Page 54 of Road Queens
“The reason I brought you here—”
“You didn’t. I brought myself.”
“To get your license back.I brought you herejust to tell you we’re out. Nobody killed anybody, thanks for everything, later tater.”
“Got it.”
Amanda nodded. “Okay. Great.”
“Could have been a phone call, but that’s fine.”
But then I wouldn’t be able to see you.“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
Wanna make out in the graphic novel section? Ack! Down, libido.“No.”
“Well, I’ve been dying for another chocolate malt.”
“Ooooh, me too!” She caught herself. “Dairy Queen has them. And the ingredients aren’t expensive.”
“Ah.”
“So ... bye.”
“Goodbye.” She let out a slow breath as he turned and headed for the exit.Almost gone. Almost ... gone ...
Why aren’t you asking him out?
Because ex-cop or not, if he gets the chance, if something comes out that we don’t know about, he’ll have her arrested.
So?
He looked back as he reached for the door. Was he ...? Would he? She held her breath. Movie? Dinner? Naked malts? She wouldn’t ask him out, but if he was determined to stick close until his curiosity was assuaged, then she could tolerate a romantic pseudodate. She’d wear a bra and everything.
“Do you and your friends want to see a corpse?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“So! Your plan to tell Detective Beane that we’re done with all of it has somehow led to the four of us going to a morgue to eyeball a dead body.”
“You’re saying that like it’s a bad thing,” Amanda muttered.
“I told you not to let your libido drive,” Sidney warned.
“I know what you told me!”
Sidney drew back a little. “Whoa.”
“You also told me UGGs are sexy and would make an inevitable comeback, so you might not be the best source for advice, so how about that? Huh? Huh?”
“Touché.”
After Sean left Amanda’s yesterday, they’d all agreed via text to meet this morning at the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office, Cass and Sidney showing up together.
Amanda had given it some thought and eventually decided to take her Triumph, despite the fact that she’d parked it in the alley overnight. She had a used 2009 Ford Escape hybrid, but compared to her bike, itwas indifferently maintained, and with 164,000 miles on the odometer, she only used it for winter chores when the bike was impractical.
The problem with keeping a motorcycle outside overnight? Bugs and spiders could—and would—crawl out at the worst possible moment. Nothing worse than trying to focus on the road, only to look down and see the queen of something crawling on your thigh. So she was damned careful when she put the bike through the T-CLOCS pre-ride inspection.
