Suzanne Price - Grime Solvers 02 - Dirty Deeds by Suzanne Price

Author:Suzanne Price [Price, Suzanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery: Cozy - Professional Cleaner - Massachusetts
ISBN: 0451224574
Publisher: Signet
Published: 2008-01-31T01:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

‘‘You know, Sky, when you think about it, the universe is out of this world,’’ Betty-Mom said from the passenger seat of my Caliber.

I glanced over at her, my gloved hands on the steering wheel. It was around nine o’clock in the morning a day after my interview at City Hall, and we were driving from the Fog Bell toward the Fontaine Culture Club on Myrtle Lane.

‘‘That a fact?’’ I said crankily. Besides being so cold my teeth were chattering, I’d woken up in the pitch-darkness at around four a.m. when Sandy Savoy, who’d been out all night without explanation, came home and got Skiball started in on a yelling fit.

Betty-Mom nodded. ‘‘Sometimes we need to toss aside our cares,’’ she said. ‘‘Take a broader view of the things around us.’’

‘‘Uh-huh.’’ I nodded my head toward the heater, which she’d turned off about two minutes after we’d started to roll. ‘‘Would you mind putting that back on?’’

Betty-Mom didn’t move.

‘‘The dry heat’s bad for your nasal passages,’’ she said. ‘‘It makes them into breeding colonies for bacteria, and that’s how you get sinusitis.’’

I looked over at her again.

‘‘I’m freezing,’’ I said. ‘‘That’s how you get pneumonia.’’

Betty-Mom sat there without budging.

‘‘This is December,’’ she said. ‘‘December comes around in the winter. And winter’s a cold time of year.’’

‘‘Thanks for helping me figure that out,’’ I said.

‘‘Don’t get wise. I’m still your mother.’’

‘‘I’m just trying to understand your position,’’ I said. ‘‘Are we all supposed to ditch our modern heating systems and air conditioners?’’

Mom puckered her brow.

‘‘There’s nothing wrong with being a little cold in the winter. The same as you’d expect to be a little warm in June,’’ she said. ‘‘If people dressed according to the weather, they’d be fine.’’

I caught the implied criticism on its way by me. Besides my leather gloves and black felt roll-up hat, I was wearing a warm black balmacaan over a ribbed wine-colored turtleneck sweater, dark blue Paige jeans with embroidered back pockets, and black ankle boots. Contrary-wise, and true to her earthy form, Betty-Mom had on a fleece jacket, faux-fur mittens, and hiking boots, making her look like a mountaineer or a trapper, I wasn’t sure which. But in her mind, warm equaled clunky.

‘‘Mom, seriously, the windshield’s fogging up,’’ I said. It wasn’t an exaggeration; my breath was really clouding it. ‘‘At least put on the defroster.’’

Betty-Mom reached for the dash controls.

‘‘Why didn’t you tell me you couldn’t see? Not being able to see when you’re on the road is dangerous.’’

‘‘I kind of didn’t think I’d have to explain not wanting to be frozen stiff.’’

She sighed, gave me a look of disapproval.

‘‘When a lump of salt dissolves in the ocean, it gives up its saltness and becomes the ocean,’’ she said. ‘‘That’s all I’m trying to explain to you.’’

I felt an inner wince.

‘‘This is the worst,’’ I said. ‘‘My absolute worst fear’s come true.’’

‘‘What are you talking about?’’

‘‘Did Chloe show you that lame-o book of hers?’’

‘‘What book?’’

‘‘The one she took home from the dump after the whole town seems to have browsed through it.

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