Free A Good Excuse To Be Bad by Miranda Parker Page A

talent. Yet, this time Justus didn’t seem to buy it. He wouldn’t let my hand go. He stood in front of me and said nothing, but I could tell his eyes were searching for the truth. He had great eyes.
    â€œJustus, let’s go. It’s too quiet out here. I don’t like it.” I searched the grounds as we walked toward the front door.
    The place was lit like an elegant Christmas tree. I wondered how they slept with all these lights on in the front. We stopped short of the double entrance doors and he turned to me.
    â€œBefore we go inside, I need to tell you something that I’ve wanted to say long before you called me tonight,” he said.
    My heart skipped again. “What is it?”
    He opened his mouth, then a toe-curling shriek rippled through my body. It was a woman’s scream. I dropped his hands and turned toward where the sound came from.
    â€œWhat was that?” Justus asked.
    â€œAva.” I leaned on the doorbell.
    I didn’t have a key or a clue how to get inside, but I saw two huge planters flanking the door. I reached for one. It looked heavy, but I was capable of throwing it. Thank goodness I had carried Bella’s forty-pound body all over the place. I lifted that planter off the ground so fast and without a sweat, but Justus caught my arm.
    He took the planter out of my hand and placed it back down. “No sense in you going to jail for breaking and entering. Let’s call 911.”
    â€œYou call. I’m going in.” I leaned down to grab the planter again.
    â€œWait . . .” He walked toward the door, jiggled the knob, and opened it. “This is how most robbers get in.”
    I watched him in disbelief. “I thought you didn’t look like the kind of person who always walked the straight and narrow.”
    â€œI haven’t always been saved.” He grinned. “Another thing we have in common.”
    â€œWhat about 911?” I asked.
    â€œI got it. Go.”
    Without hesitation, I tiptoed inside.
    No alarms went off when I walked inside, which meant for me that either Devon left the alarm off with hopes that Ava would return, or that Ava had already returned but forgot to turn the alarm back on. If the latter, I wondered why she forgot¸ especially since she acted like a bodyguard on adrenaline in my home. I had a sinking feeling that the correct answer wasn’t a good one.
    As I walked through the foyer, I listened for more screaming. The only sound I heard came from upstairs. It was a moaning that gave me more shivers. I hadn’t heard that sound since Granny died.
    Something caught my shoulder from behind. I jumped, then panted.
    â€œIt’s me,” Justus whispered.
    I spun around and punched his right shoulder. “Don’t scare me like that.”
    I winced. It was solid muscle. I wrang my hands.
    He took my throbbing hands in his. “Careful. You may hurt yourself.”
    â€œWhatever.” I slid my hand away from his. “What did the police say? Are they on their way? And you’re supposed to stay outside.”
    â€œYes, I called the police, but I’m not letting you go up there alone. Actually, I think we both should go back outside and wait for them.”
    Boom. Something fell upstairs.
    I looked above me, then back to Justus. “Stay. I mean it.”
    Then I tiptoed toward the staircase and looked around. On the inside, the McMansion was pretty and quiet like a snow day, even in the dark. A white baby grand piano sat in the grand room, which led to a white rose-covered sitting room. I wondered if Taylor and Lil’ D ever played in there. Probably not. Ava was the kind of person who lived and died by rules and room restrictions. The children more than likely had their own playroom hidden in a wall around here somewhere. There wasn’t even a scent of crayons and burnt cookies in the air.
    I saw a picture of Bella on a table in the living room that made me feel like a