Snatched by Pamela Burford

Author:Pamela Burford [Burford, Pamela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Radical Poodle Press
Published: 2017-04-06T22:00:00+00:00

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LUCY PULLED IN next to Ethel’s car. She wasn’t surprised to see her sister, whose increasingly frantic calls she’d been dodging since yesterday morning. Let her sweat. But who was her friend? The woman stared in slack-jawed astonishment as Lucy stepped onto the cobblestones and greeted them.

Far from frantic now, Ethel appeared elated; she was practically dancing a jig. “I keep telling her she can drop the act, sis. I caught on right away.” She draped her arm around the other woman’s shoulders. “No fault of Anne Marie’s, though. I want you to know that. She was awesome.”

Ethel only called her “sis” when she was feeling particularly pleased with herself, usually when she’d bested Lucy in the practical-joke department. Which, of course, she’d just done with that custom kidnapping, but what was this about an act?

Lucy rested her shoulder bag and the grocery sack from King Kullen on the hood of her car. “Anne Marie, is it?” She stuck out her hand and introduced herself.

“You’re . . .” Anne Marie didn’t shake her hand; she was pale as wax. “You’re Lucy.”

Ethel’s grin faded as she looked from Anne Marie to Lucy and back again. “This is part of the act, right, Anne Marie?” The other woman didn’t respond. “Right?”

Lucy asked, “What’s going on?”

“Oh my God,” Ethel said. “Oh my God, Lucy, I think she’s for real.”

Anne Marie pressed a hand to her stomach; she took shallow breaths. To Ethel she said, “I guess you were telling the truth about the twin thing.”

Ethel nodded robotically. “And you . . .? The . . . and the . . . all of it?”

“Of course.” Anne Marie was turning an unbecoming shade of green. “Who’d make up a thing like that?”

Ethel covered her mouth and stared dumbfounded at Lucy.

Anne Marie covered her mouth, too, but only to hold back the tide as she lurched across the cobblestones and vomited into a bed of tulips just pushing their tender shoots toward the sun. She groped in her coat pocket, pulled out a shiny black gun, and stuck the barrel in her mouth.

“No!” Ethel launched herself at the woman. “No man is worth it. Think of your baby.”

She failed to reach her in time. The sisters braced themselves as Anne Marie pulled the trigger, swished, spat, and took a second hit off the water pistol.

When Lucy could speak again, she said, “Morning sickness?”

“If it was just the morning, I’d be thrilled.” Anne Marie wiped her mouth with a tissue and pocketed the toy. Her color began to return.

“Come on inside.” Lucy grabbed her things and started for the door. “I think I can scrounge up some saltines and a cup of tea.”

“Uh, you might want to hold off on the hospitality.” Ethel gave Lucy a significant look. “Until you find out what brought Anne Marie here.”

“Oh, please, Ethel. Don’t you think we’ve had enough drama for one day?” Lucy slid her key in the lock and ushered her visitors into the kitchen, where Anne Marie gaped at the room’s luxurious size and appointments.

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