Page 19 of Road Queens
“Well, I’ve had warmer invitations,” Sidney sighed, scooping her keys up and shaking them at Cass. Sidney often did that, treated people like amiable dogs (“Wanna go for a ride? Huh? Do ya?” “We’ll go to the parrrrrk ...”).
Because she couldn’t resist, Amanda added, “Technically, that wasn’t an invitation.” But it was nice all the same. Sidney didn’t want Cass dependent on a ride from Beane, and who could blame her after he dropped the mom bomb?
“Technically, you’re a dumbass. A well-read dumbass.” But she softened the snark with a smirk, slapped Cass’s back—
“Ooooof. Careful. Sunburn.”
—and began steering her toward the door.
“I should probably be going, t—”
“Not a chance, Beane.” Amanda stepped in front of him like she had a prayer of stopping him if he wanted to vamoose. Shecouldstop him, if so inclined. Slow him down, at least. But she had no time for the fallout from felony assault. “I have questions.”
“Uh-oh.” From Cass, still being steered. She had the grace to look alarmed on Detective Beane’s behalf. “In for it now.”
“May God have mercy on your soul, you poor bastard.” As a departing line, it was pretty great. Trust Sid to cleave through the nonsense. Then she ruined it: “And why the hell is your back sunburned, you Nordic bitch? You should be bathing in SPF goop every morning of every day. Are youtryingto get skin cancer? Jesus Christ. The two of you are killing me with stress, and it’s awful.”
Thankfully, the door closed on Cassandra’s rebuttal. Beane, meanwhile, looked wary and amused at the same time. The minute the frog croaks quit, Amanda was all over him. Figuratively.
“All right, ‘Detective’ Beane.”
“Huh. I could actually hear the quotes around ‘Detective.’”
“Who are you and what are you up to?”
“Who areyou? Who am I?” Again with the disarming grin,God, the man’s ridiculous good looks were distracting. Why couldn’t he have a scar? Or terrible teeth? Dirty, sagging, run-down picket fence teeth? “Who is anyone, really?”
“Knock it off, Beane. You’re not the Sphinx, and I’m not looking for riddles.”
“Okay. Now that we’ve established I’m not the Great Sphinx of Giza, what do you want from me?”
Okay, points for knowing the location of the Sphinx. But don’t tell him that.
She stepped in close and restrained herself from jabbing a finger into his chest. He smelled like sunshine and cotton and ... Goddamn, she needed to stay focused. “Show me your badge.”
The faux cop pulled out his wallet, flipped it open, and handed it over.
“This is a library card.”
“Oh. Right.” He poked through it, handed it back. “Here.”
“This is a Cold Stone Creamery rewards card.”I didn’t ask to see his ID or his badge. Why would I? He was in the middle of the police station!
“Careful, that’s precious to me. Two more scoops and I get a BOGO coupon.”
She tore it in half, ignoring his yelp. “That’s for being a disingenuous stooge.”
“I’m notthatdisingenuous.” Beat. “What gave me away?”
“Besides your lack of righteous ID and badge?” Amanda flipped through his wallet. She approved of the library card and deplored the Apple card. About the Jersey Mike’s card, she was neutral.
And ... there it is.All the way in the back for some reason. Behind his driver’s license. Who prioritized digging out a Cold Stone rewards card over digging out a badge, which provided a lot more cover than a Like It–size sundae with multiple mix-ins?
The weirdo in her sight line, that was who.
“I knew there was something off.”The second I saw Cass slurping soup, I thought there was something weird happening right in front of me. But I let myself get distracted by the reunion because Goddamnit!
“Yeah, besides that.” He hadn’t stepped back, though they were nearly nose to nose. She liked/hated that. He leaned in a bit closer, and she wasn’t sure why. Making a move? Trying to intimidate? Hard of hearing and needed to be closer? Slow-motion swoon? “What else gave me away?”
