Free Blackberry Crumble by Josi S. Kilpack Page B

variety of styles than if I just settled for maternity clothes.”
     
    Jane was on the sidewalk, waving over her shoulder. Mindy came out onto the porch as well, still working her magic. “And cheaper, too. I couldn’t believe how expensive maternity clothes were. I mean, you only wear them for a few months.”
     
    Jane reached the road and practically sprinted across the cul-de-sac. Sadie watched her with a smile, then gave Mindy a hug, cutting her off just as she was launching into her regrets of not saving those size sixteen clothes since she fit into them now.
     
    Mindy went quiet and looked at Sadie in confusion when she pulled back. Sadie didn’t think she’d ever hugged her neighbor before. But had she had a good enough reason before now?
     
    “Mindy, you are one of a kind.”
     
    Mindy pulled her eyebrows together, thoroughly confused. And, for once, entirely speechless.
     
    “Did she ask about me?” Sadie asked, glancing over her shoulder to see Jane fumble for her keys as she neared her car.
     
    “Um, I don’t remember,” Mindy said, scowling slightly. “I’m afraid I didn’t give her much time to talk. It’s kind of a problem I have.”
     
    Sadie grinned at the understatement.
     
    Mindy took the smile as an invitation. “Like this one time, at work, my boss said I talked to the patients on the phone too long, so I decided to time myself and at the end of the week reported that the average phone call lasted only four and a half minutes. He said they should be less than a minute. Less than a minute? Honestly, can you believe that?”
     
    Jane’s engine started up, and Sadie listened to her car drive off before turning her full attention back to Mindy. She could listen to Mindy for twenty minutes as a thank-you for running Jane off, even though knowing May’s number was on her caller ID made it harder than usual.
     
    Sadie hoped Jane wouldn’t come back; yet as Mindy jumped from talking about work to her mother-in-law and then Sea World, Sadie thought back to why Jane had come. Did she really think Sadie wouldn’t be upset about the article? Or was she curious enough about something—May, perhaps—to come all the way up to Garrison in hopes of getting information?
     
    But Mindy wouldn’t have information about May. What was it Jane wanted? Denver was a long way away to come for something that wasn’t important. Granted, Jane must have known Sadie wouldn’t have talked to her over the phone at all, so driving up was her only option. But still, what was Jane trying to find out? What had she hoped Mindy knew? It was an unsettling thought, and one Sadie was determined to ponder as soon as Mindy stopped talking.
     
    It might be a while.
     

Chapter 11
     
    It was nearly an hour before Sadie returned home, leaning her back against the door and letting out a breath. Even after so many years, it amazed her how much Mindy had to say. Sadie found herself less annoyed than usual, however, simply because Mindy had managed to run Jane off. That took skills.
     
    Sadie lined up the wall phone in her sights. The moment had arrived; it was time to call May Sanderson. In the time it took to cross from the front door to the kitchen phone, Sadie tried to come up with what she was going to say, mentally debating the options for what felt like the hundredth time.
     
    It was a chance to prove that, like Mindy, Sadie had skills of her own.
     
    It was ridiculous to encourage May to put her faith in Sadie, who was not, after all, an investigator, professional or otherwise.
     
    May contacting her was a sign that Sadie was supposed to pursue this.
     
    May contacting her was a temptation sent by the devil himself.
     
    She was reaching for the phone when it rang, causing her to jump about a foot in the air. Just like with Gayle’s call an hour earlier, her first thought was that it was May. She was so caught up in her assumption that she grabbed the handset before the caller ID