Hooked on Murder by Betty Hechtman

Author:Betty Hechtman [Hechtman, Betty]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780425221259
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2008-05-06T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

"THAT'S IT. I GIVE UP," I SAID OUT LOUD, EVEN though the only one who heard me was Blondie. I examinedthe granny square again, trying to figure out where I'd gone wrong. It looked like a jumble of loops, and I couldn't pick out the individual stitches. The only thing I knew for sure was that one corner was smaller than the others. Blondie looked up when I spoke, and when she realized there wasn't a walk or treat involved, she put her head back down.

I had been staring at my work too long and felt all tense. There was no choice but to unravel it and start again. I only hoped that the other members of the Tarzana Hookers could work faster than I could.

The phone interrupted my efforts to stretch the kinks out of my neck.

I smiled when I heard Barry's deep voice. His schedule and mine had been at odds, and we hadn't seen each other for what felt like forever but was more like a few days. We hadn't talked much, either, because every time he called, it sounded as though Jeffrey was standing next to him. I half expected him to call me Mrs. Pink.

This time, however, it was clear that Barry didn't have a thirteen-year-old audience.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"Just leaving work," he said evasively. "I don't think you want a full description."

"Actually, I do," I said, but Barry groaned in response. He was getting used to my need to know. I had chipped away at his reluctance to talk and found out bits and pieces about him. Like that he'd grown up in North Hollywood and decided to go into police work when his parents' conveniencestore was robbed for the fourth time and the policenever could find the guys who did it. He took his job seriously and worked hard to solve his cases.

I had been able to find out very little about his ex-wife. He didn't bad-mouth her, and he seemed to feel that his divorcewas a sign of failure, though it sounded as though he'd gone above and beyond in trying to make it work. At her insistence, he'd given up his LAPD job and they'd moved back East to a rural area of Pennsylvania. He had ended up working for an uncle of his wife's, doing some kind of paper-pushing job that wasn't him. It had taken him less than a year to figure out that the job and the marriage were over. The one thing Barry and his ex had in common was wanting the best for Jeffrey, which apparently now meant his living with Barry.

"Since you're so hot to know, I just left the morgue," Barry said at last. "But now the reason for the call. You might remember that we have some unfinished dessert business from the other night." If it were possible, there was a wink in his voice. "And I happen to have a free evening.How about I pick up a pizza and we stay in?" His voice was heavy with suggestion.

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