Page 45 of Silent Threat
“Want to come over for lunch?” Kelly asked.
“I can’t. But thank you. I have to run home, then I have to get back to the office to catch up on paperwork.”
“Are you mad at me?”
“No. It’s just a stupid wall.”
“You do hold grudges.”
“I don’t!”
Kelly remained silent for a moment, and then she asked, “Then why are things always so strained between us? I hate it. I was so excited when you decided to move back.”
Annie wanted to deny the strain. She didn’t want to talk about the past.
Kelly said, “It’s not my fault that Gramps doted on my father while he kicked your mom out of the house. I hated it too. I lost my best friend.”
“He didn’t kick us out. We left because he made staying impossible. He couldn’t handle his daughter having a child without a father.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” Annie closed her eyes. “I was just so damn jealous of you. And I was so mad at you. I was stupid. It’s not like you took something that was mine.”
“So you’re not mad anymore?”
“Of course not.”
“But you never want to do anything with me. Since you got back, you haven’t once said let’s get together. I always do, and you tell me why you can’t.”
Had she? Annie thought back. Yes, she had. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m going to call you next week, and we’ll grab lunch. I swear.”
By the time she finished talking with Kelly, Annie had a missed call. She called back the Broslin PD and asked for Harper Finnegan.
“I think he’s been trying to reach me,” she told Leila.
“I was,” Leila said. “We had some calls about a couple of llamas on Brandywine Road out by your place. Mike drove over to deal with traffic.”
“I’m on my way.”
Annie hung up and drove out of the parking lot, maybe faster than she should have, worry bubbling in her chest. Brandywine Road was two blocks from her house. She wanted to believe the llamas in trouble weren’t hers, but who else’s could they be?
She experienced the traffic jam first, though there was no reason for it at all now, she saw a few minutes later—nothing in the road, only people gawking. A police cruiser sat on the shoulder, and behind it, Officer Mike McMorris doing his best to keep three llamas and a one-eyed donkey in line.
How on earth?
Annie pulled up behind the cop car and jumped out. “I’m so sorry.”
Mike smiled at her, bright-eyed, freckled, and without a censuring glance. He was as easygoing as they came. “No problem, Annie.”
“I swear, we fixed the fence. I have no idea how they got out.”
“No harm done.” The guy didn’t have a frown setting.
Annie grabbed Esmeralda’s halter first, then Lucy’s, since Lucy was the alpha llama in her little herd. “I’m going to walk them home. The others should follow.”
But Mike already had them. “I’ll help. They did well so far. Let’s not get anyone hurt at this stage.”
So they walked together, Annie in the front, Mike following a few feet behind. Everything went well, except for the occasional drivers who for some reason felt the need to beep their horns at them. The sound startled the already-scared animals and made them jump and pull away.
