Page 24 of Ashes to Ashes

“Wait, what? How come you waited until now to mention this? Way to bury the lead, Char.”

She laughed. “Sorry. I told you I was bored though, and you know how I get when I’m restless.”

I did know. The last time she’d had nothing to do—when I was deep in rehab and her job was effectively put on hold—she’d joined a gym and lost fifteen pounds. Then she’d cut off all her hair, canceled her gym membership, and started taking cooking classes, effectively negating all the time she’d spent trying to lose weight.

“I’ll send you a picture when I’m done,” she continued, “and you can tell me how beautiful Ilook.”

“Or ridiculous,” I teased.

“You’re just jealous you can’t live out your lifelong dream of becoming Rainbow Brite because your hair’s toodark.”

“Okay, go wash that stuff out. It’s rotting your brain. Talk later?”

“Same bat time, same bat channel,” Charlotte answered, blowing a kiss through the receiver and then hangingup.

I looked at the clock hanging over the mantel. Three o’clock in the afternoon. Shit. These days were dragging. How was I going to keep myself occupied for the next nine hours? I blew out a breath and stared out the window again. The police needed to catch my stalker, and soon. Because if Charlotte was getting restless, I was getting positively itchy. And when I got itchy, things turnedbad.

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