Page 77 of Deja New
“There’s no need to cut yourself off. I’ve been having the same thought lately: It’s almost like she’s afraid they’ll discover a deep, dark secret. But what could be worse than Dad’s murder?”
“That’s nuts and you know it,” Archer told her bluntly. “She was home with all you kids that night, the cops checked her alibi first thing.”
Relieved, she nodded. “You’re right, I remember.”
“For whatever reason, she won’t like you going out with a cop. So here’s some unsolicited advice—”
“Most of what comes out of your mouth is unsolicited. I’ll put it at eighty-five, maybe ninety percent.”
“Keep it to yourself for a while.”
As it happened, she was on board with that advice. Although... “Archer, there’s really not anything to keep to myself yet. It was one date. I think it was a date. Maybe it was an outdoor luncheon?”
“On an island of dead Burnhams, yeah, you said. Did you guys really clean up Uncle Donald’s gravestone?”
She nodded. “It was his idea. We met at the cemetery and he had all the stuff with him. Plus a bottomless backpack of food.”
“Hmm. Whyaren’tyou sleeping with him? I think you should move past naps.”
She had to laugh. “Two minutes ago you were freaking out at the thought of my less-than-vibrant sex life.”
“Two minutes ago, I wasn’t sure if he was taking advantage. Or if you were. C’mon, Angela, you grew up with cousins and brothers. We’ve always been wrathfully, irrationally overprotective of our lone lady wolf.”
“Don’t remind me. Now if you’re finished invading my privacy, let’s go invade your dad’s privacy.”
“Sure, why not? You’re on a roll,” he teased as they came back to Leah and Jason. “Maybe you’ll crack the case.”
She snorted and was about to retort when Leah held up their paperwork. “We’ve got a problem.”
“What? Are they backed up?” Angela looked around; there was only one other family in the area. “Did you not have enough time to finish the paperwork? Or forget your ID? Not enough money for a flimsy lock to protect documents someone could use to steal your identity?” With all the hoops, it was a bit of a miracle that anyone was able to visit a prisoner.
“It’s been finished for ten minutes. The paperwork’s not the problem.”
She looked from Leah’s sober expression to Jason’s and back again. “What? Is Uncle Dennis sick? Or unavailable?”
“He’s refusing to see us.”
“Oh.” A setback, but not entirely unexpected. “Well, sometimes—”
“Ever again.”
Okay, that was new. “What?” she asked, in case she hadn’t heard right.
“He struck all Drakes from his visitors list. We’re permanently banned.”
“Except we’re here on a sanctioned trip,” Archer pointed out, but Angela was already shaking her head.
“No, we’re not. We’re not even here for an open case. If he won’t cooperate, we can’t flash a badge and press the matter. So...”
“Roadblock.”
Shit.
