4 Arch Enemy of Murder (13 page)

“Eight,” Lacy countered.

“Nine,” Riley tried.

“Five,” Lacy said.

Riley looked around, probably for something to throw. Glassware tended to reach an agonizing end whenever she was in a temper. After a minute of wrinkled nose and heavy, angry breathing, she gave in. “Fine. Eight.” Just like that, she stood and left the office.

“I get final party plan approval,” Lacy called.

“In your dreams,” Riley called back, and then she was gone.

Almost as soon as Riley was gone, the phone rang. “Hello,” Lacy snapped, much harsher than she intended.

“Whoa, are you okay?” Tosh asked.

“Riley was here.”

“Funny how those three words explain everything. What is your level of exhaustion?” he asked.

“Off the charts. Why?”

“I got the key to Pearl’s house. I wondered if you wanted to take a look around tonight. But if you’re too tired, then we could do it tomorrow. By the way, the arraignment is tomorrow at eight. I was just at the jail. You’ll probably be getting the call in a little while.”

“Sounds like tomorrow is going to be busy; we should search the house tonight.”

“That was my thinking, too. I’ll pick you up at five. We’ll grab food and head over.”

“You realize I haven’t showered in two days and I’m still wearing the same clothes from Sunday,” Lacy said.

“You realize you have no need to try and impress me,” he said.

“You realize I utilize hygiene for my own self-respect,” she replied.

“Duly noted. We’ll swing by your house so you can shower.”

“And brush my teeth,” she threw in.

“I could have lived without knowing that last part. See you in a bit.”

She hung up with Tosh and stared at her never-ending pile of work. She picked up a contract she needed to review and sign in order to have some stained-glass repaired on the main level. The words blurred, and the next thing she knew she was asleep on her desk once again.

“Lacy.” Someone whispered her name and put his hand on her back. She jumped and bonked heads with Tosh who was leaning over her.

“Ow,” she said as she rubbed her head.

“You really are sort of a mess,” he said.

“I can’t hear that enough,” she said.

“C’mon, let’s get you home so you can get cleaned up.” They took the freight elevator. She leaned heavily on the wall as she tried to wake up. Even though it was after their normal working hours, the construction workers were still there, a sure sign that her grandfather was eking every last drop of work out of them until the project was completed. Lacy felt like they came to a standstill as she and Tosh walked through the center of the room.

“Why are they staring at me?” she whispered.

“You’ll see when you get in the car,” he said.

She slid into his car, pulled down the mirror, and yelped at her reflection. Half of her bun had come loose and now hung in tangled rats. What little mascara she’d had left had been smeared in channels down her face, and she had deep lines on her cheek from the stack of papers she had slept on. “Why didn’t you tell me I looked this bad?”

“I did,” Tosh said.

“I thought you meant I was a mess in a general sort of way,” she said. “So much for my professional image.”

“I think you blew that when they caught you in that closet eating the glazed doughnuts you supposedly bought for them.”

“I only ate a couple,” Lacy grumbled.

They reached her house but he made no move to get out. “Do you mind if I come back in a while? I’m too tired to try and deal with your sister today.”

“I’m sorry she’s so…Riley.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll come back in an hour and we’ll grab supper.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she said. She jogged to the house. Now that she was so close to being clean and well-pressed again, she couldn’t wait.

When she emerged a while later transformed, she saw Riley, Travis and Jason in the living room. The gathering was so unusual that she stopped short. “What’s going on?”

“Travis wanted to stop by and say hello,” Jason said. “I gave him a ride.” His tone was full of chagrin. Lacy read between the lines. Travis had probably cornered Jason and dragged him along to help ease his nerves. Now he stood fidgeting at the edge of the room while Riley flirted with Jason in the center.

“Oh, how are you?” Lacy asked. She searched Jason’s face for any signs of recent sleep, but didn’t find them.

“Fine. How are you? Did you get any sleep?”

“Does falling asleep at my desk count?” she asked.

“If it does, then I slept, too,” he said.

“Well, this is stilted and awkward,” Riley said.

Lacy tried hard to ignore her and focused on Travis again. “Hey, Travis, how are you?”

He mumbled something unintelligible and nodded his head. Riley caught Lacy’s glance and crossed her eyes. Ignoring her sister was getting harder to do, especially because she was hungry. She advanced into the kitchen and began rummaging for the chocolate cupcakes she had set aside. She couldn’t find them. The last place she had eaten one was in the living room. Though she didn’t think it was possible that she had left them in there, she walked around the couch and did a frantic search of the empty coffee table, even stooping to look under the couch in case they had somehow ended up there.

“What are you looking for?” Riley asked.

“Grandma’s cupcakes. Have you seen them?”

“I threw them out.”

Lacy whirled to face her. “Uh, oh,” Jason muttered as he took a step closer, inserting himself between the sisters.

“You did what?” Lacy asked.

“I threw them out,” Riley said, enunciating the words. She put her hands on her hips. “They were a calorie-laden temptation, and I didn’t want them around. So I threw them in the trash. One by one, I mushed them into the can, and then I shoved a bunch of stuff on top of them until they were flat.”

Lacy whimpered at the mental image of her precious cupcakes having the life and filling squeezed from them. “I was saving those cupcakes. You had no right to throw them out.”

“I was saving you from yourself,” Riley said. “You might say thank you. Oh, and I found your hidden stash of chocolate in the back of the cupboard and threw that out, too.”

Jason grabbed Travis by the arm and shoved him in front of Riley. “If you like the way her face looks, you’d better stand in front of it,” he said just as Lacy hurdled over the couch, her arms outstretched toward Riley. Jason caught her, and together they toppled to the ground.

“Maybe we should take a walk outside,” Travis suggested.

“I’m not afraid of her,” Riley said.

“I am,” Travis said. “Let’s go.”

Jason and Lacy lay on the ground, struggling to regain their wind after the impact knocked their breath away. “Red, do you think it’s possible you may have over reacted?”

“Possibly,” Lacy conceded. Her head lay on his chest as she tried not to cry. “But she threw away my cupcakes.”

“I know that’s a capital offense in your mind, but they’re just cupcakes. I’m fairly certain your grandmother would be happy to bake more.” His left hand ran soothingly down her back and she resisted the urge to nestle.

“I suppose,” Lacy agreed again. “But, Jason, she’s making me crazy. I don’t know how much longer I can take this.” She sat up and looked down at him. He brushed her hair away from her face and let his hand linger on her cheek.

“So move out. Get some space.”

“Where would I go?”

“Barbara Blake’s place or the Stakely building?” he suggested.

“The Stakely building would have to be remodeled, and I’m not sure I have the energy for that.”

“Barbara’s place then,” he said.

“I guess. I don’t want to leave Grandma. I want
her
to leave.”

“If you say ‘I was here first,’ then I’m going to shake you. Snap out of it, woman. You’re letting your sister get under your skin. You’re not fifteen anymore; she shouldn’t be able to get to you this way.”

“When did you get so good at talking me down off the ledge?” She asked. She rested her elbows on his shoulders and smiled.

He returned her smile but dodged the question. “Why don’t you get some space tonight at my house? I’ll cook for you.” He must have read something in her expression because he lost his smile. “You have other plans.”

“Nothing major. Tosh and I had already agreed to have supper, and then we’re going to…” she trailed off as she realized that she couldn’t tell him what else they planned to do. It didn’t matter, though, because he upended her as he rolled from beneath her.

“Fine. I have to go rescue Travis from your sister, anyway. Who knows what damage she’s doing to his psyche out there?”

He was taking the Tosh situation well. Maybe that meant he would make plans with Cindy instead. Or maybe Cindy had already said no and Lacy was his backup. She hauled herself off the floor and dusted her pants. Jason paused by the door. “Don’t attack your sister again,” he warned.

“Or what? You’ll arrest me?”

“What do you think?” he asked. He winked and slipped out the door only to be replaced by Tosh a few minutes later.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yes.” She took a step and winced.

“What happened?”

“I think I re-injured my arches,” she said.

“Did you go for a run again?” he asked.

“No, I leapt over the couch when I was trying to choke Riley.”

“What does it say about your sister that I find nothing abnormal in that statement?”

“Is it possible to pull the muscles in the bottoms of your feet?” Lacy asked.

“For normal people, probably not. For you, nothing is outside the realm of possibility.” He linked his arm through hers to offer support as she hobbled to his car.

“I’m never going to be able to wear stilettos again,” she said.

“And that’s going to radically alter your life here how?” Tosh asked.

“Not much, but I wore them a lot in New York.” She gave a thoughtful pause. “I don’t miss that, surprisingly.”

“Must be a girl thing because I can’t imagine why anyone would miss walking around in stilts.”

“There’s nothing to make you feel pretty like putting on a dress and a killer pair of shoes,” she said.

“I thought you didn’t miss it.”

“I like to do it sometimes. The difference is that in New York I did it every day. Here it’s okay to save it for special occasions. I think I prefer it that way.”

A couple of blocks from her grandmother’s house, they passed Riley and Travis walking together on the sidewalk, Jason a few steps behind like some sort of Victorian chaperone.

“Was that…” Tosh started.

“Yes,” Lacy said.

“Weird,” he said.

“Yes,” she agreed, resisting the urge to turn around and look again.

Tosh cleared his throat. “Are you two still, uh, fighting?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Lacy said.

“It’s just that we’re friends, and obviously something is bothering you. We should be able to talk about it.” Talking about Jason with Tosh or vice versa was weird, mostly because of their intense jealousy of each other. If she thought either of them capable of having a reasonable discussion about the other, then maybe she would. They might be able to clear a lot of things up. Tosh was making the effort because he felt guilty about their dustup from the night before, but he didn’t mean it. He didn’t actually want to hear about her problems with Jason, especially when he was one of the main sources of tension between them.