A Perilous Pal by Laura Bradford

Author:Laura Bradford [Bradford, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2022-07-05T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

• • •

Well, she seemed fairly normal to me,” Stephanie said as Emma took her place behind the steering wheel. “A little high maintenance, maybe, but normal.”

“Hmmm.”

“I feel bad she didn’t get her full run in on account of us waylaying her, but I’ve never really understood the concept of running for the sake of running, anyway. So maybe we did her a favor?”

Emma ran her finger around the steering wheel and then dropped her hand into her lap.

“Hello? Earth to Emma, come in, Emma.”

She looked across at the woman in her passenger seat and waited, her mind working. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Did you not hear anything I’ve said since we got in this car?”

“No, I heard you,” Emma murmured. “I think.”

Stephanie turned in her seat to address Scout. “Is it just me, boy, or is your momma completely checked out here?”

Scout temporarily pulled his tongue into his mouth, stuck his head between the seats, licked Emma’s face, and then continued looking out the back windows.

“I’m pretty sure that was a yes.” Stephanie said, repositioning herself in her seat. “So what’s with you? Are you upset we didn’t get anything just now? Because while that would’ve been awesome, you need to remember we just started. I mean, the pieces all fall into place quickly on cop shows, but we’re not cops, and TV suspects don’t usually get whisked away by phone calls, you know?”

“There was no phone call,” Emma said, looking back down the sidewalk to the edge of Brittney’s driveway she could just barely see from where they were parked. “She made that up—I’d bet the farm on that.”

“You have a farm?”

Yanking her attention back into the car, Emma stared at Stephanie. “It’s an expression. It means I’m—”

“I know what it means. I was just being a pill. It’s my specialty, according to my mother.” Turning so her back was flush with the passenger door, Stephanie folded her arms across her chest. “Talk to me. Why do you think there wasn’t a phone call?”

“Because she looked back at the house after she said she had a call to take. And I didn’t hear a phone ringing, did you?”

“No. But I assumed, since she waved up at the house, that her husband must’ve called out.”

“Did you hear him call out?” Emma asked.

“No, but I was talking about David from the lottery house show and—”

“No one called out.”

Stephanie cocked her eyebrow. “You sure?”

“One hundred and fifty percent.” She followed Stephanie’s gaze out the front window and then met it with a raised eyebrow of her own when it returned. “Which begs the question of why, don’t you think?”

“Theory?”

Emma blew out a long-held breath. “She wanted out from under your questions about the other house, specifically the vast differences between it and”—she motioned down the street—“this one.”

“Maybe she didn’t want us to look down on her? Or think our expensive neighborhood was going to hell in a handbasket because she moved in?”

“As if . . .”

“Hey, one of us could win the lottery, too, one day,” Stephanie reminded.

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