “Sure. Thanks honey. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
    He tightened his lips together and nodded stoically, all while trying not to think about how much it worried him, instead, repeating in his mind, you’ll be fine, you’ll be fine , so I wouldn’t pick it up. I smiled, then pulled his face down to mine and kissed his lips hard to take his mind off his worries of me. After giving him some of the best kisses in the history of the world, I let him go and hurried out of the office, so he could think whatever he wanted in peace.
    As I drove home, guilt at what I put my husband through caught my heart in a vise and nearly swallowed me whole. There were a lot of things he’d had to put up with from me... but so far, this took the cake.
    Well... maybe not. I did spend that week in Orlando with Ramos. Yeah... that was probably lots worse than this, because... you know... it was Ramos, and that had turned out all right. So maybe going to Paris with Blake wasn’t so bad. Still, I couldn’t stop my stomach from churning with anxiety. As great as reading minds was, it wouldn’t come in handy if everyone I was supposed to listen to was thinking in French.
    The first thing I did when I got home was chug down about half a bottle of Mylanta. That helped a little, and I knew I’d better pack the rest of the bottle, and maybe buy another one tonight before I left, just to be safe. I heard sounds from my kids, Josh and Savannah, in the basement, and that calmed me down.
    “Hey guys, I’m home,” I called down to them.
    “Hey mom,” they both called, with a, “Hey Shelby,” mixed in. That sounded like Chloe. She’d become good friends with Josh and our family after nearly getting killed by some drug dealers. She was my best friend’s niece, and one of the reasons I was grateful for my mind reading skills since I’d used them to help her out of a bad situation.
    I climbed the stairs to my room, ready to change into more comfortable clothes before I started dinner. If I had to be ready by eight in the morning, I’d better make sure the clothes I wanted to pack were clean as well. Then it hit me. I was actually going to Paris tomorrow. That was just nuts.
    I also realized that Savannah’s birthday was coming up. She was about ready to turn thirteen... a teenager. Wow, where had the time gone? But that gave me an idea. I could buy her something in Paris! It might be expensive, but so what? I wasn’t paying for the trip, so I could certainly splurge on something nice. Didn’t the Champs-Élysées have all kinds of great shops? It would be perfect.
    Of course, I couldn’t get her something without getting Josh something as well. But what did you buy a fifteen-year-old boy in Paris? And what about Chris? I had no clue what to get either of them, but once I got there, I was sure I could think of something.
    Then my most heart-felt desire of buying myself some French perfume hit me. Now that I was going, I could get some. That brought a smile to my lips. If I didn’t dwell too much on the scary stuff, I could almost believe that this might be a great trip after all.
    Before I went down to start dinner, I decided to call Uncle Joey and get it over with. He may get upset, but at least he was out of town so he couldn’t do anything about it. He answered on the second ring. “Shelby. What a surprise. Twice in one day. This must be some kind of a record. Do you have some good news about the trial?”
    “Yes... I do. But it’s kind of both good news and bad news at the same time.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean? Did you get Oliver to confess?”
    “Uh... no, but we have a lead on his accounts, so we should know how to pin that on him