Free Set Up by Cheryl B. Dale Page A

many. She hates shopping and never spends money on herself.”
    The cat seized on Johanna's distraction to sneak around and jump onto the bed from the other side.
    “So we'll buy one of Jane's dresses for her.” Cal saw the yellow cat, eyes on Johanna's back, put one cautious paw over the edge of the suitcase.
    Live and let live.
    The cat snuggled down among Johanna's folded clothes.
    “If I go with you this afternoon, you can help me pick something out. Tell me more about this Jane.”
    * * * *
    Amanda was worried about her sister.
    She hadn't heard a word from Noelle since their conversation two weeks before. Though she’d left a message on Noelle’s cell several times, Noelle hadn’t called back. Maybe everything was going all right at home and she’d simply forgotten. Forgetfulness was a symptom of Noelle’s disorder.
    Maybe it was time to call Noelle at home.
    She picked up the phone but put it back down. Edward didn’t work set hours and he might be there. If he didn’t know about Noelle’s indiscretion, Amanda didn’t want to inadvertently let anything slip. Surely Noelle would call soon. Besides, Noelle would have let her know by now if everything wasn’t all right with Edward.
    If only everything was all right here.
    Until Callaway McIntyre, Amanda had never done anything illegal, and now her conscience, already burdened with memories of Tommy, had a new reason to hound her.
    At the drafting table, she twirled the drawing pencil between her fingers while her part in Noelle’s scheme gnawed at her insides. She ought to be figuring how much she could afford to pay on her loan this month, or estimating how many dresses she had to sell to keep her lovely business with its stark white wallboard and varnished wood safe from the bank.
    Instead, she couldn't stop worrying about Noelle.
    Her workroom, normally a sanctum with its different swatches of new-smelling material, had white walls covered by drawings representing her latest ideas. A few were complete, needing to be taken down and filed after having been constructed by the three full-time seamstresses her growing clientele now allowed her to employ; but most of the drawings were unfinished, lacking some detail or other that would come to her after hours of staring at them and pondering.
    Amanda loved her workroom but today her eyes came back to the solid pine desk, adorned by a single photograph of Noelle, Edward, and Teddy, that never failed to warm her. In it, the baby burbled with laughter while his parents beamed proudly over him. The little family was safe, thanks to her, but Noelle should have let her know that for sure.
    She threw the pencil down.
    How could she work?
    Maybe she should go ahead and call. Even if Edward was home, he wouldn’t think it unusual.
    Yes, he would. Edward knew she was always too rushed to call Noelle from work.
    Taking off her reading glasses, Amanda closed her eyes and pressed them with her fingertips. All her problems were getting her down: Noelle’s future, her complicity in drugging an innocent, well, a nearly innocent man. Her car.
    It was ridiculous to believe anyone would put a bomb in her car, but that's what the detective had told her when he came by the day before. “It was set to explode when the engine reached a certain temperature but the thermostat was off. If you hadn't seen the smoke and stopped when you did, you would have been inside. Are you sure you don't have any enemies? A jealous ex-husband? An angry ex-boyfriend?”
    No. There was no one who wanted to harm her.
    “Gangs,” the detective had suggested. “They're into everything nowadays. Maybe it was an initiation. Or maybe they got the wrong car.”
    That was the last time she'd park overnight at that particular shuttle lot, even though there had never been problems in using it before. Of course, if it hadn't been for Noelle, she would never have parked there to begin with.
    Which brought her back to her more immediate concern. Should she