basket with the graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows, and, of course, the dogs into the Miata when my cell phone rang.
âDallas is throwing up,â Sally shrieked. âAnd Madison and Savannah are starting to complain about their tummies.â
Howls and wails echoed on the line.
âOh boy. What can I do?â
âNothing, thanks, Charlotte. But it wonât be a good night here. Iâll be doing the bucket-and-mop routine. And the kids will need my attention. Weâll get together when theyâre better.â
âIâll call Margaret. Let me know if you need anything. Iâll come by.â
A loud wail erupted in the background. Sally said, âNope. Itâs probably wildly contagious. I donât want you on my conscience. Gotta go.â She hung up with a clatter.
âThat was a close call,â Margaret said when I reached her. âImagine if weâd been there. Yuck.â
âNo kidding.â Of course, poor Sally was there, without any help.
âI can use the time at the office. Let me know when the new night is. Oh yeah, and, Charlotte, are you going to call Pepper?â
I left a message for Pepper saying that the so-called shower had been postponed. As soon as I hung up, I realized that Pepper might not get that message from her work phone in time. That is if she intended to go to Sallyâs. Maybe sheâd been yanking my chain. She does like that game.
Now what?
Once Iâd known Pepperâs home number by heart. But now I had no idea what it was. I figured most police officers donât list their phone numbers for obvious reasons. They donât want perpetrators to have their addresses. But I knew where Pepper lived. Nick Monahan had told me one time when heâd spotted me before I spotted him. Heâd leaned in, stared down the front of my blouse, and breathed the news as I backed away from him. That was Nick. The perennial horny adolescent. Only now he and Pepper had bought a house on Old Pine Street.
âHow about that,â Iâd said. âJust like a grown-up.â
âI hear ya,â heâd said with a sigh. âIâm not so crazy about the house thing. But Pepper sure wanted it. And what Princess Pepper wantsâ¦â
My eyes had already glazed over when he told me about the separate lot and the double garage heâd had specially built for his car and his truck. âThatâs the reason I went for the place. Got it all,â he said. âMade of brick. Motion detectors. Dead bolts. Video surveillance. Alarms. No son of a bitch is going to mess with my blah, blah, blahâ¦Anytime you want a drive, Charlie, let me know.â He waggled his eyebrows.
As if I could give a crap about Nick the Stickâs Mustang convertible and his Dodge Ram and his fear that they would be stolen from under his nose. All to say, Iâd missed the detail about the house number in the fog of boring words.
The good news was, I was sure I could figure out which one it was. This was a pleasant but ordinary street. How many houses would have a separate lot with a brick garage with such elaborate security on them? I could swing by the new house on Old Pine and tell Pepper. I wouldnât have to let her know how I knew where she lived or that Nick had told me about his precious garage and big toys and asked me for a drive. Any word that Iâd been within a block of Nick might set her off. If she wasnât home, I could leave a note. I was pretty sure she wouldnât have shown up at Sallyâs anyway, but this way I could pretend to be nice. Or at least nicer than I was.
Pepper was wearing a pricey pair of skinny jeans and a cream cashmere sweater when she answered the door. Her shiny blonde layers looked perfect. She was heading somewhere, for sure.
I was glad Iâd taken the time to put on capris and a filmy flowered blouse.
âNice place,â I said politely.
âWhat are you doing
Sharon Kleve, Jennifer Conner, Danica Winters, Casey Dawes