Free The Root of All Trouble by Heather Webber Page B

for me to move—I've been slowly bringing stuff over to Kit's for months now. I'll let you know when I'm done so we can start our hunt."
    " I'll do a little prelim work online while I wait for you. See what I can learn about Delphine and Joey."
    She pulled open the door. "Don't go off without me."
    " I'd never!"
    She rolled her eyes. Then perked up when she spotted something on the porch. "What's that?"
    " What's what?" I asked, coming up behind her.
    " Looks like a present." She bent, picked it up, and flipped a small tag. "It's for Perry, but it doesn't say who it's from." She handed it over.
    I shook the box. "Must be another gift from his secret admirer."
    " I forgot he had himself an admirer! Who do you think it is?"
    " I don't know, but whoever it is has impeccable taste. You should have seen the watch he got last week."
    " It's a little strange," Ana said. "The gifts have been so expensive."
    I glanced up at the sound of footsteps and spotted Kit coming up the driveway. "What's strange?" he asked, coming up the steps and dropping a kiss on Ana's lips.
    Kit Pipe should be terrifying. He stood six-foot-five and didn 't have an ounce of fat on his 250 pound tattooed frame. His bald head bore a skull tattoo, and his eyes were lined in black ink. Tattooed sleeves covered both arms. He looked every inch a Hell's Angel, but he was one of the best guys I knew.
    " Perry got another gift," Ana said.
    Kit frowned. "Here?"
    " On the porch," I said.
    " That is strange." He looked at Ana. "You ready?"
    " Whoa-ho! What's strange? Why'd you say it that way?" I asked.
    " It's bizarro that the admirer knew to leave the present here and not at Perry's house. Someone's watching him."
    Ana shuddered. "It's beginning to sound more like a stalker than an admirer."
    A shiver went down my spine, too. I hadn 't thought of it that way.
    " Mario's going to have a fit," Ana said.
    It 's true. He was. Mostly because he didn't have a stalker of his own.
    " Maybe I'll hide it and give it to Perry later. Mario's already upset about the house renovations." I nudged Kit with my elbow. "Did you know they're staying here with me until their water situation is fixed?"
    Stepping aside, he said, "I heard."
    " That means they could possibly be staying with me for weeks, maybe months unless someone takes pity on my soul and fixes their bathroom." I stared at him.
    Ana patted his arm and whispered, "I think she means you."
    " No," he said.
    " Please?" I begged. "It's only a matter of days before Mario is redecorating my house."
    " It needs it," Kit said.
    It was hard to argue with that. My room and the master bath had recently been done but the rest of the house could use a little TLC. "True, but he'll have Gucci wallpaper on the walls in no time." I glanced at Ana. "Does Gucci do wallpaper?"
    She shrugged. "Maria's the one to ask about that."
    " Anyway," I said, "you know what I mean."
    " No," Kit said.
    " You know," Ana said, "we do have that nice guest room. Mario and Perry could probably stay with us for a little while. We can swap weeks back and forth with Nina until their house is fixed. That way, it doesn't feel like such a burden on her."
    Kit gave her a death stare. It was almost as good as the Ceceri Evil Eye, but not quite, which probably explained why she wasn 't affected by the look at all. She'd built up immunity to evil eyes over the years, thanks to my mother glaring at her all the time.
    She smiled fondly at him.
    "Fine," he ground out, recognizing a losing battle when he saw one. "I'll do it." He turned and strode off.
    Ana winked at me. "I'll see you later."
    " I owe you."
    " I know."
    As she skipped to catch up to Kit, a sedan pulled up across the street.
    A sedan that belonged to the coroner's office.
    And if I didn 't know better, I'd have sworn a ghost was driving.

Chapter Ten
     
     
    I kept peeking out the window at the coroner's investigator—Cain Monahan—as he walked around Mario and Perry's yard.
    The hair on the back of my neck