Free Get Fluffy by Sparkle Abbey Page B

talk to you first.”
    She struggled as if wanting to ask me a question but not sure how. Or maybe she wasn’t sure if she should say anything. Either way, she stood frozen, staring at me like a mime with stage fright.
    “What? What’s going on inside your head?”
    “You’re going to take Mona’s phone to the police?”
    “I have to. Unless you can give me a really good reason why not.”
    She shook her head. “No. You have to hand it over.”
    We stood in silence for a few minutes, both lost in our own thoughts. Missy brought back the chicken for another throw.
    “They’re going to ask you about that call,” I said softly. “Do you want to talk about it?”
    She waved away my concern with a shaky hand. “It’s not important. I didn’t even ask if you’re okay. I’m sure finding Mona was  . . . disturbing.”
    “I’ve definitely seen my fill of dead bodies. Once I turn over the phone, the police are going to want to know why you’re programmed as an emergency contact.”
    “I swear, I don’t know. It doesn’t make any sense. She made it perfectly clear she didn’t like me.” She looked away.
    “Darb, it wasn’t personal. I don’t think she liked anyone or anything other than Fluffy. If you don’t know, you don’t know. Good grief, don’t go and make something up. We can’t always answer for other people’s actions.”
    She looked at me, an emotion I couldn’t decipher swirling in her eyes. “Mona didn’t care who she hurt.” There was a hint of what sounded like betrayal in her voice.
    “You’re right.” I called the dogs. Missy immediately dropped the chicken she’d been slobbering over and trotted towards us. Fluffy didn’t twitch. I rubbed Missy’s head affectionately then clipped on her leash. “Grey knows I have someone’s phone, he just doesn’t realize it belongs to Mona.”
    “Is that bad?”
    “Not for you.”
    Darby sighed. “Mel, don’t lie to Grey because of me.”
    I hugged my best friend. “I didn’t lie. Do me a favor. Take some time to get all your facts straight. If you need a lawyer, call Grey. He’ll refer you to someone.”
    She flinched under my embrace. “You think I need a lawyer?” she squeaked and pulled away. “I thought you said the police thought it was a robbery.”
    “Think about it. In less than a week, Jo, Cliff, Tova, you, and I have all had some type of altercation with Mona. At some point, the police are going to want to talk to you.”
    “I guess so.”
    I called Fluffy again, and she continued to ignore me. Darby and I stared at the giant fluff ball sprawled on her back, feet in the air, wiggling side to side.
    “She’s going to have a bad case of bed-head when she gets up,” Darby said.
    “Great. I guess we’re going to see Jade again.”
    “Again?”
    I marched over to Fluffy. She scrambled to her feet and shook. Stray hair flew everywhere. “Trust me, you don’t want to know. Maybe I could just leave her with you?”
    “She doesn’t like me any more than Mona did.” Darby checked her watch again. “Mandy’s late.”
    I attached Fluffy’s leash, then grabbed the lead Missy had dragged across the floor when she followed me. “All right, dogs, Darby’s kicking us out of here for a paying gig.”
    Darby looked sad. I wasn’t expecting her to feel so badly about Mona. “It’s going to be fine.” I tried to sound reassuring.
    “I know.” She didn’t look convinced.
    She was hiding something, and I had a feeling it was going to be a doozie when it came out.
    Secrets never stay secret. I’d learned that the hard way.
    Sure as shootin’, Darby Beckett had her own secrets.

Chapter Twelve
    I felt like a total dog, and I knew a lot about dogs. I believed Darby didn’t know Mona had listed her as an emergency contact. But she had flat out lied about why she’d called Mona. And for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why.
    I called the police station to make sure Malone was in. He was out for the day. So the