Free Most Likely to Die (A Kate Jasper Mystery) by Jaqueline Girdner

would take to mouth the words, “a good cause.”
    “Tell all your friends!” I shouted after him hopefully.
    When I rejoined Wayne and Charlie on the couch, Wayne was asking Charlie something about Sid Semling. What the hell had happened to Rodin, Rolanda, and Penelope? I opened my mouth to ask and then closed it again. Was Wayne investigating?
    “Well, it was a shock to see him die that way,” Charlie was saying. He looked down at his hands again. “A real shock. I didn’t particularly like Sid, but still…”
    His voice drifted off and his eyes took on that dazed puppy dog look again. Maybe I could feed him the Sid experience like a Rodin Rodent story and get him talking like he had before—
    “I never have that kind of violence in my books,” he assured us. “No one ever dies. Rodin always saves them.”
    “But didn’t Sid need saving?” I asked softly.
    He swiveled his head around, looking at me suspiciously.
    I did my best to keep my face bland.
    “Even the evil captain needs saving once in a while,” Charlie finally conceded. Then he turned his head to stare back out into space.
    “You know Sid and I were friends once,” he added, surprising me with his return to reality. His voice went into high gear again. “We hung out a lot together. Or at least, Sid hung out with me. At the time I really thought he liked me. And I liked him. He could be fun. And he was nice to me. You know, doing me favors, introducing me to people as his friend. That’s originally how I got into the group, remember?”
    I nodded, though I didn’t actually remember. I realized I barely remembered Charlie at all. Just a fairly quiet guy who hung around. And who eventually started going out with Pam.
    “I figured out later the reason Sid hung out with me was because my parents were wealthy.” Charlie blushed deeply. Was he ashamed of the wealth? “And, um, sorta upper-class. At least my mother. She came from Mayflower stock and all. Her family wasn’t all that happy with my father. See, he was Jewish. But still, a doctor. A wealthy and highly respected doctor. You wouldn’t think that’d make a difference to a kid, would you though? But I think it made a difference to Sid for some reason. I’m not exactly sure why.
    “Anyway, Sid kinda took me under his wing. Even told me how to dress. How to act with girls. He was nice to me. But—”
    Charlie stopped as if someone had pulled his plug mid-sentence.
    “But?” Wayne prompted.
    Charlie slammed his fist into his own calloused palm in answer. The couch shook with the impact. My stomach quivered uneasily.
    “But there was always something in it for Sid,” he rapped out. “Sid never did anything if there wasn’t something in it for Sid.” Charlie took a few quick breaths and went on, his mouth still speeding.
    “Like Sid didn’t have a car. So we always drove mine. A Mustang. I think my father bought it for me so I could feel like a real, rootin’-tootin’ American boy. The truth was I always just felt silly driving it. But Sid loved that Mustang. He loved to drive it. I even let him borrow it when I wasn’t there.”
    I nodded, remembering the car suddenly in full color. It had been a cherry-red convertible. And I remembered Sid’s hands on the driver’s wheel. Actually, I’d remembered it as Sid’s car, not Charlie’s.
    “And I got Sid alcohol and cigarettes. Actually, I just raided my parents’ house. They did a lot of entertaining. There was always stuff around. But the thing Sid really seemed to want was for me to take him to my parents’ club, to introduce him to the people there. My parents’ kind of people. And I was glad to. He was my friend.”
    Charlie shook his head and his voice slowed a little.
    “See, there was something weird about Sid’s parents. I can’t really explain. They had money. His father owned a local bottling company. And it wasn’t just that his parents didn’t have class, though they didn’t. They dressed all wrong and