Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man by Emily J. Edwards

Author:Emily J. Edwards
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CROOKED LANE BOOKS

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Either Gene Krupa was practicing on my door, or it was dinnertime and Betty was not going to let me sleep any longer without sharing the dirt. I hadn’t meant to sleep like the dead, but since I was in a bed that smelled like me and not like industrial bleach, my body decided to remain in slumber land for at least a few hours.

“All right, I heard ya!” The knocking stopped. “I’ll be down in a minute.”

The hall was empty as I emerged to go to the bathroom, cold cream in hand to finally take off the paint Phyllis had put on me a whole day ago. My body ached something awful, so I was all decked out in nothing but my summer nightshift and robe, hair in a kerchief. It took three rounds of Ponds to get it all off, but I left the bathroom with my whole new angel face.

It took a few minutes to get downstairs to the kitchen, creeping all the way, with my hands gripping the bannister, and Betty met me at the door.

“There is not a single man worth looking at in the whole hospital,” she said through furrowed brows. “And now two more of your Casanovas swing by?”

I swung my head around the doorframe to Mrs. K’s dining room, and lo and behold, Detective Lawson and Officer Leary were there, sitting like they owned the place, sipping coffee and eating cookies, surrounded by my housemates. Even Dottie was staring at Detective Lawson like he was Alan goddamn Ladd.

“The tough-guy charm wears off around the third time one of them bleeds on your shoes,” I said. “What do they want, anyhow?”

“Just asked about what we saw last night, and I told ’em what I saw—basically nothing.”

“Basically?”

“You were home, you were on the stairs, someone was prowling in the hall and knocked you flat when they were fleeing the scene.”

“Good girl.”

“Wanna swing by …”

“Yes, Betty, I want to swing by. Gimme a minute, will ya?”

Lawson and Leary had already seen me, so there was no sense in going up to change out of my nightclothes.

“Where’s O’Malley?” I purred, rounding the door. “Honestly, I’m getting tired of seeing the same two faces.”

Officer Leary stood so fast to greet me, his chair fell over backward. Phyllis and Dottie each suppressed giggles, and Lawson graciously began scribbling in his notebook to hide his smile.

“I choose who I work with,” was all Lawson would say once he regained composure. “Viviana. Have a seat.”

I didn’t much care for being invited to sit in my own dining room, but I wordlessly pulled out a chair at the other end of Mrs. K’s table, and the girls left the room in a single file. Mrs. K bustled in with a glass of iced tea for me and a refill on the cops’ coffees. Then, I was alone.

“The girls all corroborate your story,” Lawson started in, punctuating his statement with a sip of black coffee. Leary was scribbling, eyes cast down on his own notebook now.

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