Free Janet McNulty - Mellow Summers 03 - An Apple a Day Keeps Murder Away by Janet McNulty

place. She walked in with one agonizingly slow step after another. At first I wondered why she seemed embarrassed to come in. I soon learned why. She wore an outfit that matched Aunt Ethel’s. Purple spandex with daisies on it.
    Quickly, I covered my mouth to keep from bursting out laughing.
    Jackie glared at me. If looks could kill, I’d be dead. Clearly, she hated it. Aunt Ethel had to be the only reason why she wore it.
    “Oh, come in, Jackie,” quipped my aunt.
    Jackie took her spot in the room. I elbowed Greg before he could open his mouth.
    “Aunt Ethel,” I said, “What is going on here?”
    “Meditative yoga,” she replied. “This might help you with your amnesia.”
    “I really—”
    “Come on,” interrupted my aunt, “Arms up. Stretch high and touch your toes.”
    My back cracked as I bent over. Instantly, I realized how out of shape I had gotten. Aunt Ethel had no difficulty touching her red painted toes. I barely made it past my knees. Jackie and Greg didn’t fare any better.
    “I am never shopping with your aunt again,” Jackie whispered to me.
    “What happened?” I asked.
    “We got thrown out of the police station when she marched in there and chewed out Detective Shorts. Then she got caught going through their files. Afterward, she took me shopping saying that you wanted us to bond.”
    A guilty expression must have crossed my face because Jackie grew irritated.
    “You did tell her that, didn’t you,” said Jackie.
    “I only told her that I wanted her to be nice to you,” I said.
    “I am so going to get you for this,” hissed Jackie.
    “No talking,” interrupted Aunt Ethel. “You should all be meditating. Especially you, Mellow dear.”
    Once again, I attempted to reach my toes. No success. How pathetic could I get? Out done by an old lady.
    “You are much too tense, dear,” said Aunt Ethel. She moved over to me and put her arms around my shoulders grasping them. “You need to be more flexible. Try this.”
    Next thing I knew, Aunt Ethel swung me in a direction and I felt a searing pain in my side. I could have sworn I had not only pulled something, but probably threw something as well.
    “We’ll have to work on your flexibility,” said Aunt Ethel leaving me alone.
    Rachel’s cackling filled my ears. She sat poised on Greg’s entertainment set making certain that only I could hear her. I glowered at her.
    Unfortunately, I never achieved a meditative state. If anything, all I achieved was a bunch of aches and pains. Twenty minutes later, I felt like I had been hit by a truck and then forced into a pretzel position.
    “That will do for now,” said Aunt Ethel ending the yoga session. “Anything?”
    I shook my head at her.
    Aunt Ethel’s expression fell. She had thought her plan would work. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to move to plan B.”
    Plan B? This was plan A? There better not be a plan C.
    “And what is plan B?” I asked her.
    “Let me change and I will meet you at the car,” she replied, “I’m driving.”
    At those words Jackie snatched Greg and pulled him from the room. “We’re going to go do some snooping on our own. We’ll let you know if we find anything.”
    “But—,” began Greg.
    “You don’t want to be in the car with that woman driving,” Jackie hissed in his ear as she hauled him out of his own apartment.
    Stuck once more with my aunt.
     
    “That was a stop sign,” I screamed at my aunt as we careened down the road at 50 mph.
    “Was it? I hardly noticed.”
    For the past hour we had been driving around town. Well, mostly my aunt had been plowing the missile of a car wherever she pleased while I hung on for dear life.
    We had started at the blood bank, since that was where we had first taken her. Then we drove down every side street in town. Aunt Ethel had made a map of places she thought I might have gone to during my disappearance, ending at the motel where I was found. There was no logic to her assessments. At least, it was