The Comeback Kiss (22 page)

“
Just this morning you told me about Vickie and your mom. D
oesn
’
t take a detective to see you covered in soot and put two and two together. Just takes not being brain-dead.”
He gave her a confident smile and crossed his arms over his chest. “
And for that, would you believe I just squeak past the qualification rou
n
d?”

Izzy sighed. “
Well, I had to do something. You weren
’
t going to help me.”

“
Don
’
t make this my fault, kid. You crossed the border into Delinquentville all on your own. Besides, I never said I wouldn
’
t help you.”

“
You said to put the money back in my pig
gy bank,”
she said. “
Which, by the way, I don
’
t have.”
It was a Hello Kitty bank. Which was way, way cooler.

Finn pulled out a chair at the table and nodded toward it. “
I think we need to chat,”
he said.

Izzy slumped, resisting the impulse to give the flo
or a petulant kick. “
Fine,”
she said in resignation, dramatically turning toward the refrigerator. “
Want something to drink?”

“
A shot of your finest single malt.”

Izzy shot a look over her shoulder at him. She wasn
’
t sure what a single malt was, but it sou
nded gross. He smiled at her, and she got a little tingle, a glimpse of what it was about this guy that got her sister all in a twist. She pulled two Diet Cokes out of the fridge and walked over, handing him one. Finn inspected it, one eyebrow raised. “
Yo
u
girls and your damn diets,”
he said.

Izzy popped the top on her soda. “
It
’
s how we stay beautiful for you men.”

“
Oh, please,”
Finn said, flipping the chair opposite Izzy and straddling it. “
First of all, guys like curves, and anyone who tells you differen
t is trying to sell you something. Second, it would take a thousand whacks with the ugly stick for you girls to lose your looks, and even then...”

He stopped, stared down at the Diet Coke can in his hand, and shook his head. Izzy knew he was thinking of he
r sister
—
everyone was always thinking of Tessa
—
but she blushed all the same.

“
Anyway.”
He set the can down on the table and leaned his arms against the back of the chair. “
What
’
d you find?”

“
Find?”
Izzy let out a frustrated sigh. “
Nothing.”

“
Okay. We
’
ll
assume for the sake of argument that I
’
m buying that crock of crap. What were you looking for?
’

Izzy shrugged. “
I don
’
t know.”

“
Sure you do,”
he said, his expression flat. “
Think about it. Why would a nice girl like yourself violate a crime scene? Certainl
y not looking for the latest issue of
Teen Beat.”

Izzy gave him a black look.

Finn grinned at her. “
Seventeen
?”

“
Quit making fun of me.”

His face went serious. “
An empty gasoline can and a pack of matches with the bad guy
’
s name and phone number scribbled
inside?”

Izzy sat up straighter. “
No.”
Kinda.
“
But it doesn
’
t matter, because I didn
’
t find anything. It was a total waste of time.”

“
I
’
m sure your warden will agree,”
Finn said, popping his soda open.

Izzy felt a chill go down her spine. “
What?”

“
Oh, yeah
, baby. You
’
re big-time now. You just violated a potential crime scene, and based on those dirty little mitts of yours, you probably left a mother lode of prints for anyone who
’
s interested to find.”
He took a sip of his soda, grimaced, and checked out th
e
ingredients list on the side of the can. “
Hey, turpentine has no calories. Who knew?”

“
But... they already did all that stuff yesterday,”
Izzy said, her heart starting to pump madly. “
They wouldn
’
t go back... would they?”

Finn shrugged. “
Maybe. Maybe not.
But I think you should brush up on your prison break movies just in case. I hear
Stalag 1
7 really defines the genre.”

“
Oh.”
Izzy swallowed against the panic forming in her gut. “
Oh. Man. Oh, God. Tessa
’
s gonna kill me.”

“
Deader
’
n a doornail.”

Izzy figured
she must have looked as panicked as she felt, because Finn
’
s face softened, and he leaned forward “
Hey. Don
’
t worry about it, okay?”

“
How can I not worry? If I get caught
—”

“
It
’
s not
if
you get caught, babe,”
he said. Izzy couldn
’
t help but warm to the te
rm of endearment. “
It
’
s
when.
Even in a town like this, there are people and technology that can track you. If you
’
re gonna be breaking into places, you have to be smart about it.”

Izzy leaned back, tried to look casual. “
Yeah. Like how?”

“
Nice try.”
He wa
tched her for a moment, and when he spoke again, his face was serious. “
Do you want to be put back in foster care?”

“
No.”
Izzy felt her chin start to tremble at the thought.
Don
’
t cry don
’
t cry don
’
t cry.
She
’
d already cried in front of him once today. Fin
n would think she was a total baby if she did it again, and she was
not
a baby.

“
Really? Because you
’
re acting like a kid who wants to be taken away from her sister.”

“
No!”
Izzy took a deep breath, clenched her jaw, stared at her hands. The tears backed of
f. “
I know I should leave it alone. I know I shouldn
’
t be doing these things, but...”
She swallowed hard and met Finn
’
s eye.

“
Someone out there killed my mother,”
she said.
Don
’
t cry don
’
t cry don
’
t cry.
“
How can I just ignore that?”

“
By pretending it
’
s no
t there. If not for your sake, then for Tessa
’
s. She
’
s given up everything for you. What do you think losing you is going to do to her? I
’
ll tell you. It
’
d kill her.”

Izzy rolled her eyes, slumped in her chair, and grumbled, “
Big difference.”

Finn
’
s eyes n
arrowed at Izzy, and for a moment she thought he was gonna yell at her. Instead, his voice was still and quiet. “
What
’
s that supposed to mean?”

Izzy focused on her fingernails as she tapped them on her Diet Coke. “
It
’
s just, she never laughs. She never cri
es. I remember when I was a kid, she used to draw and paint a lot, enjoy life. Now she just gets angry and tries to be perfect.”
She finally met Finn
’
s eyes. “
Do you know she never even cried over Mom? She never talks about it. She never talks about you,
o
r what happened with that. It
’
s weird. She needs to get her own life instead of trying to live mine all the time.”

Finn raised his eyes, and she could tell she
’
d pissed him off. The guilt started to seep in. Izzy gnawed on the inside of her cheek and blink
ed hard.

“
Sorry,”
she muttered.

“
You should be. You have no idea what Tessa
’
s gone through for you.”
He stopped talking, and Izzy thought she saw something flash over his face, but it was gone before she could tell what it was. He sighed, then gave one bri
ef nod. “
All right. Go break out that piggy bank, kid. You just hired yourself a private detective.”

Izzy sat where she was, frozen, not believing what she was hearing. “
Really?”

“
Don
’
t start jumping up and down yet. I
’
ve got one condition: When Tessa come
s home tonight, you tell her everything you told me. Start to finish. No secrets. I
’
ll work for you, but I
’
m not gonna lie to your sister. Understood?”

Izzy swiped at the moisture in her eyes. “
Okay. Okay. Will you... can you stay here until she gets here?
I don
’
t know if I can face the firing squad alone.”

Finn smiled, and her heart melted. He was supercute, with that spiky red hair and the blue eyes and being all grown-up and everything. She sighed before she realized she was doing it.

“
Go get that money,
honey,”
Finn said. “
I don
’
t work for free.”

Izzy nodded, pushed herself up from the kitchen table, and headed up to her room. Once there, she closed the door gently behind her and reached into her front pocket. Slowly, she pulled out the item she
’
d found
in Vickie
’
s mailbox.

It was a plain white envelope, now smudged from Izzy
’
s handling. She reached inside, her fingers shaking a bit as she did. The first thing she pulled out was a piece of notepaper with three words written in all caps.

LEAVE IT ALONE.

Iz
zy fished out the last item, a gold heart locket with a broken clasp, as though it had been tom off the wearer. She fingered the heart, but couldn
’
t open it. She knew she should probably give it to Finn, but he
’
d open the locket and Izzy wasn
’
t ready for
t
hat. Either it was her mother
’
s locket, and everything was as awful as it seemed, or it wasn
’
t, and she
’
d have to feel that loss all over again.

At any rate, either way, she knew she was right. There was nothing accidental about the fire at her mother
’
s sh
op.

Somehow, that knowledge wasn
’
t as much of a comfort as she thought it would be.

***

Babs put another bite of the apple pie in her mouth. It was heavenly, just heavenly.

“
Did Max make this pie?”
she asked Tessa, who sat across from her sipping a cup
of coffee on her break, staring out the window, no doubt looking for Finn.

Poor girl. She had it bad. Worse, she didn
’
t appear to know it. Very sad.

“
Hmmm?”
Tessa said, then blinked. “
Oh. No. Charlie at the bakery. It
’
s really good, isn
’
t it?”