Detective Defender by Marilyn Pappano

Author:Marilyn Pappano
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Romantic Suspense
Published: 2017-09-05T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

After a surprisingly peaceful night, Martine woke to find a mostly pure blanket of white coating everything. Cradling a cup of coffee between her palms, she looked down on the courtyard, undeniably a magical fairyland with all the snow, and grunted with a distinct lack of appreciation. Sunshine. She wanted sunshine and warm breezes and no more of this winter crap.

In the living room, the morning news anchors were talking about nothing but the snow and its complications. Lists of schools closed for the day scrolled across the bottom of the screen while lists of areas to avoid due to traffic accidents were updated every few minutes. Stay home unless you really need to go out, the cheery blonde said with exaggerated sincerity.

Between sips of coffee, Martine texted Niles and Ramona and told them not to come in today, then gave Anise a choice. She usually needed the money more than the other two. If she could get to the shop safely, Martine would open and work beside her today. She could use some company.

Niles replied K. Ramona said, Thnx. Regretting the slow disappearance of the written language as Martine knew it, she was rewarded with Anise’s message: I’ll be there before ten and will bring lunch.

Mention of lunch made Martine’s stomach rumble. She got a chicken drumstick and the last few scoops of potato salad from the refrigerator and took it with her coffee into the crafts room. With the lights on, the heater running and the curtains open, it was the least claustrophobic place in her apartment. If she ever needed to defend herself there, she had plenty of sharp or heavy objects, from scissors to paper cutters, in addition to the Taser and the pepper spray.

She was in the process of selecting a new project to start or an old one to finish when her cell phone rang. Spying Evie’s name, she put it on speakerphone and forced the happiest greeting she’d managed in a while.

“Hey, the kids haven’t seen you in nearly a week. You want to come and have an early lunch with us?”

“Hmm, when the kids invite me somewhere, there’s usually a hook, like the waiters are six-foot-tall rats.”

“They were mice. You’ve seen enough rats down by the river to recognize the difference. But you will need a coat. Maybe two of them. And a hat. A scarf, gloves, boots, maybe earmuffs if you have any.”

Evie’s amused voice was interrupted by Jackson’s shout. “Aunt Martine, we’re having a picnic in the snow. Please come!” A second later, Isabella added her pleas, and a garbled message from little Evangelina suggested she was doing the same.

Evie wrestled the phone back from her children. “Now it’s my turn to talk.”

“It’s always your turn,” Isabella said archly.

“When you have your own phone—”

Martine interrupted. “Which will probably be for their next birthdays so Jack can keep track of them.”

Evie snorted. “He would have the vet plant tracking chips in them if he could.”

“Is he back yet?”

“No. He’s snowed in in Omaha.

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